Does the Proximity of Meals to Bedtime Influence the Sleep of Young Adults? A Cross-Sectional Survey of University Students

Avoiding food before bedtime is a widely accepted sleep hygiene practice, yet few studies have assessed meal timing as a risk factor for disrupted sleep. This study examined the relationship between evening meal timing and sleep quality in young adults. A total of = 793 participants (26% male) aged...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2020-04, Vol.17 (8), p.2677
Main Authors: Chung, Nikola, Bin, Yu Sun, Cistulli, Peter A, Chow, Chin Moi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age groups
Alcohol use
Beverages
Body mass
Body mass index
Body size
Caffeine
Coffee
Cross-sectional studies
Ethnicity
Females
Food intake
Health behavior
Hygiene
Latency
Meals
Minority & ethnic groups
Polls & surveys
Risk analysis
Risk factors
Sleep
Smoking
Sociodemographics
Studies
Tea
University students
Young adults
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Avoiding food before bedtime is a widely accepted sleep hygiene practice, yet few studies have assessed meal timing as a risk factor for disrupted sleep. This study examined the relationship between evening meal timing and sleep quality in young adults. A total of = 793 participants (26% male) aged between 18 and 29 years responded to an online survey, which captured sociodemographic information, lifestyle variables, and sleep characteristics. Meal timing was defined as meals more than 3 h before or within 3 h of bedtime. The outcomes were as follows: one or more nocturnal awakenings, sleep onset latency of >30 min, and sleep duration of ≤6 h. Logistic regression analyses showed that eating within 3 h of bedtime was positively associated with nocturnal awakening (OR = 1.61, 95% CI = 1.15-2.27) but not long sleep onset latency (1.24; 0.89-1.73) or short sleep duration (0.79; 0.49-1.26). The relationship remained significant after adjusting for potential confounders of ethnicity and body mass index (OR = 1.43, 95% CI = 1.00-2.04). Meal timing appears to be a modifiable risk factor for nocturnal awakenings and disrupted sleep. However, this is a preliminary cross-sectional study and highlights the need for additional research on the influence of the timing of food intake on sleep.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph17082677