Associations Among Sleep Duration, Physical Activity, and Nutrient Intake in Korean Adults

This study aims to investigate the relationship between sleep duration, physical activity, and nutritional intake of calories and vitamins to determine the interconnections among sleep, physical activity, and dietary habits.

Overall, 5491 participants (male = 2347, female = 3144) aged ≥ 18 years were recruited from the first survey of the 2023 9th Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). All participants were assessed for sleep duration, physical activity levels, and intake of vitamin D, carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

In both sexes, participants with ≥8 h of sleep per day had significantly higher levels of moderate-intensity physical activity (male: p = 0.026, female: p = 0.011), moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (male: p = 0.003, female: p = 0.004), vitamin D (male: p = 0.029, female: p = 0.008), protein (male: p < 0.001, female: p = 0.011), and fat (male: p = 0.007, female: p = 0.015) than those with < 8 h of sleep. In the unadjusted model, participants who did not meet the recommended protein intake were less likely to achieve sufficient levels of physical activity (OR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.39-1.82) and adequate sleep duration (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.10-1.16).

Sleep duration, physical activity, and nutrient intake (particularly vitamin D and protein) appear to be interrelated. Therefore, increasing daily physical activity and ensuring adequate intake of protein and vitamin D is recommended to maintain healthy sleep duration.