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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Sleep
Sec. Sleep and Metabolism
Volume 3 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frsle.2024.1477046
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring the Impact of Sleep on Women's Health View all articles

Tea and other diet-related practices in relation to sleep health in midlife women from Mexico City: qualitative and quantitative findings

Provisionally accepted
Astrid N. Zamora Astrid N. Zamora 1,2*Elizabeth F. Roberts Elizabeth F. Roberts 3Lilian Sharp Lilian Sharp 1Catherine Borra Catherine Borra 4Jennifer Lee Jennifer Lee 1Martha Maria Tellez Rojo Martha Maria Tellez Rojo 5Karen Peterson Karen Peterson 1Libni A. Torres-Olascoaga Libni A. Torres-Olascoaga 5Alejandra Cantoral Alejandra Cantoral 6Erica Jansen Erica Jansen 1,7
  • 1 Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
  • 2 Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, California, United States
  • 3 Department of Anthropology, College of Literature, Science and the Arts, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
  • 4 Social Research Institute, Institute of Education, University College London, London, England, United Kingdom
  • 5 National Institute of Public Health (Mexico), Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
  • 6 Ibero American University, Mexico City, México, Mexico
  • 7 Department of Neurology, Division of Sleep Medicine, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Based on ethnographic interviews among midlife, working-class women from Mexico City, our primary aim was to identify themes related to diet and sleep. Informed by qualitative analyses, a secondary aim was to examine associations between tea and sleep duration in a broader cohort.We conducted a cross-sectional study of ethnographic interviews about sleep and other behaviors, including diet, with a purposive sample of 30 women from the ELEMENT cohort. Ethnographer notes and transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Guided by findings from interviews demonstrating that tea consumption might be associated with sleep, we conducted post hoc analyses of the relationship between tea and sleep duration using data from food frequency questionnaires and actigraphy in the broader cohort (n=406). Results: The mean (SD) age of the ethnographic sample was 50.0 (9.0) years. The top noted theme was the use of herbal tea to improve sleep; most women (29/30) discussed herbal teas, characterizing them as a "natural remedy" to facilitate sleep. The mean (SD) age of the broader sample (N=406) was 48.4 (6.2) years. Post hoc analyses revealed positive associations between tea without sugar and sleep duration. We found that every serving of tea without sugar consumed was associated with an 18.0 min per night [(SE) = 7.8; p = 0.022] and a 13.4 min per night [(SE) =5.6; p = 0.017] increase in weekend and 7-day sleep duration, respectively.Conclusions: Within a sample of 30 midlife women, dietary practices were described related to sleep, specifically the consumption of herbal teas to promote sleep.

    Keywords: Diet, Epidemiology, ethnography, Midlife women, nutrition, qualitative research, sleep duration, Tea

    Received: 06 Aug 2024; Accepted: 06 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zamora, Roberts, Sharp, Borra, Lee, Tellez Rojo, Peterson, Torres-Olascoaga, Cantoral and Jansen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Astrid N. Zamora, Department of Nutritional Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-2029, Michigan, United States

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