Evidence review
Sleep duration, food intake and hormones: a trial review
The review of 50 trials found indications of greater intake, hunger and appetite with sleep restriction, but not a consistent pattern of changes in leptin, ghrelin and cortisol.
- Evidence design
- Systematic review of randomized clinical trials
- Population
- Adults, children and adolescents; varied populations and experimental conditions.
- Assessment period
- Study count, with no single intervention duration
- Reported units
- trials
Keep in view
- Protocols and age groups varied; no single verified magnitude applies to all outcomes.
- 50 counts trials, not participants or the denominator for each outcome.
- Reviews may share trials; do not sum their samples as independent evidence.
See study details — Sleep restriction review
Review design and extraction scope
Systematic review of randomized clinical trials
Systematic review of randomized trials; search through July 2020.
Population
Adults, children and adolescents; varied populations and experimental conditions.
- Study design
- Systematic review of randomized trials; search through July 2020.
- Reported sample count
- Not reported or not verified
- Role of the reported sample count
- Review-wide total; not an outcome-specific denominator
- Included study count
- 50
- Role of the study count
- Review-wide total; not an outcome-specific denominator
- Research question
- How does sleep duration affect intake, desire to eat, body measurements and hormones?
- Qualified findings
- The review suggests greater intake, hunger and appetite with sleep restriction. The synthesis did not identify a consistent influence on leptin, ghrelin and cortisol. This supports cautious wording about hormonal mechanisms.
- Estimand and analysis rules
- Not reported or not verified
- Reason the formal estimand is unavailable
- A complete formal estimand was not extracted from the verified input.
How to read this review
Included studies may differ in population, design and outcomes. Review-wide counts describe coverage and cannot be used as the sample size of every estimate.
Included studies: 50 — Review-wide total; not an outcome-specific denominator.
Extracted review results and scope
Study counts describe review scope. Review-wide participant totals are not outcome-specific denominators.
| Outcome and group | Reported value | Assessment period | Sample and denominators | Uncertainty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trials included in the review Review scope Review scope count; not a clinical effect | 50 trials Included study count Unit: trials | Study count, with no single intervention duration | Participant N: not applicable to a study count
| Review-scope count, not an estimated effect; a CI is not applicable. |
Trials included in the review — Review scope: extraction context
- Outcome role
- Not specified in the consulted scope
- Extraction location
- Original systematic-review abstract
- 43 adult trials and seven child/adolescent trials; do not use 50 as a participant denominator.
What the curated evidence supports
- The review of 50 trials found indications of greater intake, hunger and appetite with sleep restriction, but not a consistent pattern of changes in leptin, ghrelin and cortisol.
Limitations
- Protocols and age groups varied; no single verified magnitude applies to all outcomes.
- 50 counts trials, not participants or the denominator for each outcome.
- Reviews may share trials; do not sum their samples as independent evidence.
Verification scope
Verified through 2026-11-04 within the consulted scope.
- Bibliographic metadata checked
- Yes
- Original article abstract consulted
- Yes
- Full-text consultation
- Not consulted
- full text verified fields
- Official trial registry consulted
- No
- Statistical analysis plan consulted
- No
- Verification boundary
- Verification is limited to the input's identified abstract/full-text fields. A trial identifier linked by an article does not imply a separate registry review.
Source record
Effect of sleep duration on dietary intake, desire to eat, measures of food intake and metabolic hormones: A systematic review of clinical trials (2021)
Source identifiers
- PubMed record 34620371
- Article DOI: 10.1016/j.clnesp.2021.07.029