4 - (SYM 92) Sleep Characteristics and Next-day Loss-of-control Eating in Adolescents: An Ecological Momentary Assessment and Sensor Study

Sleep disturbance (e.g., short duration, low quality) is emerging as a potential maintenance factor for dysregulated eating behaviors such as overeating and loss-of-control (LOC) eating (the hallmark feature of binge eating). Sleep disturbance is likely to affect self-regulation capacities, which could drive dysregulated eating. While preliminary research supports this link, critical gaps remain: (1) few studies have examined daily relationships between sleep and dysregulated eating; (2) research has largely not focused on adolescence, a key time period for the development of dysregulated eating behavior and self-regulation; and (3) little research has integrated objective sensor measurement of sleep into these investigations. As such, we used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and sensor-based measurement of sleep to examine relationships between sleep disturbance and dysregulated eating.

Adolescents of higher weight status (N = 56, age 14-18, 41.07% female, Mean BMI percentile = 97.1) completed a 7-day EMA protocol which asked about nightly sleep, LOC eating, and overeating episodes. Adolescents also wore a Fitbit tracker while completing EMA, providing an objective measure of sleep. Multilevel models examined within-person associations between sleep characteristics and next-day eating behavior and linear models examined cross-sectional associations between sleep characteristics and total overeating/LOC episodes.

No sleep characteristics were cross-sectionally associated with total overeating or LOC eating episodes (est: -0.216 - 1.069; ps: 0.056 - 0.903). No within-person changes in sleep characteristics were associated with next-day level of overeating or LOC eating (est: -0.224 - 0.237; ps: 0.184 - 0.997).

No meaningful cross-sectional or temporal relationships were detected between either sensor- or EMA-measured sleep and LOC or overeating. It is possible that such relationships would be stronger in samples with greater levels of eating pathology. Future research should continue to integrate sensor and self-report measurement to better understand temporal relationships between sleep disturbance and loss-of-control eating, especially during adolescence.