Impact of sleep quality and physical activity on hypertension in adults: Findings from rural eastern India

Sleep disturbance is linked to cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure, with obesity being a major risk factor. Sleep quality has emerged as a crucial metric for assessing the health and wellbeing of adulthood. Our cross-sectional study has attempted to understand sleep, body mass index (BMI), and physical activity's impact on hypertension.

Hypertension diagnosis was done using a digital sphygmomanometer among 168 subjects. The physical activity was assessed using the global physical activity questionnaire, developed by World Health Organization. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used for assessing sleep quality across the study population. Logistic regression was used for sleep quality and hypertension associations while controlling for potential confounders.

48.2% of the hypertensive population showed poor quality of sleep in our study. The Global PQSI score was significantly increased (11.56 ± 3.4) in hypertensive subjects, and physical activity influenced the strength of the association between hypertension and sleep quality, with a significant sleep-physical activity interaction (P = <0.001). Higher adjusted odds of hypertension were also evident with overweight and obese subjects, and the relationship was statistically significant in subjects with high PQSI scores (P < 0.001).

Adults who get poor sleep have a higher chance of developing hypertension, and this association depends on their BMI and level of physical activity.