The Relationship between Objectively Measured Sleep and Diet Quality in College Women

Objective The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between sleep (duration and quality) and diet quality among young adult women. Subjects: Three-hundred seventy-five women (18-24 years) were recruited to participate in the study.

Measurement Each participant wore an actigraph for 7 consecutive nights to measure sleep. Sleep logs were used to verify bedtime and wake time for each night. Actigraph data was then evaluated to determine sleep latency, efficiency, and number of awakenings. Diet was evaluated using automated self-administered 24-hour recall over three nonconsecutive days. Diet quality was evaluated using the 2005 Healthy Eating Index (HEI 2005), consumption of fruits and vegetables and consumption of non-nutrient dense foods (NNDF).

Results On average women in the study consumed 1980 ± 540 calories per day, 1.2 ± 0.7 servings of fruits and vegetables per 1000 calories and 27.4 ± 11.9% of their calories from junk foods. The average Healthy Eating Index score was 59.3 ± 12.5, which is classified as “needs improvement.” The HEI 2005 was negatively related to bedtime (F = 7.89, p = 0.0053) and the coefficient of variation in wake time (F = 5.13, p = 0.0242). Fruit and vegetable consumption was negatively related to wake time (F = 9.85, p = 0.0019)and the coefficient of variation in wake time (F = 6.34, p = 0.0123). NNDF was positively related to bedtime (F = 4.82, p = 0.0289).

Conclusions Result for this study suggest that young adult women who go to sleep earlier, wake up earlier and have more consistent sleep patterns eat less NNDF, more fruits and vegetables and better meet dietary recommendations than women who go to sleep later, wake up later and have less consistent sleep patterns.