Stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep and its association with body mass index in middle‐aged workers

• Published in: Journal of sleep research 2020-12, Vol.29 (6), p.e12955-n/a
• Main Authors: Vigoureux, Taylor F. D., Lee, Soomi, Buxton, Orfeu M., Almeida, David M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Body Mass Index; daily diary; Female; Humans; insufficient sleep; Male; Middle Aged; reactivity; Sleep Deprivation - epidemiology; stress; Stress, Psychological - complications; workers
• ISSN: 0962-1105; 1365-2869
• DOI: 10.1111/jsr.12955

Summary There is evidence that insufficient sleep and more stressors are individually associated with poor metabolic health outcomes. Examining sleep and stressors jointly may account for greater variability in health outcomes; however, we know little about the combined effect of both insufficient sleep and more stressors on metabolic health. This study examined whether experiencing more stressors in response to insufficient sleep (“stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep”) was associated with body mass index in middle‐aged workers. One‐hundred and twenty‐seven participants (Mage = 45.24 ± 6.22 years) reported nightly sleep characteristics and daily stressors on 8 consecutive days. We collected height and weight measurements to calculate body mass index (kg m−2). On average, workers reported more stressors following nights with shorter‐than‐usual sleep duration or poorer‐than‐usual sleep quality (negative slope means higher stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep). When examining stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep with insufficient sleep represented by shorter‐than‐usual sleep duration, compared with those with average stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep (within ±½ SD; reference), workers with high stressor reactivity to insufficient sleep (≤−½ SD) had higher body mass index (B = 3.24, p