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Eating Right, Sleeping Tight?
Academic Video Service
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  • Update Date: 11 Aug 2026
  • Mediterranean diet
  • physical activity
  • sedentary behaviors
  • sleep quality
  • collegiate athletes
Video Introduction

This video is adapted from 10.3390/nu17182946

Student-athletes face the dual challenge of balancing academic and athletic commitments, which may simultaneously promote healthy lifestyle habits while increasing psychosocial and physiological stressors, particularly among female student-athletes. Understanding how these competing demands affect key behavioral (e.g., dietary habits, sleep, and chronotype) and psychological (e.g., body image) factors is essential for supporting their overall well-being. Therefore, this video investigated body dissatisfaction, adherence to the Mediterranean diet, sleep quality, and chronotype in female student-athletes compared to sedentary peers. Twenty-eight female participants voluntarily participated in the study. Twelve volleyball student-athletes (age 21.6 ± 2.4 years) were assessed during their competitive in-season period, and sixteen non-athlete students with a high sitting time (age 24.0 ± 3.2 years) completed the Mediterranean Diet Adherence questionnaire (PREDIMED), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), and Body Image Dimensional Assessment (body dissatisfaction) to assess their overall well-being. Student-athletes showed significantly (p < 0.05) higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet (PREDIMED: 8.5 ± 1.5 score), although experiencing poorer sleep quality (PSQI: 6.8 ± 3.0 score) compared to non-athlete students with higher sitting times (PREDIMED: 6.7 ± 1.6 score; PSQI: 4.6 ± 2.3 score). Conversely, comparative body dissatisfaction was significantly higher in non-athlete students with a high sitting time (19.4 ± 24.5%) than in student-athletes (5.6 ± 10.5%). No significant differences emerged for chronotype or overall body dissatisfaction. This video highlights a paradoxical health pattern in female student-athletes who combine healthier eating habits with poorer sleep quality. The results emphasize the importance of comprehensive wellness strategies that integrate dietary habits, sleep hygiene, and psychophysiological factors to better support female student-athletes in managing dual-career demands.

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If you have any further questions, please contact Encyclopedia Editorial Office.
Papale, O.; Festino, E.; Di Rocco, F.; De Maio, M.; Foster, C.; Cortis, C.; Fusco, A. Eating Right, Sleeping Tight?. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/video/1859 (accessed on 24 August 2026).
Papale O, Festino E, Di Rocco F, De Maio M, Foster C, Cortis C, et al. Eating Right, Sleeping Tight?. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/video/1859. Accessed August 24, 2026.
Papale, Olga, Emanuel Festino, Francesca Di Rocco, Marianna De Maio, Carl Foster, Cristina Cortis, Andrea Fusco. "Eating Right, Sleeping Tight?" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/video/1859 (accessed August 24, 2026).
Papale, O., Festino, E., Di Rocco, F., De Maio, M., Foster, C., Cortis, C., & Fusco, A. (2026, August 10). Eating Right, Sleeping Tight?. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/video/1859
Papale, Olga, et al. "Eating Right, Sleeping Tight?." Encyclopedia. Web. 10 August, 2026.
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