REM and delta sleep in anorexia nervosa and bulimia

EEG sleep and the cholinergic REM induction test in anorexic and bulimic patients

“…These results support recent findings of Walsh et al (1985) Levy et al (1987), and Hudson et al (1987), who reported sleep patterns in their normal-weight bulimic patients which were similar to those in healthy controls and anorexic patients. The observed similarity of sleep in anorexic patients and healthy controls, however, seems to contradict some earlier reports in which the most robust findings were a disturbance of sleep continuity measures (Crisp et al, 1970;Lacey et al, 1975;Foster et al, 1976;Walsh et al, 1985) and a reduction of SWS or REM sleep (Crisp et al, 1970;Foster et al, 1976;Neilet al, 1980;Levy et al, 1987). Furthermore, REM latency was shortened in the overall sample of anorexic patients (Katz et al, 1984) or in certain subgroups (Neil et al, 1980; …”

“…These observations were replicated by subsequent studies Neil et al, 1980;Levy et al, 1987). Regarding REM sleep, three groups (Neil et al, 1980;Katz et al, 1975;Walsh et al, 1985) reported shortened REM latencies in subgroups of anorexic patients.…”

“…were not in line with the assumption of "depression-like" sleep abnormalities in depressed anorexic and depressed bulimic patients, thus supporting the similar findings of Levy et al (1987) and Hudson et al (1987). In particular, this applies to REM sleep measures such as REM latency and both the duration and density of REM period 1.…”

“…The sleep in bulimic patients was found to be largely indistinguishable from that of normal controls (Walsh et al, 1985;Hudson et al, 1987;Levy et al, 1987). However, Walsh et al (1985) reported a tendency toward shortened REM latencies in their depressed bulimic patients.…”

“…The inconsistently reported reduction of SWS may be due to different characteristics of the samples investigated. Levy et al (1987) reported a low amount of SWS, especially in the dietary restricting anorexic patients. Another possible influence on sleep architec-ture may be that of varying compositions of nourishment.…”