Scientists followed 1,800 people’s sleep and diet over one year.
Eating a high-fat diet is linked to felling more sleepy during the day, new research finds.
The results are based on a study of 1,800 men aged 35-80.
Researchers followed what they ate and how they slept over one year.
Ms Yingting Cao, the study’s first author, said:
“After adjusting for other demographic and lifestyle factors, and chronic diseases, we found that those who consumed the highest fat intake were more likely to experience excessive daytime sleepiness.
This has significant implications for alertness and concentration, which would be of particular concern to workers.
High fat intake was also strongly associated with sleep apnea.”
The researchers found that 41% of the men had experienced daytime sleepiness.
Ms Cao said:
“Poor sleep and feeling sleepy during the day means you have less energy, but this in turn is known to increase people’s cravings for high-fat, high-carbohydrate foods, which is then associated with poor sleep outcomes.
So the poor diet-and-sleep pattern can become a vicious cycle.
The simple message is a common-sense one, but we need more people to pay attention to it: we need to eat better; a good sleep the night before is best.”
The study was published in the journal Nutrients (Cao et al., 2016).
