Between sleep and exercise, choose sleep, research suggests

• Studies have shown that physical activity and sleep influence each other over 24 hours, suggesting a need to optimize both to reduce the long-term risks of morbidity and mortality.
• A large, multinational study found that fewer than 13% of participants simultaneously met the recommended 8,000 daily steps and 7-9 hours of sleep.
• The study found that sleep duration influenced the number of steps the next day, but the number of steps had little impact on sleep quality or quantity.
• This study highlights the need for interventions that simultaneously increase sleep and physical activity levels, as the importance of adequate sleep is often overlooked.

Recent research suggests that the allocation of time to sleep, physical activity, and sedentary behavior over a 24-hour period influences long-term health, and that attaining adequate levels of both sleep and physical activity is essential for healthy aging.

A recent study published in Communications Medicine found that only 12.9% of individuals simultaneously attain the recommended 8,000 daily steps and 7-9 hours of sleep.

Moreover, the study showed that a lack of adequate sleep had a negative impact on physical activity the following day. These results suggest that obtaining adequate sleep could help improve physical activity levels.

Study’s author Josh Fitton, a doctoral researcher at Flinders University, in Australia, told Medical News Today:

“We demonstrate in our large multinational sample that only a small fraction of people are able to attain sufficient sleep and adequate physical activity on a routine basis. In light of this, we stress the importance of considering the real-world compatibility of prominent public health guidelines related to sleep and physical activity.”