Abstract
Objectives
Many do not sleep well, particularly middle-aged and older adults. Physical activity
(PA) shows promise for improving sleep; however, populations with clinical sleep disturbances
have been a research focus. It remains unclear whether low-impact daily PA, like walking,
can affect sleep in healthy adults.
Design
The current study was embedded within a 4-week randomized controlled trial to increase
PA.
Setting
Participants from the greater Boston area were recruited to participate in a 4-week
walking intervention on a rolling basis between October 2015 and August 2016.
Participants
Fifty-nine participants (72% female) were enrolled in the study, with an average age
of 49.43 (±8.40) years.
Intervention
The 4-week intervention was aimed at increasing participants’ daily steps as the primary
outcome. The current, supplementary study examined relationships between monthly and
daily PA and sleep.
Measurements
Steps and active minutes were measured daily using a Fitbit Zip. Self-reports of sleep
quality and duration were assessed daily, along with before and after the intervention.
Results and conclusions
Averaged across the month, daily active minutes were positively related to sleep quality
but not duration. Sex moderated this relationship; women who took more steps and were
more active reported sleeping better than those less active. Within persons, on days
that participants were more active than average, they reported better sleep quality
and duration in both sexes. Results suggest that low-impact PA is positively related
to sleep, more so in women than men. Findings also showed that PA plays a greater
role in predicting sleep quality than duration.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 26, 2019
Accepted:
June 4,
2019
Received in revised form:
April 22,
2019
Received:
October 20,
2018
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 National Sleep Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
