Self-reported physical activity and sleep quality is associated with working memory function in middle-aged and older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT

While previous work has shown a positive relationship between cognitive performance and lifestyle factors in younger adults, evidence for this relationship among middle-aged and older adults has been mixed. The current study aimed to further test the relationship among physical activity, sleep quality, and memory performance in middle-aged and older adults, and to test whether this relationship holds up during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our results showed that physical activity was associated with better sleep quality and better working memory performance, and better sleep quality was associated with better working memory and self-perceptions of everyday memory abilities. Additionally, we found that the effects of physical activity on working memory were partially mediated by sleep quality. While these effects were small and only correlational in nature, they lend further support to the notion that sleep quality and physical activity are beneficial to memory later in life, even during a global pandemic.

KEYWORDS:

• Sleep
• physical activity
• memory
• aging
• COVID-19 pandemic

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All the authors contributed equally to the work.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding authors.

Pre-registration

This study was not pre-registered.

Notes

1. It should be noted that at the time of planning this study, no other COVID-related questionnaires were available. This was our attempt to make use of an existing scale but adapt it for our purposes.

Additional information

Funding

Tiago Guardia was supported by an Ontario Trillium Scholarship; M. Karl Healey by The National Science Foundation under [Grant 1848972]; and Karen L. Campbell by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [Grant RGPIN-2017-03804].