Abstract

Unhealthy dietary choices are associated with poor sleep in children through adults. Yet, how diet and sleep are related in early childhood, when diet is reliant on parent choices around food availability, is unknown. The authors aimed to explore how frequency of fruit, vegetable, fast food, and soda consumption are associated with preschool children’s sleep quality. They also considered how parenting factors may impact the relationship between children’s sleep and diet. Actigraphy data were collected from 383 children 33–70 months old. Caregivers reported on child food and beverage frequency, demographics, and health items. Parenting strategies were assessed using the Parenting Scale. Multiple linear regression was used to examine associations between sleep and dietary measures with socioeconomic status, race-ethnicity, physical activity, and body mass index as covariates. Shorter nap duration was associated with more frequent consumption of fruits and vegetables (B = –3.6, p = .03). Shorter nighttime and 24-hr sleep durations were associated with more frequent consumption of fast food (B = –6.5, p = .01; B = –5.8, p = .01). Shorter nighttime sleep and later sleep onset were associated with more frequent soda consumption (B = –9.2, p = .01; B = 0.23, p = .001). Use of ineffective parenting strategies was negatively associated with fruit and vegetable consumption (r = –.29, p = .01) and positively associated with soda consumption (r = .25, p = .02) but was unrelated to sleep measures. Thus, ineffective parenting strategies may underlie child access to unhealthy foods, which, in turn, contributes to poor sleep. Encouraging healthier dietary habits and educating caregivers on how to reinforce such practices may lead to better sleep outcomes in early childhood.

摘要

不健康的饮食选择与儿童和成人的睡眠质量不佳有关。然而，在儿童早期，饮食依赖于父母对食物供应的选择，饮食和睡眠之间的关系尚不清楚。作者旨在探讨水果、蔬菜、快餐和苏打水的消费频率与学龄前儿童的睡眠质量之间的关系。他们还考虑了养育因素如何影响儿童睡眠和饮食之间的关系。体动记录仪数据收集自 383 名 33-70 个月大的儿童。护理人员报告了儿童食品和饮料频率、人口统计数据和健康项目。使用育儿量表评估育儿策略。使用多元线性回归来检查睡眠和饮食测量与社会经济状况、种族、体力活动和体重指数作为协变量之间的关联。较短的午睡时间与更频繁地食用水果和蔬菜有关（B = –3.6，p = .03）。较短的夜间和 24 小时睡眠时间与更频繁地食用快餐相关（B = –6.5，p = .01；B = –5.8，p = .01）。夜间睡眠时间较短和入睡时间较晚与更频繁地饮用苏打水有关（B = –9.2，p = .01；B  = 0.23，p = .001）。使用无效的育儿策略与水果和蔬菜消费量呈负相关（r = –.29，p = .01），与汽水消费量呈正相关（r = .25，p = .02），但与睡眠指标无关。因此，无效的养育策略可能会导致儿童接触到不健康的食物，进而导致睡眠不佳。鼓励更健康的饮食习惯并教育照顾者如何加强这种做法可能会导致儿童早期获得更好的睡眠结果。