Motion och sömnkvalitet hos äldre personer i en kommun i sydöstra Sverige
Background: The population of the world is getting older and in the year of 2020, 1.2 billion people will be 60 years or older. A common health complaint affecting the quality of life in elderly persons are sleep difficulties. Physical activity is claimed to improve sleep quality and the maintenance of a normal circadian rhythm. Several studies have shown positive effects of physical activity on sleep quality, still the evidence of physical activity as sleep-promoter is insufficient. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate associations between physical activities and sleep quality in persons ?60 years of age. Methods: The study had a cross-sectional design and the study sample consisted of persons ?60 years. Nine hundred and forty-five persons were included in the study and the associations between physical activity and sleep quality as well as health and physical function were calculated through non-parametric statistics. Results: In this study 524 (55.4%) were female. Mean age for females was 74.3 years (SD10.3) respectively 72.8 years (SD 10.1) for men (p= 0.035), 71.2 % performed physical activities regularly and there were no differences between genders. Physical activity had the strongest correlations with decreased daytime sleep, younger age (<80 years) and less difficulty sleeping due to pain or itch. Conclusion: Regular physical activity had a positive association with sleep quality, health and physical function.