No Association Between Leptin Levels and Sleep Duration or Quality in Obese Adults

Abstract

Previous research in lean subjects has found lower leptin levels associated with shorter sleep duration. Since leptin levels are higher and some of the actions of leptin are impaired in obese individuals, one cannot assume that sleep will be similarly associated with leptin in obese individuals. The aim of this paper was to examine the cross-sectional association between habitual sleep duration and quality and plasma leptin levels in a sample of 80 obese men and premenopausal women aged 18–50 years. Leptin levels (ng/ml) were assayed on a fasting blood sample taken in the morning. We calculated a relative leptin level by dividing leptin by body fat percentage. Sleep duration and sleep efficiency were measured by 2 weeks of wrist actigraphy and respiratory disturbance index (RDI), a measure of sleep disordered breathing, was assessed by a portable screening device on a single night. Mean leptin levels and body fat percentage were higher in women than men (P < 0.001), however, mean RDI was higher in men (P = 0.01). There were no significant associations between relative leptin level and any of the sleep measures, including sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and sleep disordered breathing. There was also no difference between men and women in the association between sleep and leptin. In conclusion, contrary to what has been reported in other studies, measures of sleep duration and quality were not associated with leptin levels in our sample of obese adults.

Effects of Experimental Sleep Restriction on Caloric Intake and Activity Energy Expenditure

“…Although it has been suggested that sleep restriction acutely reduces concentrations of leptin and increases concentrations of ghrelin, differences in leptin concentration have not been seen in all crosssectional studies 38 nor have changes in leptin concentration been found in all acute sleep-restriction studies. 39 We found no changes in leptin nor ghrelin concentration after 8 days of sleep restriction.…”

Implications of Sleep Restriction and Recovery on Metabolic Outcomes

“…Specifically, the larger Wisconsin study showed that 5-h sleep/ night was associated with a 15.5% lower morning serum leptin level and 14.9% higher ghrelin level compared with 8-h sleep/night, independent of BMI and gender. The third study did not show any association between sleep duration measured actigraphically and morning leptin levels (relative to body fat percentage), but in contrast to the previous two reports, it studied a smaller (n ϭ 80), predominantly female (75%), sleep-restricted and obese (mean BMI ϭ 38 kg/m 2 ) cohort (93). Although sleep was measured more precisely in this last study, it seems unlikely that this increased accuracy would have compensated for the 10-fold smaller sample size.…”

“…Leptin has been postulated as a possible mechanistic link between habitual sleep duration, obesity, and insulin resistance (48, 84, 86 -92). Four cross-sectional epidemiological studies have examined the relationship between sleep duration, leptin, and obesity (48,50,93,94). The two larger studies both relied on self-reported sleep duration (48,50) and showed in the populationbased Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study (48) of 1024 individuals (54% male), as well as the community-based Quebec Family Study (50) of 740 individuals (44% male), that short sleep was associated with reduced blood leptin.…”

The Role of Sleep Duration in the Regulation of Energy Balance: Effects on Energy Intakes and Expenditure

“…In a cross-sectional study of actigraphy-measured sleep, Knutson et al 37 reported no association between sleep duration, efficiency or disturbances and leptin. In intervention studies, Nedeltcheva et al 22 and Schmid et al…”