India, Sept. 18 -- Poor sleep is known to lead to poor diet quality. But as a new Concordia-led study of co-habitating couples shows that poor sleep can affect not only an individual's food choices, but their partner's choices too.

Because couples that sleep together very often eat together, one partner's unhealthy food choices can have a ripple effect on the eating habits of the other partner, the researchers say.

The study, published in the journal Annals of Behavioural Medicine, found that poor sleep was linked to a reduced ability to stick to healthy eating goals.

People who slept poorly reported making less effort to eat well and feeling less confident in their ability to maintain healthy eating habits. The partner who slept well ...