Association between consumption of tryptophan with sleep quality in King Saud University students

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between sleep quality and tryptophan consumption in King Saud University students by using a PSQI questionnaire. This study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it included 122 Saudi students, who received the PSQI questionnaire via Twitter, Telegram, and WhatsApp. All data was encoded in Excel for statistical analysis. Generally, low consumption levels were noted for tryptophan, coffee/tea, and soft and energy drinks in 42.6 %, 47.5 %, and 76.2 % of the participants, respectively, whereas dairy consumption was high in 32 % of the participants. Moderate consumption of caffeinated drinks was noted in 50.8 % of the participants. Meanwhile, moderate scores were noted for sleep quality, sleep duration, sleep delay, and fatigue during day time; high scores for inability to sleep within 20 mins after going to bed were noted in only 25.4 % of the participants. When the obtained data was examined in three groups, gender (p = 0.02), specialization (p = 0.02), not falling asleep within 20 min (p = 0.003), sleep delay (p = 0.01), feeling cold during sleep (p = 0.02), and having a good sleep in the previous month (p = 0.04) were associated. By contrast, no association was observed between tryptophan consumption and sleep quality. Interventional studies involving a large sample size, gender bias, other age groups, and other ethnic populations should be carried out in the future.