Summary: Regular physical activity improves sleep quality—especially among women—according to a recent study.
Source: Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Good-quality sleep is essential for both physical and emotional health.
Sleep supports recovery, cognitive function, and long-term health. Adequate sleep is linked to better outcomes across a range of conditions, including cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, mental health disorders, and dementia. Conversely, sleep disorders—such as insomnia, narcolepsy, and excessive daytime sleepiness—are common worldwide and can lead to serious health consequences.
In the United States, an estimated 50–70 million adults experience sleep disorders, with insomnia being the most prevalent. In China, a meta-analysis of 17 studies found insomnia affects about 15% of the population. Identifying behaviors that support high-quality sleep is therefore an important public health priority.
Previous research has suggested that lifestyle factors—particularly a healthy diet and regular physical activity—benefit sleep. However, comprehensive evaluations that simultaneously consider different activity types and how replacing one behavior with another affects sleep are scarce.
To address this gap, an international research team led by Associate Professor Mohammad Javad Koohsari of the School of Knowledge Science at Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) examined how sedentary behaviour, light-intensity activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity relate to sleep quality in a sample of middle-aged Japanese adults.
The research team included scholars from JAIST, Bunka Gakuen University, University of Tsukuba, National Taiwan Normal University, University of Calgary, and Waseda University. Their study focused on adults aged 40–64, a life stage when many chronic conditions and sleep problems begin to emerge. The findings were published in Scientific Reports.
The investigators used an isotemporal substitution approach. This method estimates the likely impact on an outcome—here, sleep quality—when a fixed amount of time spent in one activity is replaced by the same amount of time in another activity. In this study, the researchers modeled the effects of substituting 60 minutes of sedentary behaviour or light-intensity physical activity (LPA) with 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA).
Participants wore accelerometers for seven consecutive days to obtain objective measures of time spent in sedentary behaviour, LPA, and MVPA. Researchers then gathered self-reported sleep measures using questionnaires that assessed perceived rest from sleep and overall sleep quality.
The study found that replacing an hour of sedentary time or light activity with an hour of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with better rest during sleep, but this benefit appeared to be limited to women. Specifically, the substitution of 60 minutes of sedentary behaviour or LPA with MVPA showed favorable associations with the “rest by sleep” measure for women. No statistically significant associations were observed in men across the models tested.
These gender-specific findings align with other reports pointing to sex differences in sleep disorders and sleep physiology, though the mechanisms underlying these differences remain unclear. The authors emphasize that further research is needed to explore why moderate-to-vigorous activity appears to benefit women’s sleep more than men’s in this age group.
Overall, this study adds to growing evidence that higher levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity can support better sleep quality, particularly among middle-aged women. These results reinforce public health messages encouraging regular, sufficiently intense physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle that promotes restorative sleep.
Funding:
Dr. Gavin R. McCormack is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Foundations Scheme Grant (FDN-154331). Prof. Koichiro Oka receives support from a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 20H04113) from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.
About this exercise and sleep research news
Author: Mohammad Javad Koohsari
Source: Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Contact: Mohammad Javad Koohsari – Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Image: The image is in the public domain
Original Research: Open access. “Sedentary behaviour and sleep quality” by Mohammad Javad Koohsari et al., Scientific Reports
Abstract
Sedentary behaviour and sleep quality
High-quality sleep is a vital component of health and well-being. Prior studies have shown that more physical activity and less sedentary time are generally associated with better sleep. However, to understand these relationships thoroughly, it is important to consider the effect of substituting one behaviour for another—such as replacing sedentary time with light or more vigorous activity—and to evaluate these substitutions across different population groups.
To our knowledge, substitutional relationships among sedentary behaviour (SB), light-intensity physical activity (LPA), and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) have not been fully examined in middle-aged adults. This study used an isotemporal substitution framework to evaluate how replacing sedentary time with physical activity relates to sleep quality in a sample of adults aged 40–64 living in Japan.
Data from 683 participants were analyzed. Time spent in SB, LPA, and MVPA was objectively measured by accelerometer. Two self-reported sleep measures—rest by sleep and overall sleep quality—were obtained via questionnaires. Multivariable linear regression models evaluated associations between activity types and sleep measures, with analyses stratified by sex.
The results indicated that, among women, replacing each 60-minute block of SB or LPA with MVPA was positively associated with the “rest by sleep” measure (β = 0.16 and β = 0.18, respectively). No significant associations between SB, LPA, MVPA and sleep measures were observed in men across the models. These findings suggest that higher levels of MVPA are linked to better sleep rest among middle-aged women.