Food Consumption and Sleep Disturbances in 9-year-old Children

Maria Emília de Carvalho Faria; Silmara Salete de Barros Silva Mastroeni; Lidiane Ferreira Schultz; Zaíne Glaci Duarte Corrêa; Renatha El Rafihi Ferreira; Marco F. Mastroeni

doi:10.1055/s-0044-1786048

Sleep Science, Table of Contents

CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2025; 18(01): e74-e81
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1786048

Original Article

Food Consumption and Sleep Disturbances in 9-year-old Children

Maria Emília de Carvalho Faria

¹Postgraduate Program in Health and Environment, Universidade da Região de Joinville, UNIVILLE, Joinville, SC, Brazil

,

Silmara Salete de Barros Silva Mastroeni

¹Postgraduate Program in Health and Environment, Universidade da Região de Joinville, UNIVILLE, Joinville, SC, Brazil

²Department of Health Sciences, Nursing Program, Universidade da Região de Joinville, UNIVILLE, Joinville, SC, Brazil

,

Lidiane Ferreira Schultz

¹Postgraduate Program in Health and Environment, Universidade da Região de Joinville, UNIVILLE, Joinville, SC, Brazil

,

Zaíne Glaci Duarte Corrêa

²Department of Health Sciences, Nursing Program, Universidade da Região de Joinville, UNIVILLE, Joinville, SC, Brazil

,

Renatha El Rafihi Ferreira

³Sleep Clinic, Instituto de Psiquiatria do Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

,

Marco F. Mastroeni

¹Postgraduate Program in Health and Environment, Universidade da Região de Joinville, UNIVILLE, Joinville, SC, Brazil

²Department of Health Sciences, Nursing Program, Universidade da Região de Joinville, UNIVILLE, Joinville, SC, Brazil

› Author Affiliations

Abstract

Objective To assess the association of food consumption with sleep disturbances in 9-year-old children.

Material and Methods The present study is part of a larger cohort study named Predictors of Maternal and Infant Excess Body Weight (PREDI) that was conducted in the homes of the participants during the fourth study follow-up. Anthropometric assessment and demographic, socioeconomic, food consumption, and sleep data were obtained. The children's food consumption was evaluated using the Brazilian Food and Nutrition Surveillance System (SISVAN, in the Portuguese acronym). Sleep habits were assessed using the Sleep Disturbance Scale for Children to evaluate sleep pattern-related behaviors in children/adolescents aged 3 to 18 years. Data were self-reported by the mother and her child on the day of the visit. Logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the association of food consumption with sleep disturbances in children at 9 years of age.

Results Of the 142 children who participated in the study, 45.1% had sleep disturbances; most of them were boys (53.6%). The proportion of children with sleep disturbances was higher (55.6%) among children who did not consume fruits compared with those who ate fruits (p = 0.008). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the lack of fruit consumption was associated with sleep disturbances (OR = 2.26, p = 0.023), even after adjustment for other predictors.

Conclusion We showed that the lack of fruit consumption is a predictor of sleep disturbances. Since fruit consumption had a protective effect on sleep disturbances at 9 years of age, encouraging the consumption of fiber-rich foods may contribute to preventing the establishment of sleep problems even in infants.

Keywords

children - sleep habits - sleep disturbance - food consumption - fruits

Full Text

References

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Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material