Effects of Meal Habits and Alcohol/Cigarette Consumption on Morningness-Eveningness Preference and Sleep Habits by Japanese Female Students Aged 18–29

Abstract

The relationship of meal habits and alcohol/ cigarette consumption to circadian typology and sleep health in Japanese female students was studied from an epidemiological point of view. Questionnaires on Morningness-Eveningness by Torsvall and Åkerstedt (1980), sleep habits, regularity of meal intake and meal amount, and style of alcohol and cigarette consumption were administered to 800 students aged 18-29 years, attending university or training schools for nutrition specialists (Aichi Prefecture, 35°N). Points from ten questions were totaled to provide estimates of sleep habits given as the Unhealthy Sleep Index (UHSI). The average and standard deviation of Morningness-Eveningness scores were 16.07Ϯ3.53. Students who had breakfast at regular times showed significantly higher Morningness-Eveningness scores than those who ate at irregular times. Based on an integrated analysis (ANOVA) on the effect of regularity of breakfast intake on sleep health, regular breakfast intake may link to sleep health positively via the shifting to morning-type (i.e., the phase-advance of the circadian clock). However, a similar analysis promoted the hypothesis that alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking relate to sleep health negatively and directly, rather than via the shifting to evening-type (i.e., the phase-delaying of the circadian clock). In the case of young women, getting a good quality and quantity of sleep in normal life seems to be important for promoting their mental health, which may fluctuate throughout the menstruation cycle accompanied by mental symptoms as a part of premenstrual syndrome.

Daytime sleepiness, circadian preference, caffeine consumption and use of other stimulants among Thai college students

“…Despite academics being the frequent reason given for energy drink consumption, evening types or daytime sleepers do not exhibit higher academic performance compared to their counterparts 12, 29, 36, 41, 42 . Additionally, there is a large body of evidence that shows daytime sleepers and evening types are strongly associated with numerous health and social problems 7–9, 11, 13, 46 . From a public health promotion and disease prevention standpoint, these findings suggest an obvious need for effective educational and prevention programs targeted toward improving sleep hygiene and reducing consumption of energy drinks among young adults.…”

Does consuming breakfast influence activity levels? An experiment into the effect of breakfast consumption on eating habits and energy expenditure

“…4 Hourly distribution of energy intake per 24 h during the breakfast ( ) and no-breakfast ( ) conditions for male participants who typically eat breakfast at least 5 times/week typically observed in experimental situations compared with free-living surveys (36) , this psychological difference between male and female participants could account for the different responses between the female highfrequency breakfast eaters and the male participants. Differences between the female high-and low-frequency breakfast eaters may be linked to differences in routinedriven eating habits and/or to dietary restraint between regular and irregular breakfast eaters (27,41) .…”

“…Questionnaires (IPAQ, SF-36v2 and morningness) were scored according to published guidelines (27)(28)(29) . Data on physical activity and health status dimensions were not normally distributed, as is typical for data of this type (31) .…”

Exploring the Daily Activities Associated with Delayed Bedtime of Japanese University Students

“…These results mean that dinner at a later time was related to delayed bedtime in the LF group, and eating breakfast was associated with an earlier bedtime in the LA group. Many studies have suggested a relationship between meal habits and sleep pattern and/or sleep quality (e.g., Arakawa et al 2001;Tanaka et al 2002;Nakade et al 2009). Moreover, studies on mammals such as rodents suggest that the timing of food intake may entrain the internal biological clock system either directly or indirectly through other neural or peripheral systems (Mendoza 2007).…”