Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Associations between sleep and obesity indices in older adults: results from the HELIAD study

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Aging Clinical and Experimental Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Background

Short sleep duration and low sleep quality are negatively associated with obesity in young adults, but in older people the results are inconsistent.

Aims

The aim of the present study was to examine the associations between sleep duration and quality with both body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) and to investigate sex- and age-specific associations in a population-representative cohort of older adults.

Methods

1781 participants ≥ 65 years old from the HELIAD study were included. Sleep duration and quality were based on self-report, whereas BMΙ and WC were evaluated clinically.

Results

Sleep duration was inversely related to WC, only in women, even after adjustment for age, sex, years of education, total energy intake and level of physical activity. Furthermore, sleep quality was negatively related to both BMI and WC in women. In men, however, no significant relationships were observed between these variables. Associations between sleep and weight did not differ between those aged < 73 and ≥ 73 years old.

Discussion

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study examining both sleep duration and quality with BMI and WC in older adults, performing by-sex analysis. Although additional studies are needed, improvements in sleep habits should be considered in weight management of older individuals.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that poor sleep is associated to adverse weight effects in older women, but not men.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bixler E (2009) Sleep and society: an epidemiological perspective. Sleep Med 10:S3–S6

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Fernandez-Mendoza J, Vgontzas AN (2013) Insomnia and its impact on physical and mental health. Curr Psychiatry Rep 15:418

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Westerlund A et al (2014) Habitual sleep patterns and the distribution of body mass index: cross-sectional findings among Swedish men and women. Sleep Med 15:1196–1203

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Fatima Y, Doi SA, Mamun AA (2016) Sleep quality and obesity in young subjects: a meta-analysis. Obes Rev 17:1154–1166

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Grandner MA et al (2015) Relationship between sleep duration and body mass index depends on age. Obesity (Silver Spring) 23:2491–2498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Ohayon MM, Vecchierini MF (2005) Normative sleep data, cognitive function and daily living activities in older adults in the community. Sleep 28:981–989

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Patel SR et al (2008) The association between sleep duration and obesity in older adults. Int J Obes (Lond) 32:1825–1834

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Gildner TE et al (2014) Sleep duration, sleep quality, and obesity risk among older adults from six middle-income countries: findings from the study on global AGEing and adult health (SAGE). Am J Hum Biol 26:803–812

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. van den Berg JF et al (2008) Actigraphic sleep duration and fragmentation are related to obesity in the elderly: the Rotterdam Study. Int J Obes (Lond) 32:1083–1090

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Lopez-Garcia E et al (2008) Sleep duration, general and abdominal obesity, and weight change among the older adult population of Spain. Am J Clin Nutr 87:310–316

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Kim M et al (2015) Association between objectively measured sleep quality and physical function among community-dwelling oldest old Japanese: a cross-sectional study. Geriatr Gerontol Int 15:1040–1048

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Mezick EJ, Wing RR, McCaffery JM (2014) Associations of self-reported and actigraphy-assessed sleep characteristics with body mass index and waist circumference in adults: moderation by gender. Sleep Med 15:64–70

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Gangwisch JE et al (2005) Inadequate sleep as a risk factor for obesity: analyses of the NHANES I. Sleep 28:1289–1296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Dardiotis E et al (2014) The hellenic longitudinal investigation of aging and diet (HELIAD): rationale, study design, and cohort description. Neuroepidemiology 43:9–14

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. McKhann G et al (1984) Clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease: report of the NINCDS-ADRDA Work Group under the auspices of Department of Health and Human Services Task Force on Alzheimer’s Disease. Neurology 34:939–944

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Spritzer K, Hays R (2003) MOS Sleep Scale: a manual for use and scoring, Version 1.0. Los Angeles, CA

  17. Hays RD, Sherbourne CD, Mazel RM (1995) User’s manual for the medical outcomed study (MOS) core measures of health-related quality of life. RAND, Santa Monica, USA

    Google Scholar 

  18. Otmani S et al (2008) Effects of prolonged-release melatonin, zolpidem, and their combination on psychomotor functions, memory recall, and driving skills in healthy middle aged and elderly volunteers. Hum Psychopharmacol 23:693–705

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Bountziouka V et al (2012) Development, repeatability and validity regarding energy and macronutrient intake of a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire: methodological considerations. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis 22:659–667

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Kavouras SA et al (2016) Development, reliability and validity of a physical activity questionnaire for estimating energy expenditure in Greek adults. Sci Sports 31:e47–e53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Blackwell T et al (2011) Association of sleep characteristics and cognition in older community-dwelling men: the MrOS sleep study. Sleep 34:1347–1356

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Meyer KA et al (2012) Sleep duration and BMI in a sample of young adults. Obesity (Silver Spring) 20:1279–1287

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Bidulescu A et al (2010) Interaction of sleep quality and psychosocial stress on obesity in African Americans: the Cardiovascular Health Epidemiology Study (CHES). BMC Public Health 10:581

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Vgontzas AN, Bixler EO, Chrousos GP (2006) Obesity-related sleepiness and fatigue: the role of the stress system and cytokines. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1083:329–344

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Tom SE, Berenson AB (2013) Associations between poor sleep quality and psychosocial stress with obesity in reproductive-age women of lower socioeconomic status. Womens Health Issues 23:e295–e300

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Mallampalli MP, Carter CL (2014) Exploring sex and gender differences in sleep health: a Society for Women’s Health Research Report. J Womens Health (Larchmt) 23:553–562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Spiegel K et al (2004) Leptin levels are dependent on sleep duration: relationships with sympathovagal balance, carbohydrate regulation, cortisol, and thyrotropin. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 89:5762–5771

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Stefan L et al (2018) Associations between sleep quality and its domains and insufficient physical activity in a large sample of Croatian young adults: a cross-sectional study. BMJ Open 8:e021902

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Choi J et al (2012) Physical activity, weight, and waist circumference in midlife women. Health Care Women Int 33:1086–1095

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Spicuzza L, Caruso D, Di Maria G (2015) Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome and its management. Ther Adv Chronic Dis 6:273–285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Vgontzas AN et al (2008) Short sleep duration and obesity: the role of emotional stress and sleep disturbances. Int J Obes (Lond) 32:801–809

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. Bliwise DL, Young TB (2007) The parable of parabola: what the U-shaped curve can and cannot tell us about sleep. Sleep 30:1614–1615

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Georgousopoulou EN, Naumovski N, Mellor DD et al (2016) Association between siesta (daytime sleep), dietary patterns and the presence of metabolic syndrome in elderly living in Mediterranean area (MEDIS study): The moderating effect of gender. J Nutr Health Aging. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12603-016-0865-0

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This study was supported by the grants: IIRG-09-133014 from the Alzheimer’s Association, 189 10276/8/9/2011 from the ESPA-EU program Excellence Grant (ARISTEIA) and the ΔΥ2β/οικ.51657/14.4.2009 of the Ministry for Health and Social Solidarity (Greece). C. A. Anastasiou has received financial support from the Greek State Scholarships Foundation (MIS:5001552).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Harokopio University, Athens, Greece

    Eirini Mamalaki, Costas A. Anastasiou & Mary Yannakoulia

  2. 1st Department of Neurology, Aiginition Hospital, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece

    Angeliki Tsapanou, Costas A. Anastasiou & Nikolaos Scarmeas

  3. Taub Institute for Research in Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain, The Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center, Department of Neurology, Columbia University, New York, USA

    Angeliki Tsapanou & Nikolaos Scarmeas

  4. Lab of Cognitive Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloníki, Greece

    Mary H. Kosmidis

  5. Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece

    Efthimios Dardiotis & Giorgos M. Hadjigeorgiou

  6. Athens Association of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders, Marousi, Greece

    Paraskevi Sakka

Authors
  1. Eirini Mamalaki
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Angeliki Tsapanou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Costas A. Anastasiou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mary H. Kosmidis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Efthimios Dardiotis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Giorgos M. Hadjigeorgiou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Paraskevi Sakka
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Nikolaos Scarmeas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Mary Yannakoulia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary Yannakoulia.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mamalaki, E., Tsapanou, A., Anastasiou, C.A. et al. Associations between sleep and obesity indices in older adults: results from the HELIAD study. Aging Clin Exp Res 31, 1645–1650 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-01113-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-018-01113-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation