The Association between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Reported Physical Activity with Sleep Quality in Apparently Healthy Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Ahmad M Osailan; Ragab K Elnaggar; Saud F Alsubaie; Bader A Alqahtani; Walid Kamal Abdelbasset

doi:10.3390/ijerph18084263

The Association between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Reported Physical Activity with Sleep Quality in Apparently Healthy Adults: A Cross-Sectional Study

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 17;18(8):4263. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18084263.

Authors

Ahmad M Osailan¹, Ragab K Elnaggar^{1

2}, Saud F Alsubaie¹, Bader A Alqahtani¹, Walid Kamal Abdelbasset^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Physical Therapy and Health Rehabilitation Department, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj 16278, Saudi Arabia.
² Department of Physical Therapy for Pediatrics, Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt.
³ Department of Physical Therapy, Kasr Al-Aini Hospital, Cairo University, Giza 12613, Egypt.

Abstract

Background: Recently, poor cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) has been postulated as an adverse health outcome related to poor sleep quality. However, studies investigating the relationship between CRF and a subjective sleep quality index are scarce. Thus, the current study aimed to investigate the association between CRF and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) in apparently healthy people. The secondary aim was to investigate the association between reported physical activity (PA) and PSQI.

Methods: Thirty-three healthy male participants volunteered to participate. CRF (VO_2PEAK) was measured via cardiopulmonary exercise testing on a treadmill. A short form of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to measure PA, and PSQI was used for the sleep quality index.

Results: There was no correlation between CRF and PSQI total score or any component of the PSQI. There was a significant inverse correlation between IPAQ and PSQI total score (r = -0.36, p = 0.04). Categorical data analysis of the two questionnaires revealed that 42.4% of the participants who reported low physical activity also had poor sleep quality.

Conclusions: The current study showed no association between CRF and the subjective sleep quality index but demonstrated a moderate inverse association between reported PA and subjective sleep quality index. The findings suggest that the more reported PA, the better the overall sleep quality.

Keywords: VO2PEAK; cardiorespiratory fitness; physical activity; sleep quality.

MeSH terms

Adult
Cardiorespiratory Fitness*
Cross-Sectional Studies
Exercise
Humans
Male
Physical Fitness
Sleep
Surveys and Questionnaires