Sedentary behavior and sleep efficiency in active community-dwelling older adults

Objectives: Previous studies have demonstrated that aerobic exercise interventions have a positive impact on sleep efficiency in older adults. However, little work has been done on the impact of sedentary behavior (sitting, watching television, etc.) on sleep efficiency. Methods: 54 Community -dwelling men and women >65 years of age living in Whistler, British Columbia (mean 71.5 years) were enrolled in this cross-sectional observational study. Measures of sleep efficiency as well as average waking sedentary (ST), light (LT), and moderate (MT) activity were recorded with Sensewear accelerometers worn continuously for 7 days. Results: From the univariate regression analysis, there was no association between sleep efficiency and the predictors LT and MT. There was a small negative association between ST and sleep efficiency that remained significant in our multivariate regression model containing alcohol consumption, age and gender as covariates. (standardized beta correlation coefficient 0.322, p=0.019). Although significant, this effect was small (an increase in sedentary time of 3 hours per day was associated with an approximately 5% reduction in sleep efficiency). Conclusions: This study found a small significant association between the time spent sedentary and sleep efficiency, despite high levels of activity in this older adult group. (C) 2014 Brazilian Association of Sleep. Production and Hosting by Elsevier B.V.