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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. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2016.07.001 |
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.