Effects of nutrient composition of dinner on sleep architecture and energy metabolism during sleep

Energy metabolism and substrate oxidation during sleep correlate with sleep stage, suggesting that energy metabolism affects sleep architecture or vice versa. The aim of the present study was to examine whether changes in energy metabolism during sleep, induced by a high-carbohydrate or high-fat meal for dinner, affect sleep architecture. Ten healthy males participated in this study, sleeping 3 nonconsecutive nights in a whole-room calorimeter. The first night was scheduled as an adaptation to the experimental environment. The other 2 nights were experimental calorimetry in a balanced cross-over design with intrasubject comparisons. In each session, subjects comsumed a high carbohydrate (HCD: PFC=10 : 10 : 80) or high fat (HFD: PFC=10 : 78 : 12) meal at 2000 h and slept with a polysomnographic recording in a metabolic chamber for indirect calorimetry (0000 h to 0800 h). Slow wave sleep was decreased during the first sleep cycle and not changed during the second or third sleep cycle under HCD conditions compared with those of HFD. Energy expenditure was not affected by dietary condition but substrate oxidation reflected differences in dietary composition of the dinner during the first and second sleep cycle. The present study suggested the possibility that substrate availability during sleep affects substrate oxidation during sleep, and affects sleep architecture during the first sleep cycle.