Sleep, like nutrition and physical activity, is a critical
determinant of health and well-being. With the increasing prevalence of obesity
and its consequences, sleep researchers have begun to explore the factors that
predispose individuals to weight gain and ultimately obesity. Now, a new study from
the Perelman School
of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows for the first time
that certain nutrients may play an underlying role in short and long sleep
duration and that people who report eating a large variety of foods — an
indicator of an overall healthy diet — had the healthiest sleep patterns.
“Although many of us inherently recognize that there is a
relationship between what we eat and how we sleep, there have been very few
scientific studies that have explored this connection, especially in a
real-world situation,” said Michael A. Grandner, PhD, instructor in Psychiatry
and member of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at Penn. ” In
general, we know that those who report between 7 — 8 hours of sleep each night
are most likely to experience better overall health and well being, so we
simply asked the question “Are there differences in the diet of those who
report shorter sleep, longer sleep, or standard sleep patterns?”
To answer this question, the research team analyzed data
from the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)
sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. NHANES includes
demographic, socioeconomic, dietary, and health-related questions. The sample
for the survey is selected to represent the U.S. population of all ages and
demographics. For the current study, researchers used the survey question
regarding how much sleep each participant reported getting each night to
separate the sample into groups of different sleep patterns. Sleep patterns
were broken out as “Very Short” (<5 h per night), ”Short” (5-6 h per night),
”Standard’ (7-8h per night), and ”Long” (9 h or more per night). NHANES
participants also sat down with specially trained staff who went over, in great
detail, a full day’s dietary intake. This included everything from the
occasional glass of water to complete, detailed records of every part of each
meal. With this data, the Penn research team analyzed whether each group
differed from the 7-8 hour “standard” group on any nutrients and total caloric
intake. They also looked at these associations after controlling for overall
diet, demographics, socioeconomics, physical activity, obesity, and other
factors that could have explained this relationship.
The authors found that total caloric intake varied across
groups. Short sleepers consumed the most calories, followed by normal sleepers,
followed by very short sleepers, followed by long sleepers. Food variety was
highest in normal sleepers, and lowest in very short sleepers. Differences
across groups were found for many types of nutrients, including proteins,
carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals.
In a statistical analysis, the research team found that
there were a number of dietary differences, but these were largely driven by a
few key nutrients. They found that very short sleep was associated with less
intake of tap water, lycopene (found in red- and orange-colored foods), and
total carbohydrates, short sleep was associated with less vitamin C, tap water,
selenium (found in nuts, meat and shellfish), and more lutein/zeaxanthin (found
in green, leafy vegetables), and long sleep was associated with less intake of
theobromine (found in chocolate and tea), dodecanoic acid (a saturated fat)
choline (found in eggs and fatty meats), total carbohydrates, and more alcohol.
“Overall, people who sleep 7 — 8 hours each night differ in
terms of their diet, compared to people who sleep less or more. We also found
that short and long sleep are associated with lower food variety,” said Dr.
Grandner. “What we still don’t know is if people altered their diets, would
they be able to change their overall sleep pattern? This will be an important
area to explore going forward as we know that short sleep duration is
associated with weight gain and obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
Likewise, we know that people who sleep too long also experience negative
health consequences. If we can pinpoint the ideal mix of nutrients and calories
to promote healthy sleep, the healthcare community has the potential to make a
major dent in obesity and other cardiometabolic risk factors.”
