Does going to bed late change the way we eat?

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By Katherine Bruce

Ever find yourself eating differently when you’re tired? In a new UK study, researchers analysed data from over 27,000 adults, looking at how sleep affects everyday eating.

The study looked at both sleep duration and sleep quality, but as this is Untired Me and we focus on bedtime procrastination, this blog post will zoom in on the impact of getting too little sleep.

The big idea

Lots of previous lab studies have shown that sleep loss affects our appetite and how full we feel, but far less is known about how this plays out in real-world eating behaviours. 

So, for this study, the researchers wanted to get out of the lab and find out how sleep (or a lack of it!) affects the way we eat in normal, everyday life.



The research

The team analysed data from 27,263 UK adults. For sleep duration, they looked at bedtimes and wake-up times, classifying participants into three groups: 

1. Short sleepers (less than 7 hours per night)
2. Average sleepers (7-8 hours) 
3. Long sleepers (8 hours)

They also looked at multiple eating behaviours: 

• Emotional and reward-driven eating
• Overeating
• Snacking and meal skipping
• Preference for sweet, salty, or fried foods
• Meal timing and regularity
  
  

The results

After adjusting the data for age, sex, socioeconomic status and region, the researchers found that people who slept for less than seven hours each night were more likely to:

• Eat out of boredom, stress or anger
• Overeat
• Go long stretches without eating, skip meals and consume fewer proper meals.
• Find it hard to stop eating once they’d started
• Snack on sweet foods between meals
• Eat more fried foods.
  
  

The researchers said:

"Insufficient sleep may compromise self-regulatory control of eating and promote more impulsive, reward-driven choices."

What this means for bedtime procrastinators

If you miss out on sleep because you're a bedtime procrastinator (you go to bed late for no good reason) here are some useful takeaways from this study.

Notice the way you eat
When you find yourself grazing, comfort eating, or “mindless” snacking, it could be a sign that bedtime procrastination is leaving you more tired than you think. 

Put it to the test
Try going to bed early for just one night. Does it make a difference to how you eat the next day?

Think about self regulation
Whether you want to eat more healthily, exercise more, or achieve something totally different – if your life needs more self-control, fixing your bedtime procrastination could be a good first step.

Find out more

This study was published in a journal called Appetite. You can read it on ScienceDirect.