A study published within the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals that folks following a vegetarian food regimen could have a lower risk of insomnia, a standard sleep problem.

Study: Plant-based dietary patterns and risk of insomnia: a prospective study

Background

Insomnia is a standard sleep problem characterised by difficulty falling and staying asleep for at the least three nights per week for at the least three months. The condition is related to a better risk of heart problems, stroke, abnormal blood lipid profile, diabetes, anxiety, and depression. As well as, insomnia can reduce the general quality of life, cognitive functions, and work productivity and increase automobile accident risk.

Cognitive behavioral therapy and sedative-hypnotic drugs are two effective treatment options for insomnia. Nevertheless, various disadvantages, reminiscent of accessibility, adherence, cost, risk of drug abuse, addiction, and withdrawal, potentially restrict using these treatments. This highlights the necessity to discover modifiable lifestyle aspects to cut back insomnia risk.

Recent evidence indicates that adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern can improve sleep quality and reduce insomnia risk. A healthy dietary pattern is thought to cut back inflammation and maintain gut microbial composition, which in turn can improve sleep quality.

On this study, scientists have investigated the connection between plant-based dietary patterns and the danger of insomnia.

Study design

The study was conducted on a complete of 5,821 participants from The Tzu Chi Health Study. This prospective cohort study recruited participants from the Tzu Chi population between 2007 and 2009 and followed up with them until 2018. All participants were advised to devour plant-based (vegetarian) diets and avoid smoking and drinking alcohol. Participants who avoided meat and seafood for over a yr were considered vegetarians.

A healthful plant-based index (hPDI) was calculated to find out adherence to a healthy plant-based food regimen. A better hPDI would represent higher intakes of healthful plant foods and lower intakes of each unhealthful plant foods and animal foods.

Incident cases of insomnia were obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD). All participants were followed up via this database until the date of insomnia diagnosis, death, termination of enrollment within the NHI program, or the tip of the study period (December 31, 2018), whichever got here first. Appropriate statistical analyses were carried out to find out the association between plant-based food regimen and insomnia risk.

Necessary observations

A complete of 5,821 Tzu Chi volunteers participated within the study, of whom about 29% were vegetarians and had higher hPDI scores in comparison with non-vegetarians.

The dietary intake evaluation of the participants indicated that vegetarians have a better intake of healthy and unhealthy plant-based foods and a lower intake of animal-based foods than non-vegetarians. Consumption of dairy products was lower amongst female vegetarians than amongst female non-vegetarians. Notably, consumption of meat was also low amongst non-vegetarians.

Risk of insomnia

A complete of 464 incident cases of insomnia were identified within the study population in the course of the study follow-up period.

After adjusting for potential confounders, a lower risk of insomnia was observed amongst vegetarians in comparison with that amongst non-vegetarians. Specifically, a significantly lower risk of insomnia was seen amongst male participants with the very best hPDI scores. Nevertheless, no such association was observed amongst female participants.

Moreover, a major association was observed between the consumption of healthful plant-based foods and lower risk of insomnia. In contrast, consumption of animal-based foods was found to extend the danger of insomnia significantly. These associations were observed only amongst male participants. Amongst female participants, consumption of healthful and unhealthful plant-based foods was found to cut back the danger of insomnia marginally.

Study significance

The study finds that folks consuming plant-based foods have a lower risk of insomnia. The study findings suggest that plant-based diets may improve sleep quality and reduce insomnia risk.

As discussed by the scientists within the paper, a vegetarian food regimen might help improve sleep quality in some ways. Such diets contain high amounts of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and nuts, that are wealthy sources of tryptophan and melatonin. Tryptophan is a precursor of melatonin and serotonin, which play vital roles in regulating the sleep cycle. Furthermore, evidence indicates that vegetarian diets are effective in reducing inflammation and improving gut microbial composition, which collectively can have a useful impact on sleep quality.