Evalution of the relationship between general nutritional status and caffeine content of the diet with anxiety and sleep quality in adult individuals

This study was conducted with 194 volunteer participants aged 18-50 to evaluate the general nutritional status and the relationship between diet caffeine content, anxiety, and sleep quality in adult individuals. During the data collection phase, face-to-face surveys and scales were used as data collection tools. Participants were asked questions from the caffeine consumption frequency questionnaire to determine their personal characteristics, dietary habits, sleep patterns, and caffeine consumption status. A 24-hour retrospective food intake record was obtained from the participants to determine their general nutritional status. In addition, two scales were used in the study: the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Beck Anxiety Scale. The daily average caffeine consumption of male participants was found to be higher than that of female participants. There was no statistically significant relationship between caffeine consumption and gender (p>0.05). Based on the PSQI scores of all participants, poor sleep quality was found in 57.7% of the participants, while good sleep quality was found in 42.3%. The sleep quality score of male participants was significantly lower than that of female participants (p<0.05). The Beck anxiety scale score of female participants was significantly higher than that of male participants (p<0.05). When the caffeine content of the diet was evaluated together with sleep quality scores, a statistically significant relationship was observed (p<0.01). An increase in anxiety levels was observed parallel to an increase in dietary caffeine content, and this was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). While there was no significant relationship between macronutrients, micronutrients, and PSQI scores (p>0.05), a negative and low-level significant relationship was found between individuals' intake of vitamin E, folate, calcium, magnesium, omega-3, and anxiety levels (p<0.05). Our study determined that the daily caffeine consumption is associated with sleep quality and anxiety. Larger sample size and multidisciplinary studies are needed to further evaluate this relationship. Keywords: Anxiety, Caffeine, Nutrition, Sleep quality.