高清福利片

Physical activity levels at or above聽聽may counter the serious health harms associated with poor sleep quality, suggests a large聽long-term聽study聽led by University of Sydney researchers聽published online in the聽British Journal of Sports Medicine.

鈥淲e found those who had both the poorest sleep quality and who exercised the least were most at risk of death from heart disease, stroke, and cancer,鈥澛爏aid聽lead author聽and聽PhD聽candidate聽Bo-Huei Huang聽from聽the聽Physical聽Activity,聽Lifestyle, and聽Population聽Health聽(PALPH)聽research group at聽Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney.

"The findings suggest a likely聽synergistic effect, an interplay, between聽the two聽behaviours.鈥�

鈥淏oth behaviours are聽critical聽for health聽but, sadly, our society suffers from both a physical inactivity and a poor sleep crisis,鈥� said senior author and research program director, Professor Emmanuel Stamatakis聽from the聽Charles Perkins Centre聽and the聽Faculty of Medicine and Health.

鈥淐onsidering that physical activity is perhaps more modifiable than sleep, our聽study聽offers people聽more health incentives to be physically active; and provides聽health professionals with more reasons to prescribe physical activity to patients with sleep problems."

Both physical inactivity and poor sleep are independently associated with a heightened risk of death and/or cardiovascular disease and cancer. But it has聽not聽been聽clear if they might exert a combined effect on health.

To explore this further, the researchers drew on information provided by 380,055 middle-aged (average age 55) men and women taking part in the UK Biobank study.鈥�

The UK Biobank is tracking the聽long-term聽health of more than half a million聽37聽to聽73 year聽olds, who were recruited from across the UK between 2006 and 2010.

Participants supplied information on their normal weekly physical activity levels, which were measured in聽Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) minutes. These are roughly equivalent to the amount of energy (calories) expended per聽kilogram of body weight per聽minute of physical activity.

For example, 600 MET minutes a week is the equivalent of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity, or more than 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity a week.

Physical activity levels were categorised as high (1200 or more MET minutes/week), medium (600 to less than 1200) or low (1聽to less than 600), and no moderate to vigorous physical activity, according to World Health Organization guidelines.

Sleep quality was categorised using a 0-5 sleep score derived from chronotype (鈥榥ight owl鈥� or 鈥榤orning lark鈥� preference), sleep duration, insomnia, snoring and daytime sleepiness: healthy (4+); intermediate (2-3); or poor (0-1).鈥�

A dozen physical activity and sleep pattern combinations were derived from the information supplied.

Participants鈥� health was then tracked for an average of 11 years up to May 2020 or death, whichever came first, to assess their risk of dying from any cause as well as from all types of cardiovascular disease; coronary heart disease; stroke; all types of cancer; and lung cancer.

During the monitoring period, 15,503 died: 4095 were from any type of cardiovascular disease and 9064 were from all types of cancer.

Of these, 1932 people died from coronary heart disease, 359 from a brain bleed (haemorrhagic) stroke, 450 from a blood clot (ischaemic) stroke and 1595 from lung cancer.鈥�

Some 223,445 (59聽percent) participants were in the high physical activity group; 57,771 (15聽percent) in the medium group; 39,298 (10%) in the low group; and 59, 541 (16聽percent) in the no moderate to vigorous physical activity group.聽鈥�

More than half (56聽percent)聽of聽the participants had a healthy sleep pattern; 42聽percent聽were classified as having intermediate quality sleep; and 3聽percent聽were classified as poor sleepers. (Figures are rounded up)

Those who were younger, female,聽had lower body mass index, were better off financially, ate more fruit and vegetables, spent less of their day seated, had no mental health issues, never smoked,聽didn鈥檛聽work shifts, drank less alcohol and were more physically active tended to have healthier sleep scores.

The lower the sleep score, the higher were the risks of death from any cause, from all types of cardiovascular disease, and from ischaemic stroke.鈥�

Compared with those with the high physical activity + healthy sleep score combination, those at the other end of the scale, with the no moderate to vigorous physical activity + poor sleep combination, had the highest risks of death from any cause (57聽percent聽higher).

They also had the highest risk of death鈥痜rom any type of cardiovascular disease (67聽percent聽higher), from any type of cancer (45聽percent聽higher), and from lung cancer (91 percent聽higher).鈥�

Lower levels of physical activity amplified the unfavourable associations between poor sleep and all health outcomes,聽except for聽stroke.

This is an observational study, and as such, can鈥檛 establish causality聽with certainty, acknowledge the researchers.聽The study also relied on self-reported data, and the key information on sleep patterns and physical activity was collected at one point in time only, and excluded potentially influential factors, such as job type and household size.鈥�

Nevertheless, the researchers conclude: 鈥淧hysical activity levels at or above the WHO guideline (600 metabolic equivalent task mins/week) threshold eliminated most of the deleterious associations of poor sleep with mortality.鈥�

The findings lend weight to efforts to target both physical activity and sleep quality in a bid to improve health, they聽write.

鈥淎s emerging evidence supports a synergistic effect of sleep and [physical activity] on health outcomes, future聽programmes聽concurrently targeting both behaviours are warranted,鈥� they add.

Declaration: The authors declare no competing interests.