Guwahati: Not feeling sleepy? Blame your eating habits. A recent study suggests that completing recommended sleeping hours could lead to smarter snacking choices.
The study abstract has been published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and the research will be presented in a poster session on October 18 at the 2021 Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo.
A known fact that people who miss the recommended seven or more hours of sleep per night might make poorer snacking choices than those who adhere to shut-eye guidelines.
It turns out that the favoured non-meal food categories - salty snacks and sweets and non-alcoholic drinks - are the same among adults regardless of sleep habits, but those getting less sleep tend to eat more snack calories in a day overall.
The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and Sleep Research Society recommends that adults sleep seven hours or longer per night on a regular basis to promote optimal health. Getting less sleep than recommended is associated with a higher risk for a number of health problems, including weight gain and obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
Though there are lots of physiological factors at play in sleep's relationship to health. Changing behaviour by avoiding the nightly nosh, in particular, could help adults not only meet the sleep guidelines but also improve their diet.
