Relationships of Sleep Duration, Midpoint, and Variability with Physical Activity in the HCHS/SOL Sueño Ancillary Study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective/Background Short and long sleep duration, later sleep midpoint, and greater intra-individual sleep variability are associated with lower physical activity, but previous research lacks objective and concurrent assessment of sleep and physical activity. This cross-sectional study examined whether sleep duration, midpoint, and variability in duration and midpoint were related to wrist actigraphy-measured physical activity. Participants Participants were 2156 Hispanics/Latinos in the Hispanic Community Health Study/Study of Latinos (HCHS/SOL) Sueño Ancillary Study. Methods Participants wore Actiwatch devices to measure sleep and physical activity via the wrist for ≥5 days. Physical activity was defined as minutes/day in the upper quartile of the sampling distribution’s non-sleep activity, capturing light to vigorous physical activity. Results An inverse linear relationship between sleep duration and physical activity was found such that each additional sleep hour related to 29 fewer minutes of physical activity (B = −28.7, SE = 3.8), p < .01). Variability in sleep midpoint was also associated with physical activity; with each 1-hr increase in variability there were 24 more minutes of physical activity (B = 24.2, SE = 5.6, p < .01). In contrast, sleep midpoint and variability in duration were not associated with physical activity. Sensitivity analyses identified an association of short sleep duration and greater variability in sleep duration with greater accelerometry-derived moderate-to-vigorous physical activity measured at the HCHS/SOL baseline (M = 2.1 years before the sleep assessment). Conclusions Findings help clarify inconsistent prior research associating short sleep duration and sleep variability with greater health risks but also contribute novel information with simultaneous objective assessments.