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ABSTRACT
Background and objectives
Key health behaviors including cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption, and physical activity have been associated with sleep-related problems. This cross-sectional study describes sleep quality and duration by gender in a large adult population and examines whether health behavioral factors are associated with short/long sleep duration and sleep problems (difficulty initiating/maintaining sleep [DIMS], daytime sleepiness, and finding sleep refreshing).
Methods
Using Canadian Community Health Survey data from cycles 2015, 2016, and 2017, binary and multinomial logistic regression models were computed.
Results
Of the 44,911 respondents included, only half of respondents met the recommended sleep duration. Fifty-five percent of females and forty-one percent of males reported DIMS. Binge drinking was associated with increased DIMS, with the strongest relationship being among females reporting weekly binge drinking (odds ratio (OR) 2.03 [1.59,2.60]). Binge drinking was also associated with decreased odds of finding sleep refreshing among females only (OR 0.73 [0.56,0.96] in weekly binge drinkers). Compared to respondents who had never smoked, daily smokers had higher odds of short sleep (OR 1.50 [1.30,1.74] and OR 1.39 [1.21,1.60]; females and males, respectively). Similarly, former smokers had higher odds of DIMS (OR 1.18 [1.06,1.31]) and not finding sleep refreshing (OR 0.85 [0.77,0.95]), among females; similar OR among males. Increased FV consumption was associated with increased odds of finding sleep refreshing (OR 1.05 [1.03,1.07] and OR 1.06 [1.04,1.08] in females and males, respectively).
Conclusion
There is a high prevalence of sleep problems among Canadians. Potential gender differences in the relationships between health behaviors and sleep problems warrant further research.
Acknowledgments
This research was conducted at Western Research Data Centre, a part of the Canadian Research Data Centre Network (CRDCN). This service is provided through the support of The University of Western Ontario, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Science and Humanity Research Council, and Statistics Canada. All views expressed in this work are our own.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).