Disturbances of sleep and circadian rhythms: Novel risk factors for obesity

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes
• Personal Author:
  Broussard, Josiane L. ; Van Cauter, Eve
• Description:
  Purpose of review
  
  To summarize recent developments linking disturbances of sleep and circadian rhythms to an increased risk for obesity, and to review novel research on potential countermeasures.
  
  Recent findings
  
  Effective treatments for obesity are limited, with long-term adherence to life style changes proving difficult. Identifying new preventive strategies based on modifiable risk factors is therefore imperative in the fight against obesity. Disturbances of sleep and circadian rhythms have an adverse impact on food choices, hunger and appetite and have lifelong deleterious metabolic effects when present during childhood and early adulthood. The upregulation of the endocannabinoid system and abnormalities in the temporal distribution of caloric intake have been recently implicated in the link between sleep loss and obesity risk. Lastly, alterations in the circadian variation in the composition and functionality of the gut microbiome have been identified as potential contributors to metabolic dysfunction in conditions of jet lag and shift work. Insufficient sleep and circadian misalignment are thus new modifiable risk factors for obesity. Emerging evidence suggests that novel countermeasures, such as manipulations of the timing of food intake, may be effective strategies in the prevention of obesity.
  
  Summary
  
  Four important findings are briefly reviewed: 1. disturbances of sleep and circadian rhythms in children and young adults are risk factors for the development of lifelong obesity; 2. circadian misalignment, as occurs in shift work, has an adverse impact on energy balance and increases the risk of weight gain; 3. the endocannabinoid system, an important regulator of hedonic feeding, could be a potential link between sleep, circadian rhythms and feeding behavior; 4. disturbances of the circadian variation in composition of the gut microbiome could be involved in the increased risk of obesity associated with insufficient sleep and circadian misalignment.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Chronobiology Disorders Humans Obesity Sleep Wake Disorders
• Source:
  Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes. 23(5):353-359.
• Pubmed ID:
  27584008
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC5070789
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  P01 AG011412/AG/NIA NIH HHS/United States ; R01 OH009482/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States ; T32 HL007909/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States
• Volume:
  23
• Issue:
  5
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:55504a3e21391984851d930387268ecb346577cfd69da3c563bae6f9d5bffaa5
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/42205/cdc_42205_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 64.27 KB ]