Eating disorders and sleep

Eating and sleeping are intricately regulated to produce our maximum health and wellness. Eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and night eating syndrome, as well as the parasomnia sleep-related eating disorder, are associated with a variety of sleep disruptions, including longer sleep latency, lower sleep efficiency, more frequent sleep disruptions, and poorer global sleep quality. Poorer sleep quality, likewise, is associated with more severe eating disorder symptoms. Patients with binge-eating and purging seem to have higher levels of sleep disturbances than patients with the restricting subtype of anorexia nervosa. Both sleep and eating disorders are related to mood and anxiety disturbances, which likely also influence the ability of those with eating disorders to engage more fully in psychotherapeutic treatments. More objective studies of sleep among those with all forms of disordered eating are needed.