Eating more fruits and vegetables may help last longer

When you sleep, your body repairs cells, regulates hormones, Save new memoriesNot getting enough sleep can disrupt these natural processes.

As National Institutes of Health “While you sleep, your body works to support healthy brain function and maintain your physical well-being,” it explains.

Some people have no problems sleeping, while others have issues due to poor sleep hygiene, sleep apnea, insomnia, etc. Also, some people sleep more than 9 hours a night. Sleep FoundationThis can lead to mental health and heart problems.

The study looked at the sleep and nutritional habits of 5,043 Finnish adults. In various questionnaires, participants provided information about their sleep duration and food intake.

Participants also provided information on socioeconomic status, BMI, physical activity, and health problems.

World Health Organization (WHO) Recommendation: 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per dayThe researchers wanted to limit intake to 400 grams per day and see which people were approaching that recommendation.

The researchers also analyzed the participants' chronotypes. Advance research They found that chronotype (sleep duration) had no effect on next-day fruit and vegetable intake, with the scientists saying that chronotype “reflects an individual's preference for the timing of their daytime activities (morning or evening preference).”

After analyzing the self-administered questionnaires, the researchers divided the participants into groups based on the number of hours they slept each night.

• Short sleepers (21% of participants) slept an average of 6 hours per night.
• Regular sleepers (76.1% of participants) slept an average of 7.7 hours per night.
• Long sleepers (2.9% of participants) slept an average of 10.1 hours per night.

The researchers found that “normal sleepers” – those who slept seven to nine hours a night – ate more fruit and vegetables than the other groups.

“Normal sleepers” consumed an average of 463.1 grams of fruits and vegetables per day, which was higher than both the short and long sleepers.

Short sleepers consumed an average of 37 grams less per day than regular sleepers. Both short and regular sleepers were within the WHO recommended intake range. The Nordic Council of Ministers recommends 500-800 grams per day.

Long sleepers consumed an average of 73.4 grams less than normal sleepers.

Upon further analysis, the researchers noticed some differences in the consumption of certain types of foods.

When vegetables were split into subgroups, the researchers found “significant differences” in the amounts of green leafy vegetables, root vegetables, and fruit vegetables (such as tomatoes and cucumbers) consumed between short and normal sleepers, with long sleepers also consuming less green leafy vegetables and fruit vegetables than normal sleepers.

In the fruit subgroup, the researchers also observed significant differences in the types of berries and other fresh and canned fruits consumed between short and normal sleepers. Apples was the only fruit subgroup that showed a significant difference between long and normal sleepers.

The researchers also investigated whether participants' self-reported chronotypes influenced sleep duration by classifying them into the following categories based on whether they considered themselves most productive in the morning, evening, or somewhere in between:

• Morning type
• Intermediate type
• Night Type

This analysis suggests that chronotype has little effect on the association between sleep patterns and dietary choices.

“Sleep time [fruit and vegetable] Consumption is minimal,” the authors write.

Overall, the findings highlight the need for a focus on nutrition to improve sleep. People looking to improve the quality of their diet may find it useful to keep a food diary to assess their fruit and vegetable intake and adjust accordingly.

While the researchers acknowledge that relying on self-reported data is a limitation of the study, they encourage longer-term studies “to better understand these associations and their public health implications.”

Sudha Tharavajra, MDis a neuro-sleep disorder specialist at UTHealth Houston. Today's Medical News About research.

“The conclusions of this study should be interpreted in terms of association, not necessarily causation,” Talabajra said.

“Lack of sleep is associated with poor food choices,” explains Tarabajra. “Lack of sleep typically leads to lower energy levels during the day, so patients may choose 'easy' foods like canned or processed foods instead of fresh ingredients that take more effort.”

Tharavajra also commented on what the study means from a public health perspective.

“The main implication for public health is that the importance of sleep and other lifestyle parameters cannot be ignored when introducing interventions to improve diet.”
— Dr. Sudha Tharavajra

Dr. Devika BhushanHe is a pediatrician, public health leader and chief medical officer of San Francisco-based Daybreak Health. MNT.

“The association here between abnormal sleep patterns (shorter or longer than normal or healthy sleep duration) and reduced fruit and vegetable intake makes a lot of sense,” Bhushan noted.

“But to me, the question arises as to which came first – the atypical sleep or the reduced fruit and vegetable intake – and whether both are actually due to underlying stress biology,” Bhushan continued.

Bhushan explained that stress-related symptoms can affect sleep, which can impact people's food choices.

“Many stress-related health conditions, from depression to chronic pain to heart and lung disease, can disrupt healthy sleep habits and contribute to irregular sleep schedules,” Bhushan points out. “Activated stress pathways also promote cravings for high-calorie, high-fat, and carbohydrate-rich foods, and often lead to an overall decrease in fruit and vegetable intake.”

“Thus, while these findings make intuitive sense, it is difficult to infer causation and the direction of association from these findings alone,” Bhushan said.