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

Abstract

Abstract Background Among 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. Methods This 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. Results After 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). Conclusion Our research demonstrates that physical activity was negatively associated with sleep disorders.