A largish Chinese study, involving 541 9-11-year-olds, has found that those who ate fish at least once a week slept better and had higher IQ scores, on average, than those who ate fish less frequently or not at all.
The study suggests that sleep may be a reason for the association previous research has found between the consumption of fish / omega-3 oils and better cognition.
Children who reported eating fish weekly scored 4.8 points higher on the IQ tests than those who said they “seldom” or “never” consumed fish. Those whose meals sometimes included fish scored 3.3 points higher.
Reference:
Liu, J., Cui, Y., Li, L., Wu, L., Hanlon, A., Pinto-Martin, J., Raine, A., & Hibbeln, J. R. (2017). The mediating role of sleep in the fish consumption – cognitive functioning relationship: A cohort study. Scientific Reports, 7(1), 17961. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-17520-w
