The importance of a balanced diet are well-known; a balanced diet will help you in maintaining a healthy weight and assist in preventing heart disease, diabetes, and many other diseases and disorders. It has also been known that getting enough sleep contributes to better overall health. Now, research is suggesting that diet may also be linked to sleep patterns.
Researchers from Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania investigated information culled from the 2007-2008 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which encompassed data from over 4,500 individuals. What they found was a correlation between separate groups of individuals who had varying sleep patterns. [1]
The findings broke down in this manner:
- Short sleepers (those who received less than five hours of sleep per night) consumed the most calories.
- Long sleepers (those who slept for nine hours or more each night) consumed the least number of calories in a given day.
- Those who slept for what was qualified as a "normal" period of time (between 7 and 8 hours each night) had a diet that was the most varied, an indicator of good health due to its inclusion of several sources of nutrients. Short sleepers additionally had the least varied diet on top of consuming the most calories.
While the study posed a good deal more questions than it answered about the correlation between diet and sleep, it is being looked at as a stepping stone to discover aid scientists in one day discovering the ideal mix of nutrients and calories to promote better sleep.
By Maria Abaca
[1] Sifferlin, Alexandra. "Does Your Diet Influence How Well You Sleep?" Time. Time, 07 Feb. 2013.
