Dietary behaviors Are Associated with Excessive Daytime Sleepiness

Abstract Background Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a common sleep abnormality among adolescents, and is reported to be associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Multiple factors have been associated with EDS, especially life style. This study aimed to explore the relationships between dietary behaviors and EDS.Methods A total of 988 Iranian adolescent girls aged between 12-18 years old were recruited this cross-sectional study. A Persian translation of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) was used to determine the presence of EDS. A pre-validated questionnaire was used for the assessment of dietary behaviors. To investigate the association between diet-related practices and the prevalence of EDS, we applied logistic regression analysis.Results The subjects who consumed a major meal three times daily had a 0.56 lower odds for EDS than the individual who consumed a single major meal (OR: 0.44; P = 0.01). Individuals with a ‘high-rate of food chewing’ were less likely to have EDS (OR: 0.55; P = 0.03). Compared with those who consumed fried or spicy foods daily, individuals who never consumed fried (OR: 1.8; P = 0.02) or spicy foods (OR: 1.71; P = 0.01) had a greater risk for EDS. In addition, there were direct associations between meal regularity and intra-meal fluid intake with EDS in an adjusted models. Neither in the crude nor in the adjusted models, were there significant associations between breakfast intake and frequency of snack consumption with EDS.Conclusions The findings of our study show the importance of diet-related practices in determining EDS. Prospective intervention studies are required to confirm these results.