Sewell Kelsey R, Collins Audrey M, Oberlin Lauren E, Chappel-Farley Miranda G, Huang Haiqing, Grove George, Jakicic John M, Kramer Arthur F, McAuley Edward, Burns Jeffrey M, Hillman Charles H, Vidoni Eric D, Marsland Anna L, Kang Chaeryon, Wan Lu, Wilckens Kristine A, Erickson Kirk I
AdventHealth Research Institute Neuroscience Orlando Florida USA.
Centre for Healthy Ageing Health Futures Institute Murdoch University Murdoch Western Australia Australia.
Alzheimers Dement (N Y). 2025 May 29;11(2):e70110. doi: 10.1002/trc2.70110. eCollection 2025 Apr-Jun.
Poor sleep is commonly associated with poorer cognition in older adults. Unfortunately, effective sleep improvement therapies for older adults are limited in their accessibility and have shown only subtle effects on cognition. Physical activity, however, is associated with better cognition in older adults and may compensate for cognitive deficits related to poor sleep. This study examined whether greater engagement in physical activity moderates the association between sleep and cognitive function in older adults.
We utilized baseline data from the Investigating Gains in Neurocognition in an Intervention Trial of Exercise (IGNITE) study. Cognitively unimpaired older adults ( = 589, mean age ± SD: 69.8 ± 3.7, 70% female) underwent a comprehensive cognitive assessment. Sleep was measured via the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and both sleep and physical activity were measured using 24-h actigraphy for 7 days.
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) accumulated in at least 10-min bouts moderated the association between self-reported sleep efficiency and episodic memory, processing speed, executive function (EF)/attentional control, and working memory (β = -0.10 to -0.17, all < 0.05). In addition, light-intensity physical activity moderated the association of actigraphy-measured wake after sleep onset (WASO) with EF/attentional control and processing speed (β = 0.10, all < 0.05). The direction of these results was such that lower sleep efficiency and greater WASO was associated with poorer cognitive performance, but this association was attenuated by engaging in greater amounts of physical activity.
These results support the hypothesis that physical activity may mitigate the association between poor sleep and cognitive deficits in older adulthood. We highlight the need for further longitudinal studies and randomized clinical trials of exercise to further examine these associations. These results suggest that even small amounts of MVPA or light intensity physical activity mitigate the association between poor sleep and cognitive deficits in older adulthood.
Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity moderated the association of self-reported sleep efficiency with cognition.Light physical activity moderated the association of wake after sleep onset with cognition.Physical activity may mitigate sleep-related cognitive deficits in older adults.Further longitudinal studies and randomized controlled trials are needed.
睡眠质量差通常与老年人认知能力下降有关。不幸的是，针对老年人的有效睡眠改善疗法在可及性方面有限，且对认知的影响甚微。然而，体育活动与老年人更好的认知能力相关，可能弥补与睡眠质量差相关的认知缺陷。本研究探讨了更多地参与体育活动是否会调节老年人睡眠与认知功能之间的关联。
我们利用了运动干预试验中神经认知增益调查（IGNITE）研究的基线数据。认知功能未受损的老年人（n = 589，平均年龄±标准差：69.8±3.7，70%为女性）接受了全面的认知评估。通过匹兹堡睡眠质量指数（PSQI）测量睡眠，睡眠和体育活动均使用7天的24小时活动记录仪进行测量。
至少以10分钟时长累积的中等至剧烈体育活动（MVPA）调节了自我报告的睡眠效率与情景记忆、处理速度、执行功能（EF）/注意力控制和工作记忆之间的关联（β = -0.10至-0.17，均<0.05）。此外，轻度体育活动调节了活动记录仪测量的睡眠后觉醒（WASO）与EF/注意力控制和处理速度之间的关联（β = 0.10，均<0.05）。这些结果的方向表明，较低的睡眠效率和较高的WASO与较差的认知表现相关，但通过参与更多的体育活动，这种关联会减弱。
这些结果支持了体育活动可能减轻老年人睡眠质量差与认知缺陷之间关联的假设。我们强调需要进一步进行纵向研究和运动随机临床试验，以进一步检验这些关联。这些结果表明，即使少量的MVPA或轻度体育活动也能减轻老年人睡眠质量差与认知缺陷之间的关联。
中等至剧烈体育活动调节了自我报告的睡眠效率与认知之间的关联。轻度体育活动调节了睡眠后觉醒与认知之间的关联。体育活动可能减轻老年人与睡眠相关的认知缺陷。需要进一步的纵向研究和随机对照试验。
