Can Healthy Sleep Improve Long-Term Bariatric Surgery Outcomes? Results of a Pilot Study and Call for Further Research.

Healthy sleep is associated with lower body weight and could improve and sustain weight loss following bariatric surgery. To support this premise, preliminary data on the relation between sleep duration and quality and long-term weight change in a subsample of participants from the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery are presented. Results indicate a relation between sleep duration and BMI and percent weight loss 9 years after surgery. Additionally, sleep quality explained 25% of the variance in weight change between 6- and 9-year follow-up visits. These data from a small exploratory study, in combination with the known effects of sleep on energy balance, suggest that sleep may play an important role in both immediate and sustained weight loss following bariatric surgery. Herein, a model of the proposed bidirectional relation between sleep and weight loss is presented as well as a call for systematic investigations of the influence of sleep on long-term weight management following bariatric surgery.