Association between sleep disorders and physical activity in middle-aged Americans: a cross-sectional study from NHANES

Abstract

BackgroundAmong the numerous studies on physical activity and sleep disorders, few have focused on physical activity and sleep disorders in middle-aged people who are particularly stressed. A restricted cubic web (RCS) technique was applied to determine whether physical activity and the self-rated prevalence of sleep disorders exhibit a dose-response relationship in middle-aged adults.MethodsThis study analyzed 8880 middle-aged adults aged 40–65 years who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007–2018. Logistic regression was performed to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) between physical activity and sleep disorders in middle-aged adults. Thereafter, the dose-response connection was examined using RCS.ResultsAfter adjusting for potential confounders, subjects with MET values in the first quartile (Q1) had odds ratios (OR) for sleep disturbance of 0.851 (95% CI = 0.745–0.973), 0.800 (95% CI = 0.698–0.917), and 0.780 (95% CI = 0.680–0.895) compared to subjects with MET values in the second, third, and fourth quartiles respectively. RCS regression showed a non-linear association between physical activity and sleep disorders in middle-aged adults (non-linearity P = 0.0382). Furthermore, the prevalence of sleep disorders in middle-aged adults decreased with increasing physical activity, reaching a minimum when weekly physical activity was around 166.27MET*h (OR = 0.885, 95% CI = 0.799–0.981).ConclusionOur research demonstrates that physical activity was negatively associated with sleep disorders.