Asian Scientist (Feb. 12, 2014) – Researchers have found that good sleep patterns can help men live longer, but women will only benefit if they also have a diverse diet.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, investigated the ways diet contributed to the relationship between sleep quality and mortality among elderly men and women in Taiwan.
“Poor sleep has been associated with increased morbidity and mortality including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease,” said Professor Mark Walhqvist, an author of the study.
The researchers found that poor sleep was strongly correlated with poor appetite and poor perceived health for both genders and that women were almost twice as likely as men to sleep badly.
According to the researchers, people who did not sleep well were also less able to chew, had poor appetites, and did less physical activity.
However, sleep played a more important role in men’s mortality than women’s. This is because women who ate a varied diet that included sources rich in vitamin B6 could still live long lives despite poor sleep habits. Women who were poor sleepers had a lower intake of vitamin B6 from food than those whose sleep was rated fair or good. Fair sleepers had lower iron intakes than good sleepers.
Both men and women could improve their outlook by eating a more varied diet, the authors said.
“Sufficient dietary diversity in men could offset the adverse effect on mortality of poor sleep while women need to make sure they are eating foods high in vitamin B6,” Professor Walhqvist said.
“Intervention focusing on education on healthy dietary practices in elderly people could improve sleep duration and provide more stable levels of health.”
The article can be found at: Huang Y-C et al. (2013) Sleep Quality In The Survival Of Elderly Taiwanese: Roles For Dietary Diversity And Pyridoxine In Men And Women.
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Source: Monash University; Photo: fechi fajardo/Flickr/CC.
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