Few people would be surprised to hear that physical activity improves sleep. But what may be surprising is that, according to researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, not all types of physical activity seem to improve sleep to the same extent. The researchers, who presented the results of their study at a 2015 meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies LLC, looked at data for 429,110 adults from the 2013 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The BRFSS is a federally sponsored phone survey program that asks US residents questions about health-related behaviors, chronic diseases, and prevention strategies. Specifically, researchers examined the BRFSS data to look for relationships between the amount of time participants slept (more or less than seven hours per night) and ten types of physical activity: walking, aerobics/calisthenics, biking, gardening, golfing, running, weight-lifting, yoga/Pilates, household chores, and childcare-related activities. After taking into account the participants' age, sex, education level, and body mass index, the researchers discovered that:
It's important to point out that the study was observational and so can't prove a cause-and-effect relationship between these specific forms of physical activity and sleep quality. For example, people who engage in more “purposeful” forms of physical activity may have other lifestyle habits that the researchers didn't take into account, such as better financial security or more balanced diets, which may also contribute to better sleep. Similarly, those who spend a lot of their time looking after children or doing housework may be more stressed, which could cancel out some of the positive effects on sleep.
Source: University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
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