Neural mechanisms of long-term exercise intervention on cognitive performance among short-sleep young adults: A hemodynamic study

Exploration of physical activity, sedentary behavior and insulin level among short sleepers

BACKGROUND

Sufficient physical activity and sleep duration are essential for overall health. While one-third of the US population reports short sleep (<7 h), which is proven to link with negative health status. Current evidence on the relationship between physical activity, sedentary behavior, and serum insulin level in short sleep groups is limited.

METHODS

The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) was used to conduct this cross-sectional study of 8,494 adults (NHANES) 2007-2018. Serum insulin was quantitatively tested by human insulin immunoassay. Short sleep conditions were defined as ≤7 h per night. Physical activity conditions, including work activity, recreational activity, and sedentary behavior, were self-reported in NHANES by the Physical Activity Questionnaire using a 7-day recall method. The main analyses utilized weighted linear regression models due to the complex multistage sampling design of NHANES. Subgroup analysis and the influence of different lipid indices were explored in this study. In addition, a sensitivity analysis of participants without diabetes was conducted.

RESULTS

In fully adjusted models, increased levels of work and recreational activity significantly reduced insulin levels, with β values 95% CI = -0.002 (-0.003, 0.001) and β values 95% CI = -0.008 (-0.012, -0.003), respectively. However, sedentary behavior was positively associated with insulin levels, with a β value 95% CI =0.022 (0.009, 0.034). The sensitivity analysis further confirmed the benefits of recreational activity in controlling insulin levels. Through sex stratification analysis, it seemed that physical activity was more obviously impacted in the male than female groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall, our analysis demonstrates that in short sleepers, an increased level of work and recreational activity is beneficial to control the insulin level, and more sedentary time is harmful. However, this association might be discrepant in different sexes and different levels of lipid indices.

Threshold effect of physical exercise on its association to diabetes mellitus in short sleep population: evidence from a nationwide study

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is a significant public health concern, especially among individuals with short sleep duration. Understanding the relationship between physical exercise and DM in this population is crucial for developing effective prevention strategies. However, the presence of a potential threshold effect of exercise on DM risk remains unclear.

METHODS

Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) spanning from 2007 to 2018, this population-based study investigated the association between physical exercise and DM in individuals with short sleep duration (no more than 7 hours per night). Weighted logistic regression analyses were conducted, adjusting for demographic and lifestyle factors. Additionally, a two-piecewise linear regression model was employed to identify any threshold effect of exercise on DM risk.

RESULTS

This study included 15,092 participants identified with short sleep duration. Demographic characteristics stratified by DM status indicate higher prevalence among certain groups, such as middle-aged and older adults, males, and non-Hispanic Whites. The analysis revealed an inverse association between exercise levels and DM prevalence among the short sleep population. In the fully adjusted model, individuals engaging in sufficient exercise (> 600 MET-minutes/week) exhibited significantly reduced odds of developing DM [OR (95% CI): 0.624(0.527,0.738), p < 0.001]. Furthermore, the segmented regression model identified an inflection point at 2000 MET-minutes/week, below which a significant correlation between exercise and DM was observed.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides evidence of a threshold effect of physical exercise on its association with DM in individuals with short sleep duration. Tailored exercise interventions targeting this population may help mitigate DM risk and improve overall health outcomes. Further research is warranted to validate these findings and explore optimal exercise thresholds for DM prevention strategies.

Synergistic impact of 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations and physical activity on delaying aging

OBJECTIVE

Our study aims to examine the independent and combined associations of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentrations and physical activity (PA) status with phenotypic age (PhenoAge).

METHOD

The analysis included 18,738 participants from the NHANES 2007-2010 & 2015-2018. Phenotypic Age Acceleration (PhenoAgeAccel) was calculated as the residuals from regressing PhenoAge on chronological age. Weighted multivariable logistic regression models were used to analysis the relationship between 25(OH)D and PA with PhenoAgeAccel. Population attributable fraction (PAF) was used to estimate the proportion of PhenoAgeAccel which could be avoided if exposure were eliminated.

RESULTS

The multivariate-adjusted OR (95%CI) for PhenoAgeAccel with high 25(OH)D and adequate PA were 0.657 (0.549,0.787) (p < 0.001) for all, 0.663 (0.538,0.818) (p < 0.001) for participants whose age ≤65years old. Furthermore, there was multiplicative interaction between 25(OH)D and PA in age ≤65 years old group (0.729 (0.542,0.979), p = 0.036). High 25(OH)D level and adequate PA reduced the risk of PhenoAgeAccel by 14.3 % and 14.2 %, respectively. Notably, 30.7 % decrease was attributable to both high 25(OH)D level and engaging in adequate PA concurrently. Combining 25(OH)D above 80.4 nmol/l with PA decreased PhenoAge by 1.291 years (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Higher 25(OH)D level was associated with lower risk of biological ageing. Combining 25(OH)D and PA demonstrated enhanced protective effects, especially in middle or young adults. These findings underscore the importance of outdoor PA in slowing down the aging process.

Inverted U-shaped relationship between sleep duration and phenotypic age in US adults: a population-based study

Sleep is a modifiable behavior that can be targeted in interventions aimed at promoting healthy aging. This study aims to (i) identify the sleep duration trend in US adults; (ii) investigate the relationship between sleep duration and phenotypic age; and (iii) explore the role of exercise in this relationship. Phenotypic age as a novel index was calculated according to biomarkers collected from US adults based on the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Sleep information was self-reported by participants and discerned through individual interviews. The principal analytical method employed was weighted multivariable linear regression modeling, which accommodated for the complex multi-stage sampling design. The potential non-linear relationship was explored using a restricted cubic spline (RCS) model. Furthermore, subgroup analyses evaluated the potential effects of sociodemographic and lifestyle factors on the primary study outcomes. A total of 13,569 participants were finally included in, thereby resulting in a weighted population of 78,880,615. An examination of the temporal trends in sleep duration revealed a declining proportion of individuals with insufficient and markedly deficient sleep time since the 2015-2016 cycle. Taken normal sleep group as a reference, participants with extreme short sleep [β (95% CI) 0.582 (0.018, 1.146), p = 0.044] and long sleep [β (95% CI) 0.694 (0.186, 1.203), p = 0.010] were both positively associated with phenotypic age using the fully adjusted model. According to the dose-response relationship between sleep duration and phenotypic age, long sleep duration can benefit from regular exercise activity, whereas short sleep duration with more exercise tended to have higher phenotypic age. There is an inverted U-shaped relationship between short and long sleep durations and phenotypic age. This study represents an important step forward in our understanding of the complex relationship between sleep and healthy aging. By shedding light on this topic and providing practical exercise recommendations for promoting healthy sleep habits, researchers can help individuals live longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives.

Frontiers and hotspots of high-intensity interval exercise in children and adolescents: text mining and knowledge domain visualization

Background: During the past two decades, research on high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE) in children and adolescents has steadily accumulated, especially on the subthemes of improving cardiometabolic and cardiovascular health. However, there is still little scientific understanding of using scientometric analysis to establish knowledge maps. Exploring the relationship between known and new emerging ideas and their potential value has theoretical and practical implications in the context of a researcher's limited ability to read, analyze, and synthesize all published works. Objective: First, this study aims to provide extensive information on HIIE research in children and adolescents, including authors, institutions, countries, journals, and references. Second, the objective is to use co-occurrence, burst, and co-citation analyses based on hybrid node types to reveal hotspots and forecast frontiers for HIIE research in children and adolescents. Methods: Using the bibliographic data of the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) as the data source, publications, authors, and journals were analyzed with the help of bibliometric methods and visualization tools such as CiteSpace, VOSviewer, Pajek, and Bibliometrix R package. Authorial, institutional, and national collaboration networks were plotted, along with research hotspots and research frontiers based on keyword bursts and document co-citations. Results: This study found that executive function, high-intensity interval training, heart rate variability, and insulin resistance are emerging research topics; high-intensity training, mental health, exercise intensity, and cardiometabolic risk factors are continual frontier research areas in the subthemes. Conclusion: Our study has three novel contributions. First, it explicitly and directly reflects the research history and current situation of the HIIE intervention strategy in children and adolescents. This approach makes it clear and easy to trace the origin and development of this strategy in specific groups of children and adolescents. Second, it analyzes the research hotspots of HIIE in the field and predicts the research frontiers and development trends, which will help researchers get a deeper understanding of HIIE and pediatric health research. Third, the findings will enable researchers to pinpoint the most influential scholars, institutions, journals, and references in the field, increasing the possibility of future collaborations between authors, institutions, and countries.

Relationship between accelerometer-measured sleep duration and Stroop performance: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study among young adults

OBJECTIVES

Short sleep is becoming more common in modern society. This study aimed to explore the relationship between accelerometer-measured sleep duration and cognitive performance among young adults as well as the underlying hemodynamic mechanisms.

METHODS

A total of 58 participants were included in this study. Participants were asked to wear an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer to identify their sleep duration for 7 consecutive days. Cognitive function was assessed by the Stroop test. Two conditions, including the congruent and incongruent Stroop, were set. In addition, stratified analyses were used to examine sensitivity. 24-channel functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) equipment was applied to measure hemodynamic changes of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during cognitive tasks.

RESULTS

Results showed that sleep duration was positively associated with accuracy of the incongruent Stroop test (0.001 (0.000, 0.002), p = 0.042). Compared with the regular sleep (≥7 h) group, lower accuracy of the incongruent Stroop test (-0.012 (-0.023, -0.002), p = 0.024) was observed in the severe short sleep (<6 h). Moreover, a stratified analysis was conducted to examining gender, age, BMI, birthplace, and education's impact on sleep duration and the incongruent Stroop test accuracy, confirming a consistent correlation across all demographics. In the severe short sleep group, the activation of left middle frontal gyri and right dorsolateral superior frontal gyri were negatively associated with the cognitive performance.

CONCLUSIONS

This study emphasized the importance of maintaining enough sleep schedules in young college students from a fNIRS perspective. The findings of this study could potentially be used to guide sleep time in young adults and help them make sleep schemes.

The role of education attainment on 24-hour movement behavior in emerging adults: evidence from a population-based study

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between education level and health behavior including sleep, work activity, exercise activity, and sedentary behavior among emerging adults.

METHODS

This study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) collected between 2007 and 2018. The study sample included 4,484 emerging adults aged 18-25 years and the weighted participants were 30,057,813. Weighted multivariable regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between education level and the aforementioned health behavior, adjusting for age, gender, race/ethnicity, marital status, poverty-income ratio, BMI, smoking, and alcohol drinking status.

RESULTS

This study revealed that higher education level was associated with shorter sleep duration [Fully adjusted model, β (95% CI): -0.588 (-0.929, -0.246), p < 0.001]. Additionally, those with higher education levels were more likely to allocate time in sedentary behavior [β (95% CI): 90.162 (41.087, 139.238), p < 0.001]. Moreover, higher education level was related to less work activity [β (95% CI): -806.991 (-1,500.280, -113.703), p = 0.023] and more exercise activity time [β (95% CI): 118.196 (-21.992, 258.385), p = 0.097]. Subgroup analysis further verified this trend and detected that males with higher education level tended to participate in less work activity [β (95% CI): -1,139.972 (-2,136.707, -143.237), p = 0.026] while females with higher education level tended to engage in more exercise activity [Fully adjusted model, β (95% CI): 141.709 (45.468, 237.950), p = 0.004].

CONCLUSION

This study highlighted the importance of education level as a significant factor in promoting healthy behavior among emerging adults. The findings underscored the need for the Ministry of Education to prioritize educating this demographic about the significance of maintaining adequate sleep patterns and reducing sedentary habits. Encouraging them to allocate more time for work and physical activities can significantly contribute to their overall wellbeing and success, ultimately fostering a healthier next generation.

Mechanisms connecting square dance to sleep quality among middle-aged and older Chinese females: serial mediation roles of social support and depressive symptoms

Background

Square dance is gaining increasing popularity among middle-aged and older Chinese women who are also at high risk of sleep disturbance. Although previous studies have shown exercise could improve sleep quality, the association between square dance and sleep quality remains to be discussed, and even less is known about the potential mechanism underlying this association.

Purpose

This study aims to investigate the relationship between square dance and sleep quality and test if social support and depressive symptoms together play a serial mediating role in the influence of square dance on sleep quality.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 549 middle-aged and older Chinese females from September to December 2020 in Shao Yang City, Hunan Province of China, with ethics approval granted (SYU [2020]002). Square dance involvement was assessed by three questions about the time participants spent in square dance. Social support, depressive symptoms, and sleep quality were measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Social Support Self-Rating Scale (SSRS), and 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), respectively. The serial mediation model was analyzed by the bootstrapping method to assess whether social support and depressive symptoms mediate the relationship between square dance and sleep quality.

Results

Two-thirds of the participants had high involvement in square dance and most reported a moderate and high level of social support (98.54%). The prevalence of depressive symptoms and sleep disturbance was 19.49 and 26.78%, respectively. The serial mediation model showed a significant association between square dance and sleep quality, which was fully mediated by social support and depressive symptoms in a serial model (total effect c = -0.114, 95%CI = -0.227 to -0.001; direct effect c' = -0.036, 95% CI = -0.138 to 0.065; total indirect effect ab = -0.077, 95% CI = -0.139 to-0.016).

Conclusion

Our study extends the understanding of how square dance is associated with sleep quality through the serial mediating roles of social support and depressive symptoms. It provides crucial implications for developing square dance interventions to improve sleep quality among middle-aged and older Chinese females.

Systematic and meta-based evaluation of the relationship between the built environment and physical activity behaviors among older adults

OBJECTIVES

Existing assertions about the relationship between various factors of the built environment and physical activity behaviors are inconsistent and warrant further exploration and analysis.

METHODS

This study systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, the Cochrane Library and Google Scholar for the effect of the built environment on the physical activity behaviors of older adults. R software was used to calculate the meta-estimated odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval. Simultaneously, the quality of included studies was evaluated using an observational study quality evaluation standard recommended by American health care quality and research institutions.

RESULTS

A total of 16 original researches were included in this meta-analysis and eight factors of the built environment were evaluated. These factors which ranked from high to low according to their impact were traffic safety (OR = 1.58, 95% CI [1.14-2.20]), destination accessibility (OR = 1.24, 95% CI [1.06-1.44]), aesthetics of sports venues (OR = 1.21, 95% CI [1.07-1.37]), virescence of sports venues (OR = 1.14, 95% CI [1.06-1.23]), building density (OR = 1.07, 95% CI [1.02-1.13]). Additionally, it seemed that there was no potential association between mixed land use (OR = 1.01, 95% CI [0.92-1.10]), the quality of pedestrian facilities (OR = 1.00, 95% CI [0.92-1.08]) or commercial facilities (OR = 0.94, 95% CI [0.88-1.00]) and physical activity behaviors of older adults.

CONCLUSIONS

The built environment has been found to exhibit a significant relationship with the physical activity behaviors of older adults. It is proposed that factors such as traffic safety, destination accessibility, aesthetics of sports venues, virescence of sports venues, and building density be given more consideration when aiming to promote physical activity levels among older adults.

Accelerometer-measured physical activity patterns are associated with phenotypic age: Isotemporal substitution effects

Prolonged sitting appears to accelerate aging, while optimal physical activity patterns have been found to delay the process. It is an emerging topic, and no conclusions have been reached regarding the relationship between physical activity patterns and biomarkers-measured aging. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between sensor-based objectively measured physical activity and phenotypic age using a nationwide population from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in the United States. Weighted linear regression models were performed to evaluate the association between sedentary behavior, light-intensity physical activity (LPA), moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and phenotypic age. A total of 6439 eligible participants were included and the weighted respondents were 49,964,300. Results showed that prolonged sitting was positively associated with phenotypic age in the fully adjusted model [β (95% CI): 0.009(0.007,0.011), p < 0.001], while increasing volume of LPA and MVPA was associated with younger phenotypic age using the fully adjusted model [β (95% CI): -0.010(-0.013,-0.006), p < 0.001; -0.062(-0.075,-0.048), p < 0.001]. By utilizing the Isotemporal Substitution Model, it was found that replacing 30 min of sedentary behavior with 30 min of LPA or MVPA per day was associated with estimated 0.4 or 1.9 years of phenotypic age reduction. According to the study's findings, maintaining a certain level of physical activity could delay the process of aging and intensity matters.