Increased neuronal activity in response to food stimuli after periods of reduced sleep relative to habitual sleep in normal weight men and women

Short sleep duration, of <7 h/night, has been associated with an increased prevalence of obesity relative to 7–8 h sleep. However, whether sleep duration can cause obesity is largely unknown. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activity in response to food but not non‐food stimuli after 5 nights of either 4h in bed (short) or 9h in bed (habitual). Twenty‐six normal weight men and women were scanned in the fasted state while being shown images of foods and objects in a randomized block design. There was overall greater activity in response to food>non‐food after short sleep than habitual sleep. Although short sleep was associated with a general up‐regulation of responsiveness to food>nonfood, some of the observed regions have previously been associated with cognitive control mechanisms including the anterior cingulate gyrus and superior frontal gyrus. Insula and lentiform nucleus, which have been associated with reward salience and food stimuli, were also up‐regulated after short relative to habitual sleep. These findings suggest a greater susceptibility to food stimuli under short sleep conditions, which may be related to a propensity to overeat. Grant Funding Source : National Institutes of Health grant #1R01HL091352‐01A1 and 1 UL1 RR024156‐03