The Relationship between Dietary Intake and Sleep Quality

Abstract

Insufficient sleep is commonly associated with negative health outcomes, and healthy lifestyle recommendations often include suggestions for improving sleep hygiene. Similarly, poor diet habits are associated with a variety of health disorders, and a diet that follows the USDA’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans promotes improved health. This thesis seeks to explore the intersection between sleep and diet and how they relate. To assess the correlation between diet quality and sleep quality, total Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2010) score and sleep efficiency were compared for 422 healthy men and women between the ages of 21 and 35 years from the Energy Balance Study (EBS) (1). Participants were predominantly Caucasian (66.8%) with four of more years of college education (83.7%) and had a mean BMI of 25.3 ± 3.8 kg/m2. Participants spent an average of 7.99 ± 0.94 hours in bed with an average of 6.54 ± 0.89 hours of sleep time. Mean sleep efficiency across the sample was 82.12 ± 7.16 percent. The sample was split into two sleep efficiency groups (85% sleep efficiency group and 0.73 ± 0.81 for the ≥85% sleep efficiency group. No significant difference was found between groups (p = 0.88). The data suggest no relationship between diet quality and sleep quality in participants of the EBS when measured by total HEI-2010 score, whole to refined grain sub-score ratios, and sleep efficiency.