“You are what you eat,” the saying goes, but is what
you eat playing a role in how much you sleep? Sleep,
like nutrition and physical activity, is a critical
determinant of health and well-being. With the
increasing prevalence of obesity and its
consequences, sleep researchers have begun to
explore the factors that predispose individuals to
weight gain and ultimately obesity.

Now, a new study from the Perelman School of
Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania shows for
the first time that certain nutrients may play an
underlying role in short and long sleep duration and
that people who report eating a large variety of
foods – an indicator of an overall healthy diet –
had the healthiest sleep patterns. The new research
is published online, ahead-of-print in the journal
Appetite.
“Although many of us inherently recognize that there
is a relationship between what we eat and how we
sleep, there have been very few scientific studies
that have explored this connection, especially in a
real-world situation,” said Michael A. Grandner,
PhD, Instructor in Psychiatry and member of the
Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology at Penn.
“ In general, we know that those who report between
7 - 8 hours of sleep each night are most likely to
experience better overall health and well being, so
we simply asked the question "Are there differences
in the diet of those who report shorter sleep,
longer sleep, or standard sleep patterns?”
To answer this question, the research team analyzed
data from the 2007-2008 National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) sponsored by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
NHANES includes demographic, socioeconomic, dietary,
and health-related questions.
The sample for the survey is selected to represent
the U.S. population of all ages and demographics.
For the current study, researchers used the survey
question regarding how much sleep each participant
reported getting each night to separate the sample
into groups of different sleep patterns.
Sleep patterns were broken out as “Very Short’’ (<5
h per night), ‘‘Short’’ (5–6 h per night),
‘‘Standard’ (7–8h per night), and ‘‘Long’’ (9 h or
more per night).
NHANES participants also sat down with specially
trained staff who went over, in great detail, a full
day's dietary intake. This included everything from
the occasional glass of water to complete, detailed
records of every part of each meal.
With this data, the Penn research team analyzed
whether each group differed from the 7-8 hour
“standard” group on any nutrients and total caloric
intake. They also looked at these associations after
controlling for overall diet, demographics,
socioeconomics, physical activity, obesity, and
other factors that could have explained this
relationship.
The authors found that total caloric intake varied
across groups. .Short sleepers consumed the most
calories, followed by normal sleepers, followed by
very short sleepers, followed by long sleepers.
Food variety was highest in normal sleepers, and
lowest in very short sleepers.
Differences across groups were found for many types
of nutrients, including proteins, carbohydrates,
vitamins and minerals.
In a statistical analysis, the research team found
that there were a number of dietary differences, but
these were largely driven by a few key nutrients.
They found that very short sleep was associated with
less intake of tap water, lycopene (found in red-
and orange-colored foods), and total carbohydrates.
Short sleep was associated with less vitamin C, tap
water, selenium (found in nuts, meat and shellfish),
and more lutein/zeaxanthin (found in green, leafy
vegetables).
Long sleep was associated with less intake of
theobromine (found in chocolate and tea), dodecanoic
acid (a saturated fat) choline (found in eggs and
fatty meats), total carbohydrates, and more alcohol.
“Overall, people who sleep 7 - 8 hours each night
differ in terms of their diet, compared to people
who sleep less or more. We also found that short and
long sleep are associated with lower food variety,”
said Dr. Grandner. “What we still don’t know is if
people altered their diets, would they be able to
change their overall sleep pattern? This will be an
important area to explore going forward as we know
that short sleep duration is associated with weight
gain and obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular
disease. Likewise, we know that people who sleep too
long also experience negative health consequences.
If we can pinpoint the ideal mix of nutrients and
calories to promote healthy sleep, the healthcare
community has the potential to make a major dent in
obesity and other cardiometabolic risk factors.”
Other authors for Penn include Nicholas J. Jackson
and Jason R. Gerstner, PhD.
This research was supported grants from National
Institutes of Health (T32HL007713, 12SDG9180007 and
P30HL101859).
For more information
Penn Medicine, Philadelphia
Appetite
(MDN)
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