Successful weight loss maintenance associated with morning chronotype and better sleep quality

Abstract

It is not known whether individuals successful at long term weight loss maintenance differ in chronotype (i.e., being a "morning" or "evening" person) or sleep habits compared to those who are overweight and obese. We compared Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores of 690 National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) members (73 % female, 93 % white, age = 51.7 ± 12.5, BMI = 26.4 ± 5.1) to 75 enrollees in two behavioral weight loss interventions (INT; 77 % female, 88 % white, age = 55.7 ± 10.4, BMI = 36.2 ± 4.7). Controlling for age, MEQ scores were higher in NWCR than INT, p = .004, such that more NWCR than INT were morning-types and fewer were evening types, p = .014. Further, NWCR participants reported better sleep quality, longer sleep duration, and shorter latency to sleep onset compared to INT, ps < .05, and fewer NWCR participants reported <6 or <7 h of sleep, ps < .01. Future studies should examine if these factors change as a result of weight loss or are predictors of weight outcome.

Keywords: Chronotype; Morningness/eveningness; Obesity; Sleep; Weight loss maintenance.

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1

Morningness/Eveningness categorization by group, using cut-offs developed for middle-aged adults.