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The effects of partial sleep deprivation on energy balance: a systematic review and meta-analysis
H K Al Khatib1, S V Harding1, J Darzi1
1Diabetes and Nutritional Sciences Division, School of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College London, London, UK.
Background/Objectives:
It is unknown whether short sleep duration causatively contributes to weight gain. Studies investigating effects of partial sleep deprivation (PSD) on energy balance components report conflicting findings. Our objective was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of human intervention studies assessing the effects of PSD on energy intake (EI) and energy expenditure (EE).
Subjects/Methods:
EMBASE, Medline, Cochrane CENTRAL, Web of Science and Scopus were searched. Differences in EI and total EE following PSD compared with a control condition were generated using the inverse variance method with random-effects models. Secondary outcomes included macronutrient distribution and resting metabolic rate. Heterogeneity was quantified with the I2-statistic.
Results:
Seventeen studies (n=496) were eligible for inclusion in the systematic review, and 11 studies (n=172) provided sufficient data to be included in meta-analyses. EI was significantly increased by 385 kcal (95% confidence interval: 252, 517; P<0.00001) following PSD compared with the control condition. We found no significant change in total EE or resting metabolic rate as a result of PSD. The observed increase in EI was accompanied by significantly higher fat and lower protein intakes, but no effect on carbohydrate intake.
Conclusions:
The pooled effects of the studies with extractable data indicated that PSD resulted in increased EI with no effect on EE, leading to a net positive energy balance, which in the long term may contribute to weight gain.
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