Sleep duration and cardiorespiratory fitness in adolescents: Longitudinal analysis from the LabMed study

We aimed to investigate longitudinal associations between sleep duration and cardiorespiratory fitness, in adolescents.

Sleep duration was self-reported and cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed by the 20 m shuttle run test, both at baseline and follow-up (2-year follow-up). Participants were 734 Northern Portuguese adolescents (349 girls), aged 14.6 ± 1.8 years, from the LabMed study.

Significant decreases were found between baseline and follow-up for sleep duration, whereas for cardiorespiratory fitness there was an increase. Adolescents with short sleep duration at baseline had lower cardiorespiratory fitness at follow-up, comparing to those meeting the sleep guidelines (odds ratio [OR] = 0.506, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.326-0.785; p = .002 for whole week; OR = 0.597, 95% CI: 0.407-0.875; p = .008 for weekdays). Girls who were short sleepers at baseline had lower odds of having a healthy cardiorespiratory fitness at follow-up, comparing to those meeting the sleep guidelines (OR = 0.311, 95% CI: 0.158-0.613; p < .001 for whole week; OR = 0.469, 95% CI: 0.262-0.838; p = .011 for weekdays). No significant associations between sleep duration and cardiorespiratory fitness were found for boys.

There was a significant longitudinal association between short sleep duration and lower cardiorespiratory fitness levels, particularly in girls. Future interventions targeting adolescents' sleep duration should acknowledge behavioral differences between genders, as well as different behaviors adopted by boys ang girls, specifically on weekends.