The Association Between Gait Speed and Sleep Problems Among Chinese Adults Aged 50 and Greater

Abstract

ObjectiveThe relationship between sleep problems and walking speed has been less explored. The present cross-sectional study was to investigate the association between sleep quality and sleep duration and gait speed in Chinese adults.MethodsA total of 13,367 participants were recruited in this cross-sectional study, retrieving the data from the Global Aging and Adult Health Survey (SAGE). Gait speed was measured using the 4-m walking test. Age, sex, education years, smoking status, alcohol consumption, physical activity, chronic disease, sleep problems were self-reported by participants. To explore the association between sleep problems and gait speed, multivariate linear regression models were employed.ResultsIn the adjusted model, poor sleep quality and longer sleep duration were significantly associated with slower normal walking speed in Chinese adults (p < 0.001). Moreover, there were negatively significant associations between normal gait speed and sleep quality in male adults (p < 0.01).ConclusionThe findings suggest that slower normal walking speed was associated with poor sleep quality and longer sleep duration (>8 h) in Chinese male adults.

The Role of Sleep Quality and Physical Activity Level on Gait Speed and Brain Hemodynamics Changes in Young Adults—A Dual-Task Study

“…In children, it appears that the worst dual-task performance is associated with disrupted sleep, a higher quantity of REM (rapid eye-movement) sleep related to lower gait variability, and a higher cognitive performance associated with a greater quantity of slow-wave sleep [ 54 ]. Another study showed that poor sleep quality was related with a slower normal walking speed in adults [ 31 ]. In addition, a decrease in gait speed and higher gait variability were associated with a lower sleep efficiency during a dual-task but not while performing a single task in older people [ 55 ].…”

“…Existing studies suggest that the oxyhemoglobin was higher after a whole night’s sleep than at the beginning of the night [ 25 ]. Others reported that sleep plays an important role in the processes of learning and memory [ 26 ], that physical activity benefits the executive function [ 27 ] and gait speed [ 28 ], and that sedentarism [ 29 ], poor sleep quality [ 30 ], and more than 8 h of sleep duration [ 31 ] can be associated with lower gait speed.…”