Bone turnover marker responses to sleep restriction and weekend recovery sleep

Prior data demonstrated three weeks of sleep restriction and concurrent circadian disruption uncoupled bone turnover markers (BTMs), indicating decreased bone formation and no change or increased bone resorption. The effect of insufficient sleep with or without ad libitum weekend recovery sleep on BTMs is unknown.

BTMs were measured in stored serum from 20 healthy adults randomized to one of three study groups consisting of a control group (N = 3 men; 9 h/night) or one of two nocturnal sleep restriction groups in an inpatient laboratory environment. One Sleep Restriction group ("SR"; N = 9; 4 women) had 5 h sleep opportunity per night for nine nights. The other sleep restriction group had an opportunity for ad libitum Weekend Recovery sleep ("WR"; N = 8; 4 women) after four nights of 5 h sleep opportunity per night. Food intake was energy balanced at baseline and ad libitum thereafter. Fasted morning BTM levels and hourly 24 h melatonin levels were obtained on study days 3 (baseline), 5 (after 1 night of sleep restriction for WR and SR), and 11 (after a sleep restricted workweek with weekend recovery sleep in WR or 7 nights of sleep restriction in SR). Linear mixed-effects modeling was used to examine the effect of study duration (e.g., change over time), study condition, age, and sex on BTMs. Pearson correlations were used to determine associations between changes in BTMs and changes in weight and morning circadian misalignment (i.e., duration of high melatonin levels after wake time).

There was no significant difference between the three study groups in change over time (p ≥ 0.4 for interaction between assigned group and time for all BTMs), adjusted for age and sex. There was no significant change in N-terminal propeptide of procollagen type I (P1NP), osteocalcin, or C-telopeptide of type I collagen (CTX) from baseline to day 11 (all p ≥ 0.3). In women <25 years old, there was a non-significant decline in P1NP from day 3 to day 5 (= -15.74 ± 7.80 ng/mL; p = 0.06). Change in weight and morning circadian misalignment from baseline to day 11 were correlated with statistically non-significant changes in BTMs (all p ≤ 0.05).

In this small secondary analysis, we showed that nine nights of prescribed sleep restriction with or without weekend recovery sleep and ad libitum food intake did not alter BTMs. It is possible that age, sex, weight change and morning circadian misalignment modify the effects of sleep restriction on bone metabolism.