Abstract
Abstract
Introduction
Emotional distress (ED) is associated with poor sleep. Research shows that minority populations experience greater vulnerabilities to both ED and poor sleep. Interventions such as relaxation training and behavioral therapy address this relationship but are not always successful. Research shows that physical activity (PA) is negatively associated with ED and positively associated with sleep duration. However, it is unclear whether PA attenuates the relationship between ED and sleep, and if this relationship differs by race/ethnicity.
Methods
We analyzed data from the 2005-2015 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a nationally representative dataset of 416,152 participants. ED, hours of PA per day, and average sleep duration were collected. Regression models with covariates (age, sex, employment status, BMI) were used to analyze the moderation effect of PA within sleep and ED. Regression models were stratified by race/ethnicity.
Results
261,686 participants (45,926 blacks, 17.55%, and 215,760 whites, 82.45%) responded with the required variables for analysis. 63% of participants reported at least some physical activity. The results of the regression showed that a significant amount of variance in ED stemmed from sleep duration; F (7, 121088) = 1,619.72, p < 0.001. PA was found to have a significant main effect, t(121,088) = 9.01, p= <0.001. There was a significant moderation effect of PA, t(121088) =7.26, p < 0.001. Stratification showed that the moderation effect of PA was not significant among blacks t(121,088) = -1.45, p=0.149 and significant among whites b = -.08, t(101,754) = -7.82, p < 0.001.
Conclusion
The present study found support for moderation of PA in the sleep-ED relationship. However, it found that blacks do not experience the same benefits of PA in this relationship as whites. Further research should be performed to understand the connection of PA to sleep duration and ED.
Support
This study was supported by funding from the NIH: R01MD007716, R01HL142066, R01AG056531, K01HL135452, and K07AG052685