Fasting habits, sleep duration, energy availability, and chronic energy deficiency (Ced) risk in female students

Abstract

Fasting habits that are not followed by a healthy balanced diet along with sleep deprivation may cause low energy availability which increases the risk of Chronic Energy Deficiency (CED). This study was aimed to describe and analyze the relationship between fasting habits, sleep duration, energy availability and CED risk in Female Students. This study was an observational study conducted in Kyai Galang Sewu Islamic Boarding School. The total subjects were 98 female students age18-24 that were selected by simple random sampling method. CED risk data was assessed using mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC). Fasting habits data was obtained from a questionnaire consisting related to type and duration of fasting, total fasting days and frequency of meals during fasting. Energy availability data was obtained by subtracting energy expenditure from energy intake divided by fat-free mass. Sleep duration data were obtained using the Sleep Timing Questionnaire. Univariate analysis was used to describe each of the variables. Bivariate analysis was performed using Rank Spearman test. Subjects who had CED risk was 44.9%. Subjects that practised fasting regularly was 76.5%, in which 51% of them fast on Monday and Thursday. A total of 49.3% subject often missed early breakfast. All subjects had low sleep duration and low energy availability. There was no relationship between the duration of fasting habits, total days of fasting, and sleep duration with energy availability (p>0.05). However, there was a positive relationship between meal frequency during fasting and energy availability (r = 0.36, p<0.001) and a positive relationship between energy availability and MUAC (r = 0.39, p<0.001). Low energy availability was related to CED risk, while energy availability was influenced by the frequency of meals during fasting.