Associations regarding Calorie Intake, Macronutrients, Mealtimes, and Sleep: A Cross-Sectional Study with Military Police Officers

Shift workers are often subject to changes in food intake, mealtimes, and sleep patterns. The present study aimed to investigate the relationships involving calorie and macronutrient intake, mealtimes, and total sleep duration and wake-up time after sleep onset among military police officers alternating between working and non-working days. This is a cross-sectional and quantitative study performed with 31 male military police officers who worked alternating shifts. The sample was collected between December 2022 and July 2023 in the city of Rio Branco, state of Acre, Brazil. Calorie and macronutrient intake and mealtimes were determined by food recall over 3 non-consecutive days. Sleep data was obtained through actigraphy over 14 consecutive days. Linear regression analysis was used to assess the associations regarding mealtimes, calorie and macronutrient intake, and sleep parameters. During night shifts, higher protein intake was significantly associated with longer sleep duration (β = 0.147; p = 0.006), whereas on days off, a higher number of meals (β = -0.520; p = 0.025), a longer eating window (β = -0.237; p = 0.003), and higher total calorie intake (β = -0.048; p = 0.031) were significantly associated with shorter sleep duration. The results showed the association between food intake and mealtimes in some sleep parameters and reinforce the need for reflection and proposal of interventions capable of minimizing this problem.