7-8 hours of rest a night is recommended, but if this goal is not met, increasing physical activity levels has reduced the mortality risks associated with both short and long sleep
Sleeping too little or too long is linked to a shorter life, but scientists with a new work involving over 90,000 volunteers and published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology have found thatPhysical activity counteracts some of the negative effects of sleep. The study showed that increased levels of physical activity reduced the mortality risks associated with short or long sleep durations said study author Dr. Jihui Zhang of the Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, China.
I study
It is known that both good exercise and good restful sleep help prolong life expectancy but it is not clear how physical activity can interact with sleep duration in favor of better health. The main limitation of the various previous studies was that physical activity and sleep were self-reported while in this case wearable devices objectively measured physical activity and sleep duration. The study involved more than 92,000 adults aged 40-73 who wore an accelerometer bracelet for one week between 2013 and 2015 as part of the UK’s largest Biobank survey.
Sleep duration per night was classified as short (less than six hours), normal (six to eight hours) o long (more than eight hours) while the total volume of physical activity was divided into low, medium, high. During an average follow-up of seven years, 3,080 participants died: 1,074 from cardiovascular disease and 1,871 from cancer.
The impact of sleep on mortality
The researchers looked into how physical activity influenced the impact of sleep on mortality, looking first at the volume of activity and then in detail at moderate to vigorous physical activity. Analyzes were adjusted for factors that could influence the relationship including age, gender, ethnicity, education level, sleeping season measurement, body mass index, diet, smoking, alcohol intake, and shift work. In who played little physical activity il sleeping too little or sleeping too much were associated with 16% and 37% of, respectively increased risk of death
for all causes. For those who have carried out medium volumes of physical activity, little sleep is harmful, with a 41% increase in the probability of death from all causes. In those who performed high levels of exercise, sleep duration was not linked to a risk of death.
Analyzing the deaths from cardiovascular diseases it is seen that back sleepers who got little exercise had a 69% increased risk of death that for it disappeared when exercise was increased to moderate or high volumes. For deaths due to tumors instead it emerged that those who slept a lot and moved little had a 21% increased risk, but even for them it was canceled with moderate or high levels of exercise.
Similar results were found for moderate to vigorous physical activity. In participants who did not meet World Health Organization recommendations (i.e., a sport goal of 150 to 300 minutes per week of moderate activity such as brisk walking or 75 to 150 minutes per week of vigorous activity, such as running, or a combination of the two workouts), short and long sleep were associated with 31% and 20% increased risk of death from all causes, respectively. These risks disappeared in those who met WHO advice. For cardiovascular death, sleepers who failed to meet the exercise intensity recommendations had a 52% elevated risk, which disappeared in those who met the recommendations. When it comes to dying from cancer, sleepers who didn’t meet WHO recommendations had a 21% increased risk, but again disappeared in those who followed WHO guidance.
The conclusions
Dr Zhang said: Our findings suggest that health promotion efforts targeting both physical activity and sleep duration may be more effective in preventing or delaying premature death in middle-aged people and older adults than than focus on just one behavior. In an ideal scenario, people should get enough sleep and get an adequate level of physical activity. However, our study indicates that getting enough exercise can offset some of the negative impact of losing a good night’s sleep
March 30, 2023 (change March 30, 2023 | 06:38)
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