The association between dietary behaviors and insomnia among adolescent girls in Iran

Background: Insomnia is associated with a poor quality of life and increased risk of somatic and social problems. The aim of current study was to investigate the relationship between dietary behaviors and insomnia in Iranian adolescent girls. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed among 988 girls aged 12-18 years. A questionnaire was used to determine dietary behaviors in nine domains. To assess insomnia, a validated Iranian version of the Insomnia Severity Index was applied. Multivariable logistic regression examined the association between dietary behaviors and insomnia in crude and adjusted models. Results: Highest adherence to regular meal consumption was related to the lowest odds of insomnia (odds ratio [OR]: 0.44, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.24-0.81). Compared with individuals who consumed breakfast never or once a week, those who always consumed breakfast had a lower likelihood of insomnia (OR: 0.56, 95% CI: 0.36-0.88). These associations remained significant in all adjusted models. Subjects who ate spicy food every day had 4.73 times greater odds of insomnia than individuals who never ate spicy food (OR: 4.73, 95% CI: 1.09-20.56). After controlling for age, menstruation, parent death, parents’ divorce and parents’ (mother and father) employment status, this relationship remained (OR: 4.59, 95% CI: 1.05-20.10); however, the association was no longer significant after controlling for the other covariates. No significant relationship was found between other dietary habits and insomnia for the unadjusted or adjusted models. Conclusion: Lowest rates of insomnia were found among participants who had the lowest frequency of eating spicy foods and the highest frequency of eating breakfast and eating regular meals. Further prospective studies are required to confirm these findings