Sleep and food metabolism
A regular sleep pattern is really important for optimal health, and it is exciting to see new research in this area linked to impact on food metabolism.
A new study led by a group of researchers based at King’s College London and Lund University discovered that poor sleep quality and later bedtime routines are associated with a poorer response to sugar metabolism, and therefore concluded that sleep can be used as a non-pharmacological therapy to regulate metabolic health.
The researchers asked if night-to-night fluctuations in sleep duration, efficiency and timings had an impact on our response to processing breakfast the following day and found the following:
- a statistically significant interaction between sleep period time (how long you slept) and meal type, with sleep duration having a significantly negative association with glucose metabolism following high-carbohydrate and high-fat breakfasts
- higher sleep efficiency overall (comparing how well study participants slept) was not statistically associated with better glucose metabolism, however, if a participant had a better night sleep in comparison to their own average, this was associated with better sugar metabolism the following day
- going to bed later was associated with poorer sugar metabolism the following morning but waking up later wasn’t.
Notwithstanding the limitations of the study (breakfast choices and physical activity levels amongst the individuals in the study), and based on my own experience, these findings make sense. Think about times when you might have slept very little or not well at all: I personally tend to make poorer food choices and feel the need to eat more than when I have stuck to my sleep routine and slept fairly well. It’s great to see there is evidence to support how sleep impacts on many areas of life and how important holistic wellness really is.
What’s your experience, my friend?
Photo by Jason Blackeye on Unsplash
