Research Calls Lack Of Sleep Can Be Caused By Consumption Of Junk Food

Illustration (Caleb Oquendo/Pexels)

JAKARTA - A research from Uppsala University published in the journal Obesity shows that the habit of consuming junk food (low-nutrition foods) which contain a lot of fat and sugar can reduce sleep quality.

"Both diet and sleep patterns pose risks to some of the public health conditions. As is the importance of the food we consume for health, we think it would be interesting if investigating the effects of different diets played a role in changing our sleep quality," said researcher Jonathan Cedernaes, quoted by Medical Daily, Tuesday, July 11.

The researchers evaluated sleep patterns and electrical activity in the brain of 15 healthy people. Participates have normal weight and sleep habits and are given two types of diets with the same calorie levels, namely a high diet of fat and sugar as well as a low-fat and sugar diet.

Both diets were given randomly for a week. They found that the duration of sleep was no different from the two diets and participants felt their sleep quality was the same.

However, the electroencephalogram recording device shows that participants who consume high diets of fat and sugar interfere with slow waves related to electrical activity in the brain so that their sleep is not good enough.

The researchers believe the disruption occurs because sugar and fat activate brain roads that make people feel more aware. Cedernaes says a healthy diet can help improve sleep quality. Some foods and drinks that can improve sleep quality include almonds, oily fish, kiwi fruit, bananas, malt milk, chamomile tea, and cerium juice.