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Updated: Apr 17, 2026
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Studying Food Reward and Motivation in Humans
Published on: March 19, 2014
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Associations between sleep parameters and food reward
Jessica McNeil1, Sébastien Cadieux1, Graham Finlayson2
1Behavioural and Metabolic Research Unit, School of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
Journal of Sleep Research
|February 4, 2015
Summary
Acute exercise, including aerobic and resistance training, did not alter sleep or food reward. Shorter sleep duration and earlier wake times were linked to increased food reward, but this was explained by the time elapsed after waking.
Area of Science:
- Exercise Physiology
- Sleep Science
- Nutritional Psychology
Background:
- Understanding the interplay between acute exercise, sleep quality, and subsequent food reward is crucial for managing appetite and health.
- Previous research suggests exercise can influence sleep, but its direct impact on food reward sensitivity remains less clear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effects of matched-energy expenditure aerobic and resistance exercise on objective sleep parameters.
- To determine if changes in sleep following exercise influence next-morning food reward 'wanting'.
- To explore the relationship between sleep changes and food reward sensitivity after different exercise modalities.
Main Methods:
- Randomized crossover design with 14 participants undergoing aerobic exercise, resistance exercise, and a sedentary control session.
- Exercise intensity and energy expenditure (4 kcal/kg) were standardized across conditions.
- Sleep was monitored via accelerometry for 22 hours post-session, and food reward 'wanting' was assessed using a validated visual cue task.
Main Results:
- No significant differences in sleep parameters (duration, efficiency, wake after sleep onset) were observed between aerobic, resistance, and control conditions.
- Food reward 'wanting' did not differ across the three experimental sessions.
- While initial analyses showed associations between reduced sleep duration/earlier wake times and increased food reward, these were non-significant after controlling for time since waking.
Conclusions:
- Acute, isocaloric aerobic and resistance exercise do not appear to directly alter sleep architecture or next-morning food reward sensitivity.
- The observed association between shorter sleep and heightened food reward is likely confounded by the time elapsed between waking and the reward assessment.
- Further research is needed to elucidate the complex relationship between exercise timing, sleep, and appetite regulation.
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