The relationship between eating behavior and anxiety, sleep quality, adherence to the mediterranean diet in adults

The aim of this study is to determine the emotional, restricted and external eating behavior scores of healthy adult individuals and to examine the relationship between the individuals' anxiety levels, sleep quality and Mediterranean diet adherence scores. Individuals between the ages of 18-65 who voluntarily agreed to participate in the study were included. The data of the participants were collected with a questionnaire applied with an online questionnaire prepared by the researcher. General information of the participants, Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), Beck Anxiety Scale (BAS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Mediterranean Diet Adherence Scale (MEDAS) were evaluated. The gender of 68% (n=348) of the participants was female, 32% (n=164) of the participants were male, with a mean age of 32.13±8.69 years. 30.6% of the participants were slightly overweight and 14.6% were obese. The participants' DEBQ sub-dimensions mean scores were 30.70±15.66; restrictive eating 26.16±7.98; external eating was determined as 33.80±6.35. It was observed that 46.5% of the participants were anxious, 49.4% had poor sleep quality, and 77.0% adhered to the Mediterranean diet. In the study, as the emotional eating behavior score increased, the anxiety and sleep quality disorder levels of the participants increased; As the restrictive eating behavior score increased, the level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet increased; It was determined that as the external eating behavior score increased, the level of anxiety increased and the level of adherence to the Mediterranean diet decreased. It is known that the etiology of obesity and eating disorders is associated with eating behaviors. Eating disorders and obesity can be prevented by evaluating eating behaviors and related changeable lifestyle factors in individuals.