Is the Euro 2008 fever keeping you awake? Make sure you stay clear of that bowl of chips and repeated refills of cola while catching the football action. An international study, released on Wednesday, says that late-night snacking and a high fat diet through the day lead to poor sleep at night.
According to researchers at the Federal University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, positive and statistically significant correlations were found between total energy intake, late-night snacking and repeated awakenings during sleep.
The study focused on 52 healthy volunteers between 20-45 years of age. Their food intake was analyzed by a three-day food record. An overnight polysomnogram or sleep test was performed to determine their sleep pattern. Said lead author Cibele Crispim, "We found that increased fat intake was associated with a lower percentage of sound sleep, a higher arousal index and increased sleep apnea. This confirms that high fat intake and dinner fat intake negatively influence the sleep pattern."
The findings were announced at Sleep 2008, a global meet of professional sleep societies in Baltimore, US.
An adult needs roughly eight hours of sound night sleep to feel fresh.
Nutritionists say chips and cola taken at night can make people toss and turn in bed. The reason — fried food and drinks that contain caffeine take 12 hours to digest as against fruits that take half an hour and raw vegetables that take an hour.
"When we consume fried food late at night, the digestion process takes place constantly within us, seriously affecting our sleep. We recommend a person should hit the bed at least three hours after the last meal. Fried food late at night also leads to acidity that again hampers sound sleep and adds to your body weight," Dr Charu Dua, chief nutritionist at Max Hospital, told TOI.
An Indian adult should acquire 1,600 calories a day through his diet while a woman should get at least 1,400 calories. Recommendations say less than 25% of our diet should be fat.
However, when we consume just 10 pieces of chips, we take in 4 grams of fat that translates to 36 calories.
"Usually we consume hundreds of strips of chips every sitting, meaning we are taking in roughly 40 grams of fat or 360 calories. Usually in an Indian palate, 45% of the food consumed is fat, which takes our calorie consumption to more than 2,000," Dr Dua added.
When the Brazilian team analyzed data of people who consumed fatty food all day and tried to sleep, they found that these subjects woke up more times, tossed and turned through the night.
There was also greater chance of abnormal breathing while sleeping in this group. They also spent less time in REM (rapid eye movement) sleep each night. REM sleep is the sleep state during which dreaming occurs.
Bad diet therefore causes sleep debt. And when it becomes high, it leads to sleepiness that occurs when you should be alert and interferes with daily routine and activities, reducing your ability to function. It has a powerful negative effect on your daytime performance, thinking and mood. Inadequate sleep decreases performance, concentration, reaction time and causes memory lapses, accidents and injuries.
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