"Greater ESS scores correlated with reduced activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex when high-calorie vs. low-calorie food images were perceived," Dr. Killgore reported, noting that this region is typically implicated in attention and inhibitory processing. Similarly, greater daytime sleepiness was also associated with increased activation in the right parietal and inferior temporal cortex, he said.
The findings suggest the possibility that sleepiness may affect an individual’s inhibitory control when he or she is exposed to highly appetizing, high-calorie foods, according to Dr. Killgore, although it’s uncertain as of yet whether the observed patterns relate to actual food consumption, he said.
Marital Discord
Although most sleep research focuses on the individual, the fact that sleep problems and relationship trouble often co-occur led Wendy M. Troxel, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, and her colleagues to consider the dyadic nature of sleep in a recent study. The investigators examined the bidirectional links between nightly sleep and daily marital interactions among 35 healthy married couples (mean age, 32 years) by correlating the actigraph results for sleep latency, wakefulness after sleep onset, and total sleep time of each partner over 10 nights, with daily self-reported positive and negative marital interactions assessed via electronic diaries during the same period.
"We found stronger evidence linking sleep to the next day’s marital interactions, rather than the reverse direction," Dr. Troxel reported.
Specifically, wives’ prolonged sleep latency significantly predicted their own and their husbands’ reports of more negative and less positive interactions the next day, even after adjustment for depressive symptoms, whereas the quality of marital interactions did not appear to predict sleep measures in women, she said. The sleep quality of husbands did not appear to affect their own or their wives’ reports of next-day marital interactions; however, for men, a higher level of positive marital interactions predicted shorter total sleep duration the next night.
The findings suggest, perhaps, that "men are more likely to repress their feelings or not be as aware" of mood changes, whereas women are more likely to express their emotional concerns and to "drive the emotional climate of the relationship," Dr. Troxel said. The results highlight the potential interpersonal consequences of sleep disorders, and as such may have important clinical implications, she said.
In March of this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that nearly a third of the country’s adults get fewer than the minimum recommended 7 hours of sleep per night, and it’s not because they’re not tired: Nearly 40% of the survey population reported unintentionally falling asleep during the day, and nearly 5% reported nodding off while driving in the preceding 30 days (MMWR 2011;60:233-8).
In addition to the negative consequences of sleep deprivation noted above, previous studies have linked sleep insufficiency to a range of adverse health outcomes, including cardiovascular disease, asthma, diabetes, and stroke, according to the report.
The presenters reported no financial conflicts of interest relevant to their respective presentations.