Self-Reported Dietary Attentiveness to Fruit and Vegetable Intake and Actigraphy-Measured Sleep Efficiency in Middle-Aged and Older Women: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background/

Objectives

Diet and sleep are both important modifiable factors in healthy aging, yet little is known about whether attention to healthy eating behaviors is associated with objectively measured sleep. This study examined the association between self-reported attention to fruit and vegetable intake and actigraphy-measured sleep efficiency among women aged 45 years and older.

Methods

This cross-sectional study included 143 women aged 45 years and older recruited from community centers. Participants wore a wrist-worn actigraphy device continuously for 7 days and completed daily sleep logs. Attention to fruit and vegetable intake was assessed using a single-item, four-category self-report measure. Hierarchical multiple linear regression was used to examine its independent association with sleep efficiency after adjustment for sociodemographic, health-related, and psychological covariates.

Results

The mean age of the participants was 56.34 ± 7.67 years, and the mean sleep efficiency was 82.69 ± 8.60%. In the fully adjusted model, participants who reported "often" paying attention to fruit and vegetable intake had significantly higher sleep efficiency than those who reported doing so "almost every day" (β = 0.24, p = 0.013). Older age was independently associated with lower sleep efficiency (β = -0.31, p = 0.001).

Conclusions

In this exploratory cross-sectional study, a single-item measure of self-reported attentiveness to fruit and vegetable intake showed a category-specific association with actigraphy-measured sleep efficiency. Longitudinal studies using more detailed dietary and behavioral measures are needed to clarify the direction and meaning of this association.