Mindfulness during exercise, positive mental health, and psychological resilience in older adults: serial indirect associations through sleep regularity, self-control, and quality of life

Background Mindfulness during exercise involves present-moment awareness and attentional regulation during physical activity and may be relevant to psychological functioning in later life. However, the cross-sectional associations linking mindfulness during exercise (ME) with positive mental health (PMH) and psychological resilience (PR) through sleep regularity (SR), self-control (SC), and quality of life (QL) remain insufficiently understood. This study examined the direct associations among these constructs and the serial indirect associations implied by a prespecified sequential model in community-dwelling older adults. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 486 community-dwelling older adults recruited voluntarily from communities in Guangdong Province, China. Data were collected using Chinese-language, contextually adjusted self-report measures of mindfulness during exercise, sleep regularity, self-control, QL, PMH, and psychological resilience. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the measurement model and estimate the direct and prespecified serial indirect associations. Statistical inference was based on 5,000 bootstrap resamples with bias-corrected 95% confidence intervals. Results ME was positively associated with SR (β = 0.463, p < 0.001), SR was positively associated with SC (β = 0.425, p < 0.001), and SC was positively associated with quality of life (β = 0.517, p < 0.001). Quality of life was positively associated with positive mental health (β = 0.554, p < 0.001) and PR (β = 0.591, p < 0.001). All five prespecified serial indirect associations were statistically significant because their bias-corrected 95% bootstrap confidence intervals excluded zero. The serial indirect association between mindfulness during exercise and positive mental health through sleep regularity, SC, and QL was β = 0.056 [95% CI (0.035, 0.088)], whereas the corresponding association with psychological resilience was β = 0.060 [95% CI (0.037, 0.093)]. The model explained 30.7% of the variance in positive mental health and 34.9% of the variance in psychological resilience. Conclusions In this cross-sectional sample of community-dwelling older adults, the observed associations were consistent with the pre-specified sequence linking mindfulness during exercise with sleep regularity, self-control, QL, PMH, and psychological resilience. The significant serial indirect associations suggest that sleep regularity, self-control, and quality of life may be relevant correlates for understanding how mindfulness during exercise is statistically related to psychological functioning in later life. However, the simultaneous measurement of all constructs precludes conclusions regarding temporal ordering, causal mediation, or intervention effectiveness.