Sedentary Behavior and Sleep Duration Are Associated with Both Stress Symptoms and Suicidal Thoughts in Korean Adults

Abstract

Prolonged sedentary time and sleep deprivation are associated with mental health problems such as depression and stress symptoms. Moreover, mental illness is linked with suicidal thoughts and suicide attempts. However, it is not clear whether sedentary time and sleep duration are associated with stress symptoms and suicidal thoughts independent of physical activity. Thus, our study aimed to identify if sedentary time and sleep duration were associated with both stress symptoms and suicidal thoughts. The participants in present cross-sectional study were 4,674 general Korean adults (1,938 male; 2,736 female), aged ≥ 20 years. Prolonged sedentary time (≥ 420 min/day) was significantly associated with the increased risk of stress symptoms (OR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.04-1.62) compared with sedentary time of < 240 min/day. The OR for stress symptoms was significant for individuals who had ≤ 5 h/day of sleep time (OR, 1.88; 95% CI, 1.48-2.38) compared with sleep duration of ≥ 7 h/day. Moreover, prolonged sedentary time (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.01-2.42 in ≥ 420 min/day vs. < 240 min/day) and short sleep duration (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.17-2.62 in ≤ 5 h/day vs. ≥ 7 h/day) were significantly associated with an increased risk for suicidal thoughts after adjusting for confounding factors including physical activity. Thus, prolonged sedentary time and sleep deprivation are independently associated with both the risk of stress symptoms and suicidal thoughts. From a public health perspective, reducing sedentary time and improvement of sleep deprivation may serve as an effective strategy for preventing mental illness.

Sedentary behaviors and risk of depression: a meta-analysis of prospective studies

“…Studies have found that, sedentary behaviors could have adverse impacts on physical health, increasing the risk of chronic diseases including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes mellitus, and so on [5][6][7][8][9][10] . Mental health damage such as stress, dementia, and sleeping problem caused by sedentary behaviors have also been reported in a number of studies [11][12][13][14] . In recent years, emerging studies have found different effects between mentally active and mentally passive sedentary behaviors on an individual's well-being.…”

Sedentary behavior and perceived stress among adults aged ≥50 years in six low- and middle-income countries

“…The selection of the confounding variables was based on past literature [10,12,19,30]. These included age (years), sex, wealth quintiles based on country-specific income, education (secondary completed or not), marital status (married/cohabiting, never married, separated/divorced/widowed), employment status (engaged in paid work ≥2 days in last 7 days: Y/N), setting (urban/rural), obesity, number of chronic physical conditions, disability, depression, social cohesion, and physical activity.…”

“…However, most of the studies looking at SB and mental health have focused on children or adolescents [16][17][18]. One study examined SB and stress symptoms among Korean adults and found that prolonged sedentary time was significantly associated with a greater risk of stress symptoms [19]. Another study examined the longitudinal associations between SB and perceived stress [20].…”

Short Sleep Duration and Circadian Rhythms: Association with Suicidal Behaviour

“…Many other studies obtained significant relationships even after controlling for various factors, such as sedative/hypnotic medication [21], chronic diseases [17], physical activity [42], panic, mood or substance use disorders [43], and depression [7].…”