Sleep health mediates the relationship between physical activity and depression symptoms

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate cross-sectional associations between physical activity, sleep health, and depression symptoms using mediation models. Participants (N\u2009=\u20091576, MAge\u2009=\u200939.3 years, 40% female) were recruited online from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk crowd-sourcing service. Physical activity was measured using a single-item self-report measure and depression symptoms were reported using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Sleep health was measured using the 6-question RUSATED Sleep Health survey V2.0. Good sleep health (direct effect: β\u2009=\u2009\u2009−\u2009.273, t\u2009=\u2009\u2009−\u200913.87, p\u2009<\u2009.0001) and high levels of physical activity (direct effect: β\u2009=\u2009\u2009−\u2009.092, t\u2009=\u2009\u2009−\u20094.73, p\u2009<\u2009.0001) were both individually associated with fewer depression symptoms. Sleep health significantly mediated 19% of the association between physical activity and depression symptoms (indirect effect: β\u2009=\u2009\u2009−\u2009.022, 95% CI [−\u2009.036 to\u2009−\u2009.008]), while physical activity significantly mediated 3% of the relationship between sleep health and depression symptoms (indirect effect: β\u2009=\u2009\u2009−\u2009.008, 95% CI [−\u2009.014 to\u2009−\u2009.003]). Physical activity and sleep health act as predictors and mediators of depression symptoms.