Associations of Long-Term PM 2.5 Exposure and Physical Activity on Sleep: A Prospective Cohort Study
Discuss this preprint
Start a discussion What are Sciety discussions?Listed in
This article is not in any list yet, why not save it to one of your lists.Abstract
BACKGROUND Physical activity (PA) is known to benefit to sleep health, and the detrimental effects of PM 2.5 on sleep are also recognized. However, whether taking PA with PM 2.5 exposure is still beneficial to sleep is not well-understood. METHODS We analyzed two UK Biobank cohorts. Both cohorts included PM 2.5 exposure and sleep behavior data. The questionnaire-based cohort (n = 293,980) collected walking and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) data via International Physical Activity Questionnaire from 2006–2010. The accelerometer cohort (n = 63,474) provided light PA (LPA) and MVPA data from 2013–2015. Using linear regression and generalized additive models, we assessed both independent and combined associations of PA and long-term PM 2.5 exposure with sleep outcomes, while characterizing nonlinear dose-response relationships between PA, PM 2.5 concentrations, and sleep parameters. RESULTS Long-term PM 2.5 exposure was associated with reduced sleep quality and sleep duration. For every 10 MET-hours/week increase in MVPA, the negative association between PM 2.5 and sleep quality was reduced by 0.0651 (0.0096, 0.1205), offsetting 24.7% of the detrimental effect of PM 2.5 on sleep. Walking offset 19.6% of the negative impact. A threshold effect was observed in the dose-response relationship between walking, MVPA, and PM2.5 on sleep quality. Optimal sleep improvements occurred at 37 MET-hours/week for walking (11.2 h/week) and 50 MET-hours/week for MVPA (8.33 h/week), with stronger effects in individuals with obesity, males, and middle-aged or older adults. CONCLUSIONS Long-term exposure to PM 2.5 was linked to lower sleep scores, PA mitigating the adverse effects of PM 2.5 . This improvement exhibited a threshold effect and was more pronounced in obese individuals, males, and middle-aged to elderly individuals. PA can offer an economical and convenient strategy to mitigate the negative impacts of PM 2.5 exposure on sleep.
