Associations between sleep characteristics and weight gain in an older population: results of the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Sleep duration influences weight change in children and young adults, but there is less evidence in middle-aged, and, in particular, older adults. We assessed associations between sleep duration, daytime napping and sleep disturbances, respectively, with change of weight and waist circumference in older subjects. Contrary to previous studies, we also used two points in time to assess sleep characteristics. METHODS: We used data from the population-based Heinz Nixdorf Recall study, a cohort study in Germany with a baseline and two follow-up visits (age 45–74 years, median follow-up 5.1 years for first, 5.2 years for second follow-up visit). In adjusted linear regression models (N=3751), we estimated weight change between baseline and first follow-up visit in relation to various self-reported sleep characteristics measured at baseline. Furthermore, we estimated change of weight and waist circumference, respectively, between first and second follow-up visit in relation to patterns of sleep characteristics measured at baseline and at the first follow-up visit (N=2837). RESULTS: In all analyses, short and long sleep duration, sleep disturbances, and regular daytime napping were associated with <1 kg of weight gain and <1 cm of gain in waist circumference over 5 years compared with the respective reference categories. For example, compared with 7–<8 h night sleep, short night sleep (⩽5 h at baseline) was associated with 0.5 kg of weight gain (95% confidence interval: −0.1; 1.1 kg). CONCLUSIONS: Our study gave no evidence that sleep characteristics were associated with clinically relevant weight gain in the older population.