Introduction:
Human health such as cardio-metabolic and mental health is related to
sleeping habits, suggested by epidemiological evidence(1, 2). Most of
evidence suggest that sleep duration and quality can influence on health
of variety of systems in human body(3). Sleep is also very important for
strengthening memory, improving vision, maintaining body temperature,
maintaining and recovering energy(4), and restoration of the brain
energy metabolism(5). Therefore, sleep disorders may significantly
affect the occupational, physical, cognitive and social performance of
people and impair their quality of life(6).
Hormonal disruption, metabolic impairment and inflammatory process can
play a role in the relationship between sleep and health status(7, 8).
The quality of diet can affect sleep quality and health of individuals
and for this reason, has recently been considered by researchers(9).
Studies have shown that diet plays an important role in causing or
modulating inflammation in the body. Accordingly, it has been shown that
following a Western diet increases inflammation, and following healthy
diets such as the Mediterranean diet can be effective in reducing
inflammation(10-12).
CRP, -glutamyl transferase (GGT), carotenoids, uric acid, vitamin C, and
vitamin D, are several biomarkers of inflammation and antioxidants, that
have been related to sleep quality parameters and duration(13).
Evidence shows that there is an association between diet quality and
inflammation, and a healthy dietary pattern can result in lower CRP
levels(14).
Various diet quality scores have been developed to assess adherence to
desirable priori-defined diets and patterns comprehensively and to
investigate the health effects of these diets(15).
The Dietary Inflammatory Index (DII®) is a literature-derived score that
has been developed to evaluate the inflammatory potential of the diet
and link diet to inflammation. It takes into account six inflammatory
markers (i.e., CRP, IL-1beta, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, and TNF-alpha). The DII
has proven to be of value for its association with health status in the
general population(16, 17).
Of the other priori-defined dietary patterns, the Dietary Approaches to
Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, which recommends higher intakes of whole
grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, and low-fat dairy, and
lower intakes of processed meat, sodium, and sweetened beverages, was
originally developed to manage high blood pressure(18). The other score
for evaluating the dietary quality is HEI score. The HEI is designed to
examine the overall quality of diets, its adaptation and compatibility
and coordination with dietary guidelines and food pyramid in 1995. This
index is designed to evaluate diet quality in different societies with
different dietary patterns(19).
Technical-administrative employees
at universities mainly perform office tasks, in some cases involving
much responsibility and demanding high levels of concentration. As a
result, this population of workers might be more exposed to situations
which might interfere with the duration of sleep. Given that the role of
nutrition in employees’ sleep quality has not been investigated to date,
this study aims to investigate the relationship between Dietary
Inflammatory Score, HEI score and DASH score, and sleep quality in
employees.