The impact of sleep deprivation on food desire in the human brain

Abstract

Epidemiological evidence supports a link between sleep loss and obesity. However, the detrimental impact of sleep deprivation on central brain mechanisms governing appetitive food desire remains unknown. Here we report that sleep deprivation significantly decreases activity in appetitive evaluation regions within the human frontal cortex and insula cortex during food desirability choices, combined with a converse amplification of activity within the amygdala. Moreover, this bi-directional change in the profile of brain activity is further associated with a significant increase in the desire for weight-gain promoting high-calorie foods following sleep deprivation, the extent of which is predicted by the subjective severity of sleep loss across participants. These findings provide an explanatory brain mechanism by which insufficient sleep may lead to the development/maintenance of obesity through diminished activity in higher-order cortical evaluation regions, combined with excess subcortical responsivity in the amygdala, resulting in selection of foods most capable of triggering weight-gain.

The Impact of Sleep Debt on Excess Adiposity and Insulin Sensitivity in Patients with Early Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

“…Moreover, an increase in the desire for unhealthy food types (high in calories) after sleep deprivation (T = 2.21, p = 0.04) was observed. 30 These recent findings are pivotal in elucidating our understanding of how sleep loss is linked to energy homeostasis and ultimately lifestyle-driven disease onset/progression.…”

“…For example, Greer and colleagues demonstrated reduced activity in multiple brain regions, known to be instrumental in appetitive desire. 30 Participants (n = 23) completed a food-desire task (desire for 80 presented food items) and underwent fMRI after two sleep conditions (24 hours total sleep deprivation and normal rested sleep of ~8 h). Compared to when participants were rested, after total sleep deprivation a significant reduction in activity across all three brain regions were observed.…”

The 3 Pillars of Health

“…3 Partial sleepers tend to consume approximately 600 more calories than full-night sleepers, with most of those calories coming from chocolate, desserts, and potato chips. 4 Poor food choices are common in the sleep deprived. One of the authors of this last study speculated that adenosine, which is a brain metabolic by-product, possibly disrupts neural function by accumulating in the sleep-deprived brain.…”

Central nervous insulin administration before nocturnal sleep decreases breakfast intake in healthy young and elderly subjects

“…Intranasal insulin exerted its anorexigenic effect across an interval of nocturnal sleep which, in itself, has turned out to be a relevant modulator of food intake (Schmid et al, 2015). Total sleep deprivation for one night leads to activity changes in brain functions that favor food intake (Greer et al, 2013), and partial sleep deprivation of 4 h for one night strongly increases breakfast intake in healthy men (Brondel et al, 2010). Since we did not observe differences in total sleep time nor in sleep architecture between conditions, insulin presumably did not exert major effects on sleep.…”