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The association between dietary quality, sleep duration, and depression symptoms in the general population: Findings from cross-sectional NHANES study
Unhealthy lifestyles, characterized by poor diet and inadequate sleep duration, are well-established as modifiable risk factors for depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study by Du et al. (2024) is to look at the connections between depression symptoms, sleep length, food quality, and the impacts of these links. Data from the NHANES 2007–2014 cycles, which comprised 19,134 persons aged 20 and above, were used in the study. Poor sleep length was defined as fewer than seven or nine hours of sleep per night, while poor eating was defined as having a Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015 score below the 60th percentile. Participants were categorized into four lifestyle groups. Results showed that 8.44% of participants experienced depressive symptoms. Among them, 56.58% had a healthy sleep duration, and 24.83% had a healthy diet. Both unhealthy diet and unhealthy sleep duration were positively linked to depression symptoms. Compared to those with a healthy diet and enough sleep, participants with an unhealthy diet but a healthy sleep length, a good diet but an unhealthy sleep duration, or both an unhealthy diet and a healthy sleep duration were substantially more likely to suffer from depressed symptoms. According to stratified analysis, those who were exposed to both an unhealthy diet and a lack of sleep were more likely to have depressive symptoms if they were female, middle-aged, had a higher level of education, or did not achieve recommended levels of physical activity. The study concludes that individuals experiencing either poor diet or poor sleep, or both, are more susceptible to depressive symptoms. [NPID: Depressive symptoms, dietary quality, sleep duration, NHANES]
Year: 2024
