Browsing by Author "Leppälä, Mira"

Aims. Exercise is known to be associated with longer sleep duration and better sleep quality. Good enough sleep has a positive impact not only on somatic and mental health, but also for example on memory and learning. However, so far there is no research of other hobbies than sport in relation to sleep. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of sport hobbies, other hobbies and the time spent on hobbies on adolescents’ sleep duration and quality. Methods. Different hobbies and time spent on hobbies, sleep duration, sleep latency, sleep efficiency and sleep problems of 1374 adolescents (girls 66.4%, mean age 16.84 years) was measured with self-report questionnaire as a part of University of Helsinki SleepHelsinki! research project. Associations with different hobbies and sleep were analysed with ANOVAs and post hoc tests. The effect of time spent on hobbies on sleep was analysed with ANOVAs and regression analyses. Results. Sleep duration on weekdays on average was 7.28 hours, which is less than the recommended 8-10 hours per night, but on weekends adolescents slept enough, 9.26 hours. Girls reported more sleep problems and poorer sleep quality, but no sex differences were found in sleep duration. 58.4% of the adolescents reported having sports as their main hobby and 18.5% reported having no hobbies at all. Those with sports as their main hobby, had longer sleep duration and better sleep quality than those without any hobbies or whose main hobby was other than sports. When analysed separately for boys and girls, this positive association between sport hobbies and sleep was found only in girls. Time spent on hobbies was not associated with sleep duration or quality. Conclusion. Based on this study it seems most important that adolescents do sports in general, not necessarily the amount of time they spend with their hobbies. Adolescents without any hobbies slept less than others and had the worst sleep quality so special attention should be paid to get the most passive adolescents to exercise to improve their sleep and wellbeing.