Abstract
Background
Insomnia is associated with a poor quality of life and increased risk of somatic and
social problems. The aim of current study was to investigate the relationship between
dietary behaviors and insomnia in Iranian adolescent girls.
Methods
This cross-sectional study was performed among 988 girls aged 12-18 years. A questionnaire
was used to determine dietary behaviors in nine domains. To assess insomnia, a validated
Iranian version of the Insomnia Severity Index was applied. Multivariable logistic
regression examined the association between dietary behaviors and insomnia in crude
and adjusted models.
Results
Highest adherence to regular meal consumption was related to the lowest odds of insomnia
(odds ratio [OR]: 0.44, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.24-0.81). Compared with individuals
who consumed breakfast never or once a week, those who always consumed breakfast had
a lower likelihood of insomnia (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.36-0.88). These associations remained
significant in all adjusted models. Subjects who ate spicy food every day had 4.73
times greater odds of insomnia than individuals who never ate spicy food (OR: 4.73,
95% CI: 1.09-20.56). After controlling for age, menstruation, parent death, parents’
divorce and parents’ (mother and father) employment status, this relationship remained
(OR: 4.59, 95% CI: 1.05-20.10); however, the association was no longer significant
after controlling for the other covariates. No significant relationship was found
between other dietary habits and insomnia for the unadjusted or adjusted models.
Conclusion
Lowest rates of insomnia were found among participants who had the lowest frequency
of eating spicy foods and the highest frequency of eating breakfast and eating regular
meals. Further prospective studies are required to confirm these findings.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 09, 2022
Identification
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© 2021 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
