The Relationship Between Dietary Intake and Sleep Quality in Endurance Athletes

Abstract

Many endurance athletes have poor sleep quality which may affect performance and health. It is unclear how dietary intake affects sleep quality among athletes. We examined if sleep quality in endurance athletes is associated with consumption of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, dairy milk, and caffeinated beverages. Two hundred thirty-four endurance athletes (39.5 ± 14.1 year) participated in a survey. Participants provided information on demographics, anthropometry, sleep behavior and quality, and dietary intake via questionnaires. Sleep quality was assessed using the Athlete Sleep Screening Questionnaire (ASSQ) with a global score (ASSQ-global) and subscales including sleep difficulty (ASSQ-SD), chronotype (ASSQ-C), and disordered breathing while sleeping (ASSQ-SDB). A general linear model (GLM), adjusted for age, body mass index, sleep discomfort, sleep behavior, gender, race, and ethnicity, showed that higher caffeinated beverage intake was related to poorer global sleep quality (p = 0.01) and increased risk for disordered breathing while sleeping (p = 0.03). Higher whole grain intake was associated with a morning chronotype and lower risk for sleep issues (p = 0.01). The GLM did not reveal a relationship between sleep quality and dairy milk, fruit, and vegetable intake. In conclusion, caffeinated beverages and whole grain intake may influence sleep quality. This relationship needs to be confirmed by further research.

Prevalence and associated factors of poor sleep quality among industrial workers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: findings from a cross-sectional study

“…The current study also indicated that industrial workers who took more than 250 mg of caffeine per day, compared with those who consumed 250 mg or less per day, had a 2.57-fold higher risk of having poor sleep quality. This finding is supported by other studies in North America, 94 South Korea 95 and Iran. 96 A similar finding is reported in a study done in the USA among firefighters 97 and somewhere else.…”

Dietary Intake of Recreational Endurance Runners Associated with Race Distance—Results from the NURMI Study (Step 2)

“…Results from a study show that endurance runners seem to consume healthier carbohydrate and protein foods than normal populations, with a higher consumption of unrefined grains, white meats, and low-fat dairy products, and a lower consumption of refined grains, red meat, and high-fat dairy products [23]. Inconsistently, a lower consumption of whole grains has also been reported in endurance runners compared to non-athletes [64]. Another study showed that distance runners had a lower consumption of carbohydrates compared to other endurance athletes [65].…”

The Impact of Dietary Factors on the Sleep of Athletically Trained Populations: A Systematic Review

“…These studies were categorized into main themes based on the dietary factor(s) examined; macronutrients, micronutrients and energy, dietary supplements, and dietary patterns. All studies were published between 2010 and 2022, with 83% (n = 29) published between 2018 and 2022 [37,40,43,54,[57][58][59][60][61][62][64][65][66][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85]. Females were recruited in 18 studies (51%) [43,54,58,[60][61][62]67,68,71,76,[78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85], with only 23% of studies (n = 8) recruiting females exclusively [54,…”

“…Females were recruited in 18 studies (51%) [43,54,58,[60][61][62]67,68,71,76,[78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85], with only 23% of studies (n = 8) recruiting females exclusively [54,58,61,62,68,76,82,85], compared to 49% for males [37,40,[55][56][57]59,[63][64][65][66]69,70,[72][73][74][75]77]. Of the 35 studies, 21 were randomized control trials [40,43,[55][56][57][58][59][60]…”

“…The training status of participants varied, with recruited populations described as elite/professional (n = 18) [37,43,54,59,62,64,66,67,[69][70][71][72][73]75,77,80,81,83], sub-elite (n = 1) [71], national/international level (n = 4) [65,68,79,82], state-level (n = 1) [40], well/highly trained (n = 4) [43,56,63,76], trained (n = 4) [55,60,61,85], recreationally-trained (n = 2) [57,68], and active (n = 1) [58], with three studies not reporting training status [74,78]. Studies not reporting training status were included in the review as participants were described as athletes [74,78,84], and the active population were completing moderate-vigorous activity >4 days per week [58]. Participants were recruited from numerous sports, including Australian football (n = 3) [37,54,59], basketball (n = 2) [40,…”