Sleep and eating disorders among adults enrolled in a commercial weight loss program: associations with self-report and objective sleep measures.

PURPOSE: Some research suggests that eating disorders are related to poor sleep health. To increase knowledge on the relation between sleep and eating disorders, we used a multi-method approach to examine associations between sleep, chronotype, and eating disorder psychopathology.

METHODS

We investigated associations between ED psychopathology, both diagnostic categories (ascertained through self-report data) and dimensional measures, and self-report and ambulatory measures of sleep. Adults currently enrolled in a commercial weight loss program completed self-report measures as well as 1 week of ambulatory sleep monitoring and sleep diaries.

RESULTS

Participants with full- or sub-threshold bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder reported significantly lower subjective sleep health and greater eveningness. Additionally, greater severity of eating disorder psychopathology was associated with lower subjective sleep health and greater eveningness. Eating disorder psychopathology was generally not related to objective sleep measures. Regarding diary measures, global eating disorder psychopathology was negatively correlated with subjective reports of feeling rested.

CONCLUSION

Eating disorder psychopathology is associated with participants' subjective sense of sleep quality, but appears to have little relation to objective sleep characteristics. Level of evidence Level V, descriptive study.