Hormonal
Short sleep duration is associated with increased adiposity (BMI, fat mass index, percent body fat, trunk fat) and decreased lean body mass in adult women, but this association is not observed in adult men.
For women, prioritizing sufficient sleep duration (avoiding the shortest quartile) may help manage body fat and preserve lean mass, as this study found a specific link between short sleep and higher adiposity in women. For men, this specific study did not find a link between sleep duration and body composition, suggesting other factors may be more critical for weight management. Ensure sleep duration is age-appropriate, as sleep needs decrease with age.
Compared with individuals in the 2nd and 3rd age-specific quartiles of sleep duration (reference group), shorter (1st quartile) sleep duration among women but not men was associated with higher z-scores (0.248–0.317) for all adiposity measures—BMI, fat mass index (FMI), percent body fat mass (%BF), and percent trunk fat mass (%TF)... and with 0.306 lower z-scores for percent body lean mass (%LM) and 0.353 lower lean/fat mass ratio (LFR)... Short sleep duration was associated with increased body fat and decreased lean body mass in women but not in men.
Why this rating
Cross-sectional design prevents causal inference; however, the large sample size, use of DXA for precise body composition, and cotwin design for heritability estimation strengthen the observational findings.
Source
A Population‐Based Twin Study on Sleep Duration and Body Composition
Rong Liu et al. · Obesity · 2011
DOI 10.1038/oby.2011.274
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