How people wake up is associated with previous night's sleep together with physical activity and food intake

Raphael Vallat; Sarah E Berry; Neli Tsereteli; Joan Capdevila; Haya Al Khatib; Ana M Valdes; Linda M Delahanty; David A Drew; Andrew T Chan; Jonathan Wolf; Paul W Franks; Tim D Spector; Matthew P Walker

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-34503-2

How people wake up is associated with previous night's sleep together with physical activity and food intake

Nat Commun. 2022 Nov 19;13(1):7116. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34503-2.

Authors

Raphael Vallat¹, Sarah E Berry², Neli Tsereteli³, Joan Capdevila⁴, Haya Al Khatib^{2

4}, Ana M Valdes^{5

6}, Linda M Delahanty⁷, David A Drew^{8

9}, Andrew T Chan^{8

9}, Jonathan Wolf⁴, Paul W Franks^{3

10

11}, Tim D Spector¹⁰, Matthew P Walker¹²

Affiliations

¹ Center for Human Sleep Science, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. raphaelvallat@berkeley.edu.
² Department of Nutritional Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
³ Department of Clinical Sciences, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden.
⁴ Zoe Ltd, London, UK.
⁵ School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
⁶ Nottingham NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham, UK.
⁷ Diabetes Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁸ Clinical & Translational Epidemiology Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁹ Division of Gastroenterology, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK.
¹¹ Department of Nutrition, Harvard Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
¹² Center for Human Sleep Science, Department of Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. mpwalker@berkeley.edu.

Abstract

How people wake up and regain alertness in the hours after sleep is related to how they are sleeping, eating, and exercising. Here, in a prospective longitudinal study of 833 twins and genetically unrelated adults, we demonstrate that how effectively an individual awakens in the hours following sleep is not associated with their genetics, but instead, four independent factors: sleep quantity/quality the night before, physical activity the day prior, a breakfast rich in carbohydrate, and a lower blood glucose response following breakfast. Furthermore, an individual's set-point of daily alertness is related to the quality of their sleep, their positive emotional state, and their age. Together, these findings reveal a set of non-genetic (i.e., not fixed) factors associated with daily alertness that are modifiable.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Eating / physiology
Exercise*
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Prospective Studies
Sleep*