Relationships among types of activity engagement and insomnia symptoms among older adults

BMC Geriatrics

Da Eun Kim¹  Chooza Moon²  Tonya J. Roberts³ 

[1] College of Nursing and Research Institute of Nursing Science, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea;College of Nursing, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA;School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA;

关键词: Sleep;    Leisure activities;    Exercise;    Aged;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12877-021-02042-y

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAn increasing awareness exists that lack of activity engagement is associated with insomnia symptoms. However, the majority of studies have focused on the association between a single type of activity engagement and insomnia symptoms.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional study using secondary data from the Health and Retirement Study examining the relationships among different types of activity engagement and insomnia symptoms among older adults. The sample for this study included 3321 older adults who responded to survey modules on activity engagement and insomnia symptoms in 2016. Activity engagement was measured using items for three types of activities (i.e., social, cognitive, and physical) validated in this study. Insomnia symptoms were measured using four items (i.e., difficulty of falling asleep, waking up during the night, waking up too early, and feeling rested). Independent t-tests were conducted to identify the differences in insomnia symptoms according to activity engagement level. Regressions were conducted to examine the associations among three types of activity engagement and insomnia symptoms after adjusting for covariates such as demographics, chronic disease, activities of daily living difficulty, cognitive function, sleep disorder, loneliness, and caregiving.ResultsThe respondents in the high-level social, cognitive, and physical activity engagement groups were found to show fewer insomnia symptoms. Furthermore, higher social (β = − 0.04, p = 0.040) and cognitive (β = − 0.06, p = 0.007) activity engagements were associated with fewer insomnia symptoms even after adjusting for other types of activity engagement and all covariates.ConclusionsThis study suggests that older adults with higher social and cognitive activity engagements may be likely to have fewer insomnia symptoms. Based on these results, future research is needed to develop multi-component intervention programs that can encourage older adults to engage in these activities.

【 授权许可】

CC BY