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Linking Sleep Deprivation and Binge Eating: Empirical Evidence and Underlying Mechanisms

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Eating Disorders

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Abstract

Acute and chronic sleep deprivation have detrimental effect on physical and mental health and may affect eating behavior. Empirical findings demonstrated that sleep deprivation increases food intake and alters eating behavior through different potential pathways. These underlying mechanisms may be biological, cognitive, neural, emotional, and behavioral. Furthermore, cross-sectional evidence documented an association between sleep deprivation and disordered eating and binge eating. Similarly, some studies linked poor sleep due other comorbidities with binge eating. Additional novel experimental studies also support the link between sleep deprivation and binge eating. Despite these summarized findings, still little evidence is available to establish firm conclusions about the directionality of this link, and the need to further research is predominant.

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Abbreviations

BED:

Binge eating disorder

BMI:

Body mass index

ED:

Eating disorder

IFG:

Right inferior frontal gyrus

NES:

Night eating syndrome

OSAs:

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

vMPFC:

Ventral medial prefrontal cortex

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Silvia Cerolini

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  1. Silvia Cerolini
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Correspondence to Silvia Cerolini .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, University of Westminster, London, UK

    Vinood B. Patel

  2. School of Life Course and Population Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, UK

    Victor R. Preedy

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Cerolini, S. (2023). Linking Sleep Deprivation and Binge Eating: Empirical Evidence and Underlying Mechanisms. In: Patel, V.B., Preedy, V.R. (eds) Eating Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16691-4_64

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-16691-4_64

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