The ARCH Lab collaborated on a recent paper published in the journal Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention in Canada: Research, Policy and Practice, titled “Sleep Duration and Eating Behaviours among Adolescents: A Scoping Review”.

Investigations of the relationship between sleep duration and eating behaviours have been emerging prior to the current paper, however, a formal synthesis of the literature focused on adolescent populations specifically had not yet been conducted.

In total, 61 studies published between 2006 and 2021 met the criteria for review. The authors found a large emphasis on the dietary intake of healthful foods, beverages and processed foods, and limited focus on the contextual factors that shape eating, eating-related cognitions and disordered eating symptoms.

Stakeholders validated the findings, provided insight into the interpretation of the findings and highlighted areas for future research. Additional sleep research exploring the cognitive and contextual factors surrounding eating is needed (e.g. eating with others, eating when not hungry, binge eating).