Sleep-time physiological recovery is associated with eating habits in distressed working-age Finns\xa0with overweight: secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial

Elina Järvelä-Reijonen,Riitta Korpela,Sanni Lindroos,Sampsa Puttonen,Raimo Lappalainen,Leila Karhunen,Miikka Ermes,Tero Myllymäki,Marjukka Kolehmainen,Katri Peuhkuri,Suvi Järvinen,Tiina Föhr,Jaana Laitinen,Essi Sairanen,Jussi Pihlajamäki,Maarit Hallikainen,Urho M Kujala

doi:10.1186/s12995-021-00310-6

Abstract

BackgroundAssociation of physiological recovery with nutrition has scarcely been studied. We investigated whether physiological recovery during sleep relates to eating habits, i.e., eating behaviour and diet quality.MethodsCross-sectional baseline analysis of psychologically distressed adults with overweight (N = 252) participating in a lifestyle intervention study in three Finnish cities. Recovery measures were based on sleep-time heart rate variability (HRV) measured for 3 consecutive nights. Measures derived from HRV were 1) RMSSD (Root Mean Square of the Successive Differences) indicating the parasympathetic activation of the autonomic nervous system and 2) Stress Balance (SB) indicating the temporal ratio of recovery to stress. Eating behaviour was measured with questionnaires (Intuitive Eating Scale, Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, Health and Taste Attitude Scales, ecSatter Inventory™). Diet quality was quantified using questionnaires (Index of Diet Quality, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test Consumption) and 48-h dietary recall.ResultsParticipants with best RMSSD reported less intuitive eating (p = 0.019) and less eating for physical rather than emotional reasons (p = 0.010) compared to those with poorest RMSSD; participants with good SB reported less unconditional permission to eat (p = 0.008), higher fibre intake (p = 0.028), higher diet quality (p = 0.001), and lower alcohol consumption (p < 0.001) compared to those with poor SB, although effect sizes were small. In subgroup analyses among participants who reported working regular daytime hours (n = 216), only the associations of SB with diet quality and alcohol consumption remained significant.ConclusionsBetter nocturnal recovery showed associations with better diet quality, lower alcohol consumption and possibly lower intuitive eating. In future lifestyle interventions and clinical practice, it is important to acknowledge sleep-time recovery as one possible factor linked with eating habits.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT01738256, Registered 17 August 2012.

Highlights

Obesity, psychological distress, and perception of inadequate sleep are alarmingly common among workingage adults [1,2,3]
In future lifestyle interventions and clinical practice, it is important to acknowledge sleep-time recovery as one possible factor linked with eating habits
Due to the importance of sleep in the recovery process [5,6,7], we focused on the association of sleep-time heart rate variability (HRV)-based recovery measures with eating habits covering both eating behaviour and diet quality

Summary

Introduction

Psychological distress, and perception of inadequate sleep are alarmingly common among workingage adults [1,2,3]. Physiological recovery refers to a process during which the body unwinds from daily strain This process stems from the physiological systems of the body, such as the autonomic nervous system and the cardiovascular and metabolic systems, that are constantly functioning towards maintaining homoeostasis in the face of changing environmental stressors [9]. The functioning of these physiological systems can be measured noninvasively and objectively with heart rate variability (HRV) measurement [5,6,7, 10, 11].

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