The Relationship Of Sleep Behaviors And Alcohol Consumption On Recreational Physical Activity

PURPOSE: To analyze the relationship between physical activity, sleep behaviors, and alcohol consumption in a large, nationally representative sample. METHODS: Data from the 2017-2022 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys were used to evaluate the relationship between recreational physical activity, sleep behaviors, and alcohol consumption. Recreational physical activity (PA) was assessed by participants’ self-reported weekly minutes of moderate and vigorous physical activity. Sleep behaviors were assessed using an adapted sleep score consisting of self-reported sleep duration, sleepiness, and sleep problems. Alcohol consumption was assessed using self-reported drinking and participants were categorized as being heavy drinkers or not according to guidelines from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Independent associations of sleep and alcohol consumption with physical activity were evaluated prior to conducting multivariate linear regression to measure the association between PA, sleep score, and heavy drinking when controlling for the following demographic and socioeconomic variables: age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, education, and ratio of family income to poverty. RESULTS: 6,400 participants with a mean age of 48.9 (SD 16.2) were included in the analysis. Univariate associations were observed between worsening sleep score and PA (p<0.001), but not between heavy drinking and PA (p=0.09). A multivariate linear regression model controlling for demographic and socioeconomic variables revealed a 12.3-minute decrease in PA with every one-point increase in worsening sleep score (p=0.01) and 39.0 minutes less PA among participants meeting criteria for heavy drinking (p=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: In a large national sample, significant associations existed between sleep behaviors, heavy drinking, and recreational physical activity when controlling for other important demographic and socioeconomic variables. Poor sleep behaviors and heavy drinking are negatively associated with attaining adequate amounts of recreational physical activity. Future prospective studies aiming to increase recreational physical activity among adults may consider targeting improvements in participants’ sleeping and drinking behaviors.