If the link between physical activity, sleep quality and health in general has not been proven, a A new study published in BMJ It raises new questions about the link between sleep, cardiovascular disease, cancer, mortality risk, and frequency of physical activity.

With this study conducted using data from UK BiobankIt is clear that poor sleep and low frequency of physical activity are not factors for good health if taken independently. In fact, people with sleep disturbances (duration, quality, etc.) and relatively poor physical activity present the highest risk of fatal disease.
To perform this study that allows to learn more, the physical activity of the studied files were divided into 3 categories according to the MET value (metabolic equivalent of the task) corresponding to the amount of energy expended per minute of physical activity. The three categories are: low (0 to <600 minutes/week), medium (600 to 1,200 minutes/minute/week), and high (1,200 minutes/minute/week). Sleep was rated from 1 to 5 by calculating sleep quality, insomnia, snoring... For 0 or 1, sleep is bad, 2 or 3 is average, and 4 or 5 is very good.

Physical activity plays a role in the link between sleep quality and mortality

The studied diseases were also selected. For all of them, excluding stroke, the higher proportion corresponds to the combination of poor sleep/impaired physical activity: 67% for cardiovascular disease, 45% for cancer and overall, more than half of all deaths. Confused causes belong to this category. What is interesting is the order in which the different data were processed. The researchers first looked at the association between poor sleep and mortality and then looked at the effect of physical activity. The result is clear: the degree of practice plays a role in the association between sleep and mortality.

However, despite its importance, this finding, made in the framework of an observational study, is, in fact, acknowledged by the study’s authors, incomplete. For the theory you put forward to be credible and verifiable, there is a lack of data such as the influence of those around them or the working conditions of the people whose data has been analyzed. In addition, the amount of physical activity does not really differentiate between ‘normal’ sleepers and heavy sleepers (43.0 vs 42.2 h/week) while there is a significant difference in sleep time. Medium (7.4 vs. 9.3 hours). The researchers plan to use advanced wearable devices to better understand the links between physical activity and sleep quality.