Symptoms of sleep problems and adherence to dietary guidelines in older women: evidence from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health

OBJECTIVE: This study examined adherence to dietary guidelines and symptoms of sleep problems (e.g. taking a long time to fall sleep or waking up early) and their associations in a sample of older Australian women (68–73 years of age). DESIGN: This was a population-based cross-sectional study. Adherence to the dietary guidelines was measured using a validated FFQ and reported as a diet quality score. Symptoms of sleep problems were measured using five questions and a total score was derived. Multivariate linear regression was used to investigate the association between these outcomes, adjusted for the potential confounding influence of demographic (i.e. age and marital status) and lifestyle (i.e. physical activity, stress, alcohol intake, sleep medication use) variables. SETTING: Respondents from the 1946–1951 cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health who completed Survey 9 were included. PARTICIPANTS: Data from n 7956 older women (mean age ± sd: 70·8 ± 1·5) were included. RESULTS: 70·2 % reported having at least one symptom and 20·5 % had between 3 and 5 symptoms of sleep problems (mean score ± sd: 1·4 ± 1·4, range 0–5). Adherence to dietary guidelines was poor with an average diet quality score of 56·9 ± 10·7 (range 0–100). Better adherence to dietary guidelines was associated with fewer sleep problem symptoms (β: –0·065, 95 % CI: –0·012, –0·005) and remained significant after adjusting for confounding influences. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the evidence that adherence to dietary guidelines is associated with symptoms of sleep problems in older women.