Anorexia nervosa has been linked to waking up early
An international team of scientists has found a link between one of the eating disorders - anorexia nervosa - and the tendency to get up early in the morning. The researchers also found an inverse relationship: larks are more likely to have this type of eating disorder. And scientists also found that anorexia nervosa may be linked to insomnia.
Anorexia nervosa is characterized by a strongly reduced body weight, which people achieve by exhausting diets, provoking vomiting, taking laxatives and so on. In this case, the body image of such a person is highly distorted - despite all efforts, he perceives himself as not slim enough (even if in fact painfully thin), often he is tormented by obsessive thoughts about how to lose a few more pounds. This can be fatal. Due to cultural peculiarities, women, especially young women, are more often affected by anorexia nervosa.
Scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (USA), University College London (UK) and the Republican University of Uruguay conducted a new study of the causes and consequences of anorexia nervosa, the findings of which are presented in the journal JAMA Network Open.
The suggestion that various eating disorders (EDs) may be partly related to circadian rhythms is not new. But another study has confirmed that speculation. Using Mendelian randomization, researchers found a genetic link between anorexia nervosa and chronotype. The data the researchers used came from the British Biobank. The study used information on 16,992 participants suffering from anorexia nervosa and 55,525 subjects in the control group.
Researchers found that a genetic predisposition to anorexia nervosa is associated with a more "morning" chronotype. In addition, and the very tendency to get up early, carried a risk of getting this type of disorder. In other words, rising early can increase the propensity for anorexia nervosa, and conversely, having this RPP can seem to trigger a change in circadian rhythm to a more "morning" one.
Among other things, the researchers found a link between a genetic predisposition to insomnia and anorexia. These data scientists obtained from information from the Mass General Brigham Biobank - they concerned 47,082 people. But the researchers found no obvious associations between this type of eating disorder and other sleep patterns.
"Our results suggest that anorexia nervosa is a 'morning' disorder, while several others - depression, overeating and schizophrenia - are classified as 'evening' psychopathologies," said Hassan S. Dashti, senior author of the study and associate professor of anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School.
Anorexia nervosa is not well-treated, with a relapse rate as high as 52 percent. The exact causes of the disease are still unclear, with PPD often resulting in deaths among adolescents and young adults. The scientists' findings may shed light on the search for new methods of dealing with this type of disorder.