Association between gardening and multiple sleep complaints: A nationwide study of 62,098 adults

Abstract

BackgroundPhysical activity was suggested to be related to sleep health, while the gardening-sleep association among the community population remained unrevealed. Therefore, this study aimed to explore whether gardening was associated with sleep complaints. MethodsA total of 62,098 adults from the 2017 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) were included in this study and further categorized as non-exercisers, gardeners, and other exercisers, based on their self-reported exercise status. Sleep complaints including short/prolonged sleep duration, probable insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and sleep apnea were surveyed via a questionnaire. Primary outcome was multiple sleep complaints (coexistence of ≥2 sleep complaints) and secondary outcomes referred to individual sleep complaints. The adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated to assess the associations between gardening or tertiles of gardening duration and the outcomes using multivariable logistic regression models. ResultsThe sample included 16,707 non-exercisers, 4243 gardeners, and 41,148 other exercisers. Relative to non-exercisers, gardeners (OR 0.58, 95%CI 0.49–0.67) and other exercisers (OR 0.67, 95%CI 0.61–0.72) had a lower likelihood of experiencing multiple sleep complaints. The adjusted OR comparing the highest gardening duration tertile to non-exercise was 0.45 (95%CI 0.33–0.63) for multiple sleep complaints (P for trend <0.001). Similar patterns persisted in several individual sleep complaints, such as short sleep duration, probable insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and sleep apnea. LimitationsCross-sectional study design and use of self-reported variables. ConclusionsThis nationwide study observed an inverse association of gardening with multiple sleep complaints and several individual sleep complaints, in a dose-response manner.