Relations between Physical Activity and Quality of Sleep Among Students

Abstract

Relevance of the topic. Most authors agree that physical activity (PA) affects sleep (Kredlow et al., 2015), but it remains unclear how the quality of sleep varies with individual PA schedule and daily immobility. The goal was to identify the interfaces between physical activity and sleep quality for 18–25-year-old students. Research methods. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, smart watches Polar A300 were used. Results of the study. By analysing the obtained study data, 2 groups were formed according to physical activity: medium PA (56.1%) and high PA (43.9%). The quality of sleep among students was as follows: good (36.4%), bad (63.6%). Signifcant correlations were found between PA aspects and falling asleep time, PSQI. There were no signifcant interfaces between PA aspects and sleep duration. Conclusions. The majority of students were of moderate physical activity, less high physical activity and there were no students of low physical activity. Poor quality of sleep prevailed among students. Weak interfaces were identifed between continuous sitting and the time of useless sleep. Dependences were also found between sleep quality and the duration of intense physical activity as well as the level of physical activity. Signifcant dependencies were not established between the time of day of intense physical activity or the intense physical activity type and sleep quality itself, although the latter signifcantly affected the duration of sleep, the time of awakening and the length of useless sleep.

Keywords: students, physical activity, sleep quality, long sitting.