Associations Between Sleep, Appetite, and Food Reward over 6 Months in Black Emerging Adults—Findings from the Sleep, Health Outcomes and Body Weight (SHOW) Pilot Study

<b>Background/Objectives</b>: Imposed sleep restriction leads to increased feelings of appetite and hedonic eating behaviors (or food rewards). No study to date has assessed home-based measures of sleep with appetite and food rewards exclusively in Black emerging adults (ages 18-28 years), despite higher risks of short sleep and obesity in this population. We examined associations between 6-month changes in sleep with changes in appetite and food reward in Black emerging adults. <b>Methods</b>: Fifteen Black emerging adults (12 females; age, 21 ± 2.5 years; body mass index, 25.7 ± 4.5 kg/m²; body fat, 25.8 ± 11.9%) completed two identical 7-day measurement bursts at baseline and 6 months. Sleep (duration, efficiency, and architecture) was captured via 7 days of actigraphy and 2 nights of in-home polysomnography. During a laboratory visit, participants completed appetite measures (desire to eat, hunger, fullness, and prospective food consumption) via visual analog scales before and for 3 h following standard breakfast intake. The food reward for the fat and sweet categories of food was measured before lunch with the Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire. <b>Results</b>: Fasting fullness scores decreased from baseline to 6 months (-8.9 mm, <i>p</i> < 0.01) despite increases in body weight (2.6 kg, <i>p</i> < 0.01) and waist circumference (2.4 cm, <i>p</i> = 0.03). Increases in actigraph-measured sleep duration were associated with decreases in fasting desire to eat (r = -0.58, <i>p</i> = 0.04). Increases in actigraph-measured sleep efficiency were also associated with decreases in explicit liking for sweet foods (r = -0.60, <i>p</i> = 0.03). <b>Conclusions</b>: Our findings suggest that improvements in sleep duration and sleep efficiency may lead to decreased feelings of appetite and food reward in Black emerging adults.