Is Sleep Or Exercise More Important?

Both sleep and exercise are key to great health.

Some research suggests that men who sleep well could live five years longer than those who don’t; poor sleep, especially in midlife, has even been linked to a higher dementia risk.

And a 2012 paper found that regular physical activity may increase our lifespans by 0.4 to 4.2 years once you remove other confounding factors.

But new research, published in the journal Communications Medicine, has found that only about 13% of people globally achieve both seven to nine hours of sleep and at least 8,000 steps a day.

So, seeing as people’s lives don’t seem, on average, to fit well onto standard recommendations, scientists wanted to see how people should prioritise their habits.

The study’s lead author, Josh Fitton from Flinders University, said, “Our findings call into question the real-world compatibility of prominent health recommendations and highlight how difficult it is for most people to have an active lifestyle and sleep well at the same time.

“Only a tiny fraction of people can achieve both recommended sleep and activity levels every day, so we really need to think about how these guidelines work together and what we can do to support people to meet them in ways that fit real life,” he added.

This comes from data about 70,000 participants, collected over 3.5 years via fitness trackers.

The paper found that sleep seemed to enable a more active day the morning after, but more activity did not seem to encourage better sleep.

In this case, activity was measured as steps taken in a day.

“People who slept well tended to move more the following day, but doing extra steps didn’t really improve sleep that night. This highlights the importance of sleep if we want to boost physical activity,” Fitton said.

Senior author on the paper, Professor Danny Eckert, said catching enough Zzzs could help with work-life balance and family demands, too.

In this research, more sleep did not necessarily mean more steps.

“Our data showed that sleeping around six to seven hours per night was linked to the highest step counts the next day,” Fitton said.

“But that doesn’t mean you should cut back on sleep because quality is just as important. People who slept more efficiently, meaning they spent less time tossing and turning, were consistently more active.”

For his part, Professor Eckert told Flinders University: “Prioritising sleep could be the most effective way to boost your energy, motivation and capacity for movement… Simple changes like reducing screen time before bed, keeping a consistent bedtime, and creating a calm sleep environment can make a big difference.

“Our research shows that sleep is not just a passive state; it’s an active contributor to your ability to live a healthy, active life.”

However, though the paper says that “These findings highlight the importance of considering the real-world compatibility of prominent sleep and physical activity guidelines,” the researchers add that more research is needed.

And ideally, meeting both physical activity and sleep guidelines is best.