Dakanalis Antonios, Papadimitriou Konstantinos, Alexatou Olga, Deligiannidou Georgia-Eirini, Pappa Myrsini, Papadopoulou Sousana K, Louka Aikaterini, Paschodimas Georgios, Mentzelou Maria, Giaginis Constantinos
Department of Mental Health, Fondazione IRCSS San Gerardo dei Tintori, Via G.B. Pergolesi 33, 20900 Monza, Italy.
Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Milano Bicocca, Via Cadore 38, 20900 Monza, Italy.
Nutrients. 2025 Jun 30;17(13):2174. doi: 10.3390/nu17132174.
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Mediterranean diet (MD) adherence is associated with a lower risk of developing several chronic diseases, including cardiovascular and metabolic disorders, cancer, and mental health diseases. University students are vulnerable to mental disorders that considerably affect their well-being and quality of life, which may be ascribed to the stressful environment during their academic studies. This cross-sectional survey designed to explore the relationship between MD compliance and perceived stress levels as well as sleep quality in a representative sample of university students from Greece.
This survey assigned 5433 university students from 10 Greek regions. We used qualified questionnaires to examine the socio-demographics of the assigned students. Anthropometrics were determined by qualified methods. Validated questionnaires were used to determine diverse lifestyle factors like physical activity, perceived stress, sleep quality and MD adherence.
Concerning the primary objectives of this study, greater MD compliance was independently and significantly related to lower incidence of perceived stress and poor sleep quality in university students. As far as the secondary objectives of this study concern, greater MD compliance was independently and significantly related to female gender, rural type of residence, living with family, smoking, biomedicine studies, being normal weight, and having enhanced physical activity.
This study reinforces the idea that healthy dietary patterns like MD could be a significant modifiable factor against perceived stress and poor sleep quality of university students. Based on this evidence, longitudinal studies should be performed to confirm whether MD can exert a causal effect on perceived stress and sleep quality.
背景/目的：坚持地中海饮食（MD）与患多种慢性病的风险较低相关，这些慢性病包括心血管和代谢紊乱、癌症以及精神健康疾病。大学生易患精神障碍，这会极大地影响他们的幸福感和生活质量，这可能归因于他们学业期间的压力环境。这项横断面调查旨在探讨希腊大学生代表性样本中MD依从性与感知压力水平以及睡眠质量之间的关系。
这项调查对来自希腊10个地区的5433名大学生进行了抽样。我们使用经过验证的问卷来调查抽样学生的社会人口统计学特征。人体测量学通过合格的方法确定。使用经过验证的问卷来确定各种生活方式因素，如体育活动、感知压力、睡眠质量和MD依从性。
关于本研究的主要目标，更高的MD依从性与大学生中较低的感知压力发生率和较差的睡眠质量独立且显著相关。就本研究的次要目标而言，更高的MD依从性与女性性别、农村居住类型、与家人同住、吸烟、生物医学专业、体重正常以及体育活动增强独立且显著相关。
本研究强化了这样一种观点，即像MD这样的健康饮食模式可能是对抗大学生感知压力和睡眠质量差的一个重要可改变因素。基于这一证据，应进行纵向研究以确认MD是否能对感知压力和睡眠质量产生因果效应。
