Bedtime Hunger Predicts Reduced Sleep Efficiency That Night In Users Of A Consumer Sleep Measurement Device

Abstract Introduction It has long been suspected that bedtime hunger can potentially disturb sleep. The neural circuits that control sleep are now known to receive signals of appetite and energy balance via hypocretin/orexin neurons from the lateral hypothalamus. But there remains need to specifically identify how, and under what conditions, appetite mechanisms affect human sleep. This study documents the relationship between bedtime hunger and subsequent sleep efficiency in users of a consumer sleep measurement device. Methods The Zeo headband (sold to the public during 2009–2013) used detected electrical potentials to periodically calculate the most probable stage of sleep or wake. Users uploaded sleep records online and could track nightly conditions — including bedtime hunger — on provided rating scales. De-identified summary data from these nightly records were aggregated into a research registry. We extracted the sleep records with bedtime hunger ratings and analyzed them using multilevel modeling to identify within-person and between-person relationships between bedtime hunger and sleep efficiency. We decomposed bedtime hunger ratings into person-mean hunger and nightly hunger, the difference between each night’s hunger rating and the person’s mean. Results 4,284 nightly sleep records with a bedtime hunger rating were provided by 183 people (age 19–77, 68% male, mean: 23 records/person). Sleep efficiency was not related to person-mean hunger (p=0.26), but was inversely related to nightly hunger that night (p=0.01). The model predicted a within-person difference in sleep efficiency between nights with high, versus low, nightly hunger that varied across the people in the sample (mean [range]: -2.4 [-12.5-1.6] percentage points) and correlated positively with typical sleep efficiency (r=0.73, p=0.00) and negatively with unexplained variability in sleep efficiency (r=-0.47, p=0.00). Conclusion For the people in this dataset, on average, going to bed hungrier than usual predicted reduced sleep efficiency that night. The effect was strongest in people who tend toward low and variable sleep efficiency. This finding strongly suggests that bedtime hunger can indeed disturb sleep, especially in poor sleepers. Further research is needed to determine who is most affected and to understand implications, such as for weight management, eating disorders, food insecurity, or sleep-supporting foods and dietary practices. Support (if any) USDA-NIFA-AFRI and NIH-NCATS