Does access to neighbourhood green space promote a healthy duration of sleep? Novel findings from a cross-sectional study of 259 319 Australians

Abstract

Objectives: Experiments demonstrate that exposure to parks and other 'green spaces' promote favourable psychological and physiological outcomes. As a consequence, people who reside in greener neighbourhoods may also have a lower risk of short sleep duration (<6 h). This is potentially important as short sleep duration is a correlate of obesity, chronic disease and mortality, but so far this hypothesis has not been previously investigated.

Design: Cross-sectional data analysis.

Setting: New South Wales, Australia.

Participants: This study investigated whether neighbourhood green space was associated with a healthier duration of sleep (to the nearest hour) among 259 319 Australians who completed the 45 and Up Study baseline questionnaire between 2006 and 2009 inclusive.

Primary and secondary outcome measures: Multinomial logit regression was used to investigate the influence of an objective measure of green space on categories of sleep duration: 8 h (normal); between 9 and 10 h (mid-long sleep); over 10 h (long sleep); between 6 and 7 h (mid-short sleep); and less than 6 h (short sleep). Models were adjusted for psychological distress, physical activity and a range of demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.

Results: People living in greener neighbourhoods reported a lower risk of short sleep. For example, compared with participants living in areas with 20% green space land-use, the relative risk ratios for participants with 80%+ green space was 0.86 (95% CI 0.81 to 0.92) for durations between 6 and 7 h, and 0.68 (95% CI 0.57 to 0.80) for less than 6 h sleep. Unexpectedly, the benefit of more green space for achieving 8 h of sleep was not explained by controls for psychological distress, physical activity or other socioeconomic factors.

Conclusions: Green space planning policies may have wider public health benefits than previously recognised. Further research in the role of green spaces in promoting healthier sleep durations and patterns is warranted.

Keywords: Epidemiology; Public Health; Social Medicine.

Figure 1

Association between proximity to green space and duration of sleep (fully adjusted). *Reference group=less than 20% green space. **Multinomial logit regression with robust SEs and base category comprising participants reporting 8 h sleep duration. Models were adjusted for: age, gender, Kessler scale of psychological distress, physical activity (measured by the Active Australia survey), weight status, couple status, ethnicity, country of birth, annual household income, highest qualifications, economic status, language spoken at home, number of alcoholic drinks consumed per week, smoking status, social support, the Socio-Economic Index for Areas (SEIFA) ‘Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage/Disadvantage’, and the ‘Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia’ (ARIA).