Abstract
Background and aim: No study to date has documented the association between short sleep duration and the risk for obesity in older people. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine cross-sectional associations between short sleep duration and variations in body fat indices in older women. Methods: Anthropometric and body composition measurements, resting energy expenditure, daily energy expenditure, daily energy intake, plasma lipid-lipoprotein profile, and self-reported sleep duration were determined in a sample of 90 women of 50 years and above. Results: The odds ratios for overweight/obesity were comparable in subjects reporting <7 hours and ≥7 hours of sleep per day, with or without adjustment for age, daily energy expenditure and daily energy intake. The results did not permit to observe any significant difference between the two sleeper groups for all the variables investigated. The correlations between sleep duration and adiposity indices were also non significant. Conclusions: Short sleep duration does not predict an increased risk of being overweight/obese in older women. This observation, together with our previously reported results in younger subjects, suggests that the sleep-body fat relationship progressively becomes less detectable with increasing in age.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bliwise DL. Historical change in the report of daytime fatigue. Sleep 1996; 19: 462–4.
Regal KM, Carroll MD, Kuczmarski RJ, Johnson CL. Overweight and obesity in the United States: prevalence and trends, 1960–1994. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 1998; 22: 39–47.
National Sleep Foundation. 2002 “Sleep in America” Poll. Washington, DC: National Sleep Foundation, 2002.
Chaput JP, Brunet M, Tremblay A. Relationship between short sleeping hours and childhood overweight/obesity: results from the “Québec en Forme” Project. Int J Obes 2006; 30: 1080–5.
Sekine M, Yamagami T, Handa K, et al. A dose-response relationship between short sleeping hours and childhood obesity: results of the Toyama Birth Cohort Study. Child Care Health Dev 2002; 28: 163–70.
von Kries R, Toschke AM, Wurmser H, Sauerwald T, Koletzko B. Reduced risk for overweight and obesity in 5- and 6-y-old children by duration of sleep — a cross-sectional study. Int J Obes 2002; 26: 710–6.
Gupta KK, Mueller WH, Chan W, Meininger JC. Is obesity associated with poor sleep quality in adolescents? Am J Hum Biol 2002; 14: 762–8.
Reilly J, Armstrong J, Dorosty A, et al.; Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Study Team. Early life risk factors for obesity in childhood: cohort study. Br Med J 2005; 330: 1357–63.
Hasler G, Buysse D, Klaghofer R, et al. The association between short sleep duration and obesity in young adults: a 13-year prospective study. Sleep 2004; 27: 661–6.
Spiegel K, Tasali E, Penev P, Van Cauter E. Brief communication: sleep curtailment in healthy young men is associated with decreased leptin levels, elevated ghrelin levels, and increased hunger and appetite. Ann Intern Med 2004; 141: 846–50.
Taheri S, Lin L, Austin D, Young T, Mignot E. Short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin, elevated ghrelin, and increased body mass index. PLoS Med 2004; 1: 210–7.
Vorona R, Winn M, Babineau T, Eng B, Feldman H, Ware J. Overweight and obese patients in a primary care population report less sleep than patients with a normal body mass index. Arch Intern Med 2005; 165: 25–30.
Gangwisch JE, Malaspina D, Boden-Albala B, Heymsfield SB. Inadequate sleep as a risk factor for obesity: analyses of the NHANES I. Sleep 2005; 28: 1289–96.
Chaput JP, Després JP, Bouchard C, Tremblay A. Short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin levels and increased adiposity: results from the Québec Family Study. Obesity 2007; 15: 253–61.
Chaput JP, Lord C, Cloutier M et al. Relationship between antioxidant intakes and class I sarcopenia in elderly men and women. J Health Nutr & Aging 2007 (in press).
Aubertin-Leheudre M, Lord C, Goulet EDB, Khalil A, Dionne U. Effect of sarcopenia on cardiovascular disease risk factors in obese postmenopausal women. Obesity 2006; 14: 2277–83.
Weir JB. New methods for calculating metabolic rate with special reference to protein metabolism. Nutrition 1990; 6: 213–21.
The Airlie (VA) Consensus Conference. Standardization of anthropometric measurements. Human Kinetics Publishers, Champaign, IL, 1988.
Starling RD, Matthews DE, Ades PA, Poehlman ET. Assessment of physical activity in older individuals: a doubly labelled water study. J Appl Physiol 1999; 86: 2090–6.
Nichols JF, Patterson P, Early T. A validation of a physical activity monitor for young and older adults. Can J Sport Sci 1992; 17: 299–303.
Luhrmann PM, Herbert BM, Gaster C, Neuhauser-Berthold M. Validation of a self-administered 3-day estimated dietary record for use in the elderly. Eur J Nutr 1999; 38: 235–40.
Tamakoshi A, Ohno Y, JACC Study Group. Self-reported sleep duration as a predictor of all-cause mortality: results from the JACC study, Japan. Sleep 2004; 27: 51–4.
Buysse DJ, Reynolds CF, Monk TH, Berman SR, Kupfer DJ. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index: a new instrument for psychiatric practice and research. Psychiatry Res 1989; 28: 193–213.
Patel SR, Ayas NT, Malhotra MR, et al. A prospective study of sleep duration and mortality risk in women. Sleep 2004; 27: 440–4.
Ayas NT, White DP, Manson JE, et al. A prospective study of sleep duration and coronary heart disease in women. Arch Intern Med 2003; 163: 205–9.
Ayas NT, White DP, Al-Delaimy WK, et al. A prospective study of self-reported sleep duration and incident diabetes in women. Diabetes Care 2003; 26: 380–4.
Spiegel K, Knutson K, Leproult R, Tasali E, Van Cauter E. Sleep loss: a novel risk factor for insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. J Appl Physiol 2005; 99: 2008–19.
Wang ZW, Pan WT, Lee Y, Kakuma T, Zhou YT, Unger RH. The role of leptin resistance in the lipid abnormalities of aging. FASEB J 2001; 15: 108–14.
Di Francesco V, Zamboni M, Zoico E, et al. Unbalanced serum leptin and ghrelin dynamics prolong postprandial satiety and inhibit hunger in healthy elderly: another reason for the “anorexia of aging”. Am J Clin Nutr 2006; 83: 1149–52.
Lockley SW, Skene DJ, Arendt J. Comparison between subjective and actigraphic measurements of sleep and sleep rhythms. J Sleep Res 1999; 8: 175–83.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chaput, JP., Lord, C., Aubertin-Leheudre, M. et al. Is overweight/obesity associated with short sleep duration in older women?. Aging Clin Exp Res 19, 290–294 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03324704
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03324704