Abstract
Sleep hygiene recommendations discourage eating before bedtime, however, the impact of mealtime on sleep has been inconsistent. We examined gender-stratified associations between eating or drinking <1, <2 and <3 hours before bedtime, sleep duration, and wake after sleep onset (WASO>30 minutes). This study utilized 2003-2018 data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), a nationally representative sample of US residents aged≥15. Participants recorded weekday/weekend activities during a 24-hour period. Age-specific Sleep duration and WASO were estimated categorically and continuously. Eating or drinking were identified from all activities recorded <1, <2 and <3 hours before bedtime. Mean±SE sleep duration was 8.0±0.006 hours, and 6% of participants ate or drank <1 hour prior to weekdays bedtime. Overall, eating or drinking <1 hour prior to bedtime was associated with longer weekdays sleep duration. Women and men who ate or drank <1 hour before bedtime, vs. those who did not, had 35 minutes [95%CI (30,39)] and 25 minutes [95%CI (21,29)] longer sleep duration, respectively, as well as increased odds of WASO; women [OR=2.03,95%CI (1.66,2.49)] and men [OR=2.64,95%CI (2.08,3.36)]. As the interval of eating or drinking prior to bedtime expanded, odds of short and long sleep durations and WASO decreased. This population-based data linked eating or drinking <1 hour before bedtime to longer sleep duration, but increased WASO. Eating or drinking further from bedtime lowers the odds of short and long sleep duration and WASO. Causal pathways are difficult to discern, though inefficient sleep after late-night eating could increase WASO and trigger compensatory increases in sleep duration.
Sleep Duration and Waking Activities in Relation to the National Sleep Foundation’s Recommendations: An Analysis of US Population Sleep Patterns from 2015 to 2017