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

Abstract

<p class="first" id="P1">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 (PSQI) 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, <i>p</i>=.004, such that more NWCR than INT were morning-types and fewer were evening types, <i>p</i>=.014. Further, NWCR participants reported better sleep quality, longer sleep duration, and shorter latency to sleep onset compared to INT, <i>ps</i>&lt;.05, and fewer NWCR participants reported &lt;6 or &lt;7 hours of sleep, <i>ps</i>&lt;.01. Future studies should examine if these factors change as a result of weight loss or are predictors of weight outcome. </p>