Prevalence, Trends, and Correlates of Joint Patterns of Aerobic and Muscle-Strengthening Activity and Sleep Duration: A Pooled Analysis of 359,019 Adults in the National Health Interview Survey 2004-2018

Abstract

Background: Physical activity (PA) and sleep duration have established associations with health outcomes individually but tend to co-occur and may be better targeted jointly. This study aimed to describe the cross-sectional prevalence, trends, and population characteristic correlates of activity-sleep patterns in a population-representative sample of US adults from the National Health Interview Survey (2004-2018).

Methods: Participants (N = 359,019) self-reported aerobic and muscle-strengthening activity and sleep duration. They were categorized as "meeting both"/"meeting PA only"/"meeting sleep only"/"meeting neither" of the 2018 US PA guidelines and age-based sleep duration recommendations. Trends in activity-sleep patterns were analyzed using weighted multinomial logistic regression, and correlates were identified using weighted binary Poisson regressions, with P ≤ .001 considered significant.

Results: "Meet sleep only" was most prevalent (46.4%) by 2018, followed by "meet neither" (30.3%), "meet both" (15.6%), and "meet PA only" (7.7%). Many significant sociodemographic, biological, and health-behavior correlates of the activity-sleep groups were identified, and the direction and magnitude of these associations differed between groups.

Conclusions: Public health campaigns should emphasize the importance of both sufficient PA and sleep; target women and older adults, current smokers, and those with lower education and poorer physical and mental health; and consider specific barriers experienced by minority ethnic groups.

Keywords: epidemiology; population characteristics; resistance training.