Does meal selection matter in treating insomnia?

Sleeplessness can be defined as difficulties in falling asleep and/or maintaining a continuous sleep, waking up too early, or experiencing subjective poor sleep quality that negatively affects daytime functioning. In order to classify the data as sleeplessness, it must occur at least three nights a week and cause fatigue, irritability, drowsiness the next day, impairments in concentration, attention, and memory, or a marked deterioration in mental and social functioning. Sleep problems should not be due to insufficient sleep duration or unsuitable sleep conditions such as noise, light, or inadequate room temperature. The frequency of sleeplessness increases with age but also occurs in children and adolescents. Estimates suggest that nearly 20% of adult Poles suffer from sleeplessness, and the proportion may be higher in older people and exceed 50% (A. Kańtoch 2016). Epidemiological data for children are less precise and indicate the occurrence of sleeplessness in a few to several percent (M. Kaczor, M. Skalski 2016). Sleeplessness is more common in women, particularly single women, than in men, and in the latter group, the high-risk group is the unemployed (I. Grabska-Kobyłecka, D. Nowak 2014). Poland, where the frequency of sleeplessness is 17.6% in a population-representative sample over 15 years of age, is within the range of the European average (A. Ostrowska 2018). However, there are significant differences between the general population and older people, partly due to the previous socio-economic situation of the country. In European countries, there is also a correlation between the occurrence of sleep disorders and the wealth of society. The higher the GDP (gross domestic product) per capita, the lower the frequency of sleeplessness. Unfortunately, Poland ranks the worst in this comparison and lags far behind countries such as Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, or the Netherlands (A. Ostrowska 2018).