Associations Of Resistance And Aerobic Exercise With Recommended Sleep Duration In Older Adults

PURPOSE: This study investigated independent associations of resistance exercise (RE) and aerobic exercise (AE) with recommended sleep duration measured using device-based and self-report sleep measures among older adults. METHODS: We analyzed data from the 2017-2024 Physical Activity and Aging Study (PAAS) data, including 838 older adults aged ≥65 years. Self-reported RE was classified by days per week, while AE was quantified in MET-minutes per week following the US Physical Activity Guidelines. Sleep duration was assessed using both self-report (PSQI: The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) and device-based (Fitbit Charge 2) measures. Participants were classified as meeting or not the recommended sleep duration (7-8 hours per night) based on National Sleep Foundation guidelines. Logistic regressions were applied to assess the odds ratios (OR) and 95% confident intervals (CIs) for meeting the recommended sleep duration based on RE and AE. RESULTS: The percentage of older adults meeting the recommended sleep duration was 70% by PSQI, but 36% by Fitbit. Compared with 0 day/week of RE, the ORs (95% CIs) of meeting the recommended sleep duration by PSQI and Fitbit were 0.86 (0.53-1.42) and 0.71 (0.43-1.16) for 1 day/week of RE, respectively, and 0.81 (0.56-1.16) and 1.00 (0.71-1.43) for ≥2 days/week of RE, respectively. Compared with 0-499 MET-min/week of AE, the ORs (95% CIs) of meeting the recommended sleep duration by PSQI and Fitbit were 1.08 (0.70-1.65) and 1.21 (0.79-1.85) for 500-999 MET-min/week of AE, respectively, and 1.07 (0.73-1.56) and 1.19 (0.82-1.75) for ≥1,000 MET-min/week of AE, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study found that the percentage of older adults meeting the recommended 7-8 hours per night of sleep duration was almost half as common when categorized by device-based measures compared to self-report (36 vs 70%). We observed no significant associations of self-reported RE and AE with the recommended sleep duration in older adults. However, prospective studies are needed.