To be fair, I was assuming the person was still suffering from sleep deprivation even while on the CPAP treatment. (Bias disclosure: I have personal experience in this area.) It is possible this person was sleeping well and not suffering from sleep deprivation.
At this stage, I am not sure anyone, let alone myself, can elucidate the precise mechanism of how OSA/sleep deprivation leads to abnormal eating patterns, however I think even just a cursory review of the literature shows general agreement that there is a link between the two.
Here is an abstract from a review published in 2017:
Obesity and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have a reciprocal relationship. Sleep disruptions characteristic of OSA may promote behavioral, metabolic, and/or hormonal changes favoring weight gain and/or difficulty losing weight. The regulation of energy balance (EB), i.e., the relationship between energy intake (EI) and energy expenditure (EE), is complex and multi-factorial, involving food intake, hormonal regulation of hunger/satiety/appetite, and EE via metabolism and physical activity (PA). The current systematic review describes the literature on how OSA affects EB-related parameters. OSA is associated with a hormonal profile characterized by abnormally high leptin and ghrelin levels, which may encourage excess EI. Data on actual measures of food intake are lacking, and not sufficient to make conclusions. Resting metabolic rate appears elevated in OSA vs.
Controls: Findings on PA are inconsistent, but may indicate a negative relationship with OSA severity that is modulated by daytime sleepiness and body weight. A speculative explanation for the positive EB in OSA is that the increased EE via metabolism induces an overcompensation in the drive for hunger/food intake, which is larger in magnitude than the rise in EI required to re-establish EB. Understanding how OSA affects EB-related parameters can help improve weight loss efforts in these patients.
> To be fair, I was assuming the person was still suffering from sleep deprivation even while on the CPAP treatment. (Bias disclosure: I have personal experience in this area.)
Yeah, I can say from first hand experience that CPAP doesn't always solve every sleep problems :/.
Thanks for the link, it's shedding some light on things that I suspected.
It's strongly suspected that there's a nasty feedback loop between disrupted sleep (caused by apnea) and weight gain due to interference with appetite regulation.
I've an issue with sleep related binge-eating: fullness induces sleepiness, so when I'm awake at night and want to be asleep I'll eat - basically an extra meal. Alcohol too. For me the root issue is other mental health problems.
Sleep problems can readily lead to weight gain.
I can see how apnoea that exhibits as waking up a lot might lead someone attempting to fall into heavier sleep by overeating.
IF, paired with lots of exercise, was working for me before the current crisis.
But sleep apnea doesn't wake you up enough to get out of bed and start eating like pulling all-nighters or insomnia do and going to sleep with a full belly won't prevent flesh/muscle collapsing that causes sleep apnea although I can see how the body burning energy to digest + endorphin from a good meal might help falling asleep faster.
> IF, paired with lots of exercise, was working for me before the current crisis.
I've heard people referring to complex sleep issues as apnoea - I was just suggesting there can be complex causative links. Hopefully the OP can respond an answer the actual question.
> I've heard people referring to complex sleep issues as apnoea
Ah, it might be a translation issue on my part then. I am inclined to believe there are some complex causative links, hope research will bring new hypotheses and answers about that.
How so ?