High need for recovery from work and sleep problems are associated with workers' unhealthy dietary habits

Objective: We aimed to examine the association of recovery from work and sleep with workers' dietary habits. Design: Cross-sectional study. Need for recovery (NFR) from work was assessed with a validated questionnaire. Sleep was assessed with five questions from the Nordic Sleep Questionnaire and sleep quality question. Dietary habits were estimated using a validated sixteen food groups-containing questionnaire. Ordered logistic regression was used to explore the associations of NFR and sleep with dietary habits adjusted for age, education, marital status, work schedule, working full or part time and occupation. Setting: Follow-up visits of type 2 diabetes prevention study cohort in a Finnish airline company Participants: The study included 737 men and 605 women. Results: Poor recovery from work was associated with a higher eating frequency (OR = 1 center dot 03, 95 % CI 1 center dot 00, 1 center dot 06), higher intake of fast food (OR = 1 center dot 05, 95 % CI 1 center dot 02, 1 center dot 08) and sweets (OR = 1 center dot 05, 95 % CI 1 center dot 02, 1 center dot 08) as well as lower intake of vegetables (OR = 0 center dot 96, 95 % CI 0 center dot 93, 0 center dot 98) and fruits (OR = 0 center dot 96, 95 % CI 0 center dot 93, 0 center dot 98) among men. In women, poor recovery from work was associated with higher fast food (OR = 1 center dot 06, 95 % CI 1 center dot 02, 1 center dot 09) and desserts consumption (OR = 1 center dot 04, 95 % CI 1 center dot 00, 1 center dot 07). Among men and women, sleep problems were associated with higher eating frequency (men: OR = 1 center dot 04, 95 % CI 1 center dot 00, 1 center dot 07, women: OR = 1 center dot 06, 95 % CI 1 center dot 02, 1 center dot 11), consumption of fast food (men: OR = 1 center dot 07, 95 % CI 1 center dot 04, 1 center dot 11, women: OR = 1 center dot 06, 95 % CI 1 center dot 02, 1 center dot 10) and sweets (men: OR = 1 center dot 05, 95 % CI 1 center dot 01, 1 center dot 08, women: OR = 1 center dot 04, 95 % CI 1 center dot 00, 1 center dot 08). Conclusions: Poor recovery from work and sleep problems were associated with unfavourable dietary habits especially in men.

Automated summary

The study found that poor recovery from work was associated with higher unhealthy food intake in men and increased consumption of fast food and sweets in women. Sleep problems were related to unfavorable dietary habits in both men and women.