Association between physical activity, sitting time and sleep quality in university students

Del Solar M.L.; Zuzunaga-Montoya F.E.; Vásquez-Romero L.E.M.; Loayza-Castro J.A.; Vera-Ponce V.J. · Revista Cubana de Medicina Militar (2025)

Resumen

Introduction: Poor sleep quality is a prevalent and widespread problem in modern society. This disorder is common among medical students. Objective: To estimate the prevalence of poor sleep quality and its association with physical activity (PA) and sitting time (SWT) in medical students. Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study. An online survey was conducted from September to November 2021. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the International PA Questionnaire were used. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) were obtained using the Poisson regression model with robust variance. 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were used. Results: A total of 545 students were surveyed. The prevalence of poor sleep quality was 86.06%. In the multivariate regression analysis, regarding sleep quality, an association was found with moderate PA levels (aPR= 0.88; 95% CI 0.76–0.98) and high PA levels (aPR= 0.73; 95% CI 0.65-0.82). In the case of TS, an association was found with those who remained seated for 4 to 8 hours (aPR= 1.34; 95% CI 1.08-1.68) and for more than 8 hours (aPR= 1.50; 95% CI 1.21–1.85). Conclusions: A high prevalence of poor sleep quality was found. Moderate and high PA levels were found to be associated with a lower likelihood of poor sleep quality. Prolonged sitting time was associated with a higher likelihood of poor sleep quality.

Instituciones: Universidad Ricardo Palma; Universidad de San Martín de Porres; Universidad Tecnológica del Perú; Universidad Continental