Sleep Quality and the Importance Women Place on Healthy Eating Interact to Influence Psychological Resilience

Objectives: The impact women's daily habits may have on psychological resilience is not well understood. This cross-sectional analysis examined: (1) the impact of sleep quality on resilience, and (2) whether this association was modified by the importance women place on healthy eating. Methods: We collected data from 64 women (aged 18-67 years). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale-10 assessed sleep quality and resilience, respectively, with lower scores indicating reduced resilience. One item assessed attitudes towards healthy eating. Linear regression models and 95% confidence intervals examined associations adjusted for age and income. Results: Reduced sleep quality was associated with a decreased resilience score (B=0.55, 95% CI: -1.06, -0.04, p=.04) when adjusted for age and income. After stratification, sleep quality and resilience were not associated among women who indicated healthy eating was very important. Among women who indicated healthy eating was less than very important, reduced sleep quality was associated with decreased psychological resilience (B=0.85, 95% CI: -1.55, -0.15, p=.02). Conclusions: Poor sleep quality was associated with reduced resilience among women. Placing a strong emphasis on healthy eating helped buffer the impact of poor sleep quality on women's psychological resilience.