An observational study in Dietary Behavior, Stress and Sleep, sponsored by University of Bern. Completed at 1 site in Switzerland. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 30 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-08-24.
Sponsored by University of Bern · Observational
The aim of this cross-sectional online study is to investigate the association between regular feeding behavior and stress, sleep as well as anxiety and depressive symptoms in healthy subjects.
The gut-microbiota-brain (GMB) axis has a multidirectional communication between the intestine, the microbiota, and the central nervous system (CNS). Over the past decade, there has been extensive research showing that the GMB axis has a profound influence not only on neurological disorders but also on neural development, activation of the neuroendocrine axis and neurotransmission, as well as modulation of complex human behaviors. Thus, the GBM-axis is involved in the regulation of stress, emotions, behaviour, and higher cognitive functions. As the GMB plays an essential role in human psychological functioning and mental health, the dietary manipulation of the microbiome may have direct effects on mental well-being, sleep, anxiety and depressive symptoms.
8,057 studies on the registry are indexed under Depression; 1,641 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 538 is above the median of 160 across 1,084 observational studies indexed under Depression.
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Healthy subjects
Exclusion Criteria:
Healthy subjects aged 18-30 years
Other: Anonymous online survey on dietary habits and mental health
Assessment of regular feeding behavior and mental health
Mental well-being and quality of life
Subjective life-quality will be measured with the short version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire (WHOQOL-BREF,). The WHOQOL-BREF is a self-administered questionnaire comprising 26 questions on the individual's perceptions of their health and well-being over the previous two weeks. Responses to questions are on a 1-5 Likert scale where 1 represents "disagree" or "not at all" and 5 represents "completely agree" or "extremely". For the present study only the three subscales (physical and psychological health, and social relationships) will be assessed.
Time frame: At baseline
General Psychopathology
Brief Symptom Checklist (BSCL former BSI), including various subscales such as depression, anxiety
Time frame: At baseline
Sleep
Sleep quality is assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Each of the sleep components yields a score ranging from 0 to 3, with 3 indicating the greatest dysfunction. The sleep component scores are summed to yield a total score ranging from 0 to 21 with the higher total score (referred to as global score) indicating worse sleep quality.
Time frame: At baseline
Stress and Coping
Stress will be assessed with the Stress and Coping Inventory (SCI).The SCI is used to determine the current stress load and stress symptoms and to illustrate how to deal with stress using five coping strategies. It comprises 10 scales with 54 items: (A) Current stress load (1) Stress due to uncertainty, (2) Stress due to overload, (3) Stress due to loss and actual negative events, (4) Total stress: Total stress due to insecurity, threat, overload or loss in important areas of life, (5) Physical and psychological stress symptoms; (B) Stress coping (Coping) (1) Positive thinking, (2) Active stress coping, (3) Social support, (4) Keeping faith, (5) Increased alcohol and cigarette consumption.
Time frame: At baseline
Plan to share: No
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This study is completed, as verified in Aug 2025. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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University of Bern