Mental health and sleep quality: are intuitive eating, hedonic hunger and diet quality, determinants? a cross-sectional study

Background Intuitive eating may predict better psychological and behavioral health. Intuitive eating, hedonic hunger, and diet quality may affect individuals’ mental health and sleep quality. Methods Descriptive cross-sectional study developed with an online questionnaire for randomly selected volunteers (n=351) aged 19-64 years. Hedonic hunger status was evaluated by Power of Food Scale (PFS), intuitive eating by Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2), mental health status by Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS) and sleep quality by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Food consumption records were taken to evaluate individuals’ dietary quality, using Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2015. Results It was found that 50.7% of the participants exhibited intuitive eating behavior, while 65.0% experienced hedonic hunger. When the diet quality was examined, it was found that 65.2% of the participants had poor diet quality, while 33.6% needed to improve their diet quality. Sleep quality and mental health status of individuals exhibiting intuitive eating behavior were significantly better (p<0.05). Diet quality was not associated with mental health, intuitive eating, hedonic hunger and sleep quality scores (p>0.05). While there was a weak negative correlation between intuitive eating and PSQI score (r=-0.160, p<0.05), while a positive correlation was found between hedonic hunger and PSQI score (r=0.286, p<0.05). Intuitive eating was associated with better sleep quality, as lower PSQI scores indicate better sleep quality. Intuitive eating was also associated with better mental health (r=0.339, p<0.05). Conclusion This study reveals that intuitive eating behavior is associated with better sleep quality and mental health, while hedonic hunger behavior is associated with poor sleep quality.