Balance sleep and physical activity to optimise your health.
To optimise health, say the experts, you need to choose a nourishing diet, maintain a healthy weight, be part of a community and not drink to excess or smoke. But let’s not forget two other essential components of health: sleep and physical activity.
Observed risks
Researchers from The University of Sydney analysed data from more than 380,000 middle-aged men and women over an 11-year-period and discovered that poor sleep was associated with a higher risk of early mortality. The risk increased when combined with low physical activity.
The researchers also observed that getting no physical activity led to worse health outcomes regardless of sleep amount. In addition, those with lower sleep scores had a higher chance of dying from cardiovascular disease or a stroke.
The scientists concluded that any level of physical activity at or above the lower threshold recommended by the World Health Organization seemed to eliminate most of the negative impacts of poor sleep on mortality.
Takeaway messages
Compared to those with high physical activity and healthy sleep scores, those at the other end of the scale (no moderate to vigorous physical activity, plus poor sleep) had the highest risk of premature mortality.
On occasion, it’s probably not unreasonable to sacrifice sleep to exercise if you are not too tired. However, if you chronically get insufficient sleep, you will be more fatigued and set yourself up for more severe health problems down the road, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. In addition, you need adequate sleep to recover from exercise.
The goal is to find the right balance. The World Health Organization recommends children and adolescents aged five to 17 years should do at least an average of 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous intensity, mostly aerobic, physical activity. In comparison, Adults aged 18 to 64 years should do at least 150 to 300 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity per week. Those aged 65 years and older should also do at least 150 to 300 minutes a week, as well as incorporate varied multicomponent physical activity that emphasises functional balance and strength training on three or more days a week. For more detailed age-specific recommendations on physical activity, go to the World Health Organization website at Who.int. The message is clear: To have the best health outcomes, sleep well and move more.
“Researchers from The University of Sydney ... discovered that poor sleep was associated with a higher risk of early mortality.”
Getting your zzz
How much sleep is adequate? The Australian Department of Health and Aged Care recommends that school-age children (5 to 13 years old) should get at least nine and up to 11 hours per 24 hours (naps count!), teens aged 14 to 17 should get eight to 10 hours, those aged 18 to 64 should aim for seven to nine hours, and individuals 65 or older should get seven to eight hours.
