Sleep quality is mediated by physical activity level in adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Sleep is essential for the adolescent's health and well-being. Despite existing evidence of the positive relationship between physical activity and quality of sleep, some other factors could mediate this association. The purpose of the present study was to clarify the interaction between the level of physical activity and sleep in adolescents depending on their gender. METHODS: A total of 12,459 subjects 11 to 19 years old (5073 male and 5016 female) reported data regarding their quality of sleep and their level of physical activity. RESULTS: Better quality of sleep was reported by males regardless of the level of physical activity (d=0.25, P<0.001). Better quality of sleep was reported by active subjects (P<0.05), and it improved in both sexes as the level of physical activity was higher (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Male adolescents have better sleep quality than females regardless of their competitive level. The higher the adolescents' physical activity level the higher the quality of sleep.

Exercise Addiction Stability and Health Effects. A 6-Month Follow-up Postcompetition Study in Amateur Endurance Cyclists.

OBJECTIVE: To study the longitudinal stability of exercise addiction and its health effects in apparently healthy amateur endurance cyclists from pre- to 6-month post-competition. METHODS: In total, 330 (30 women) adult cyclists were divided into 4 groups based on scores on the Exercise Addiction Inventory at both periods: nonrisk (n=262, 79.1%), transient (n=35, 10.6%), emerging (n=14, 4.2%) and persistent (n=20, 6.1%). RESULTS: The prevalence of high-risk exercise addiction was reduced postcompetition (16.7% vs 10.3%, P = 0.017). Of the cyclists with a high precompetition risk of exercise addiction, 63.6% (35/55) had a transient addiction associated with favorable effects on mental quality of life (effect size [ES]=0.52, 95% confidence interval: [0.20, 0.86]) and sleep quality (ES=-0.50 [-0.89, -0.12]) and avoided the worsening of depression symptom severity compared to the remaining groups (ES range=0.51-0.65). The 5.1% (14/275) of cyclists with a precompetition low risk of exercise addiction presented emerging exercise addiction that was associated with a worsened mental quality of life compared to the remaining groups (ES ranged 0.59-0.91), sleep quality compared to the nonrisk (ES=-0.56 [-0.02, -1.10]) and transient (ES=-0.72 [-1.36, -0.08]) groups and anxiety symptom severity compared to the persistent group (ES=0.51 [1.20,-0.19]). CONCLUSIONS: Exercise addiction had a marked transitory component at 6-month postcompetition with associated health benefits in amateur endurance cyclists.

Spanish version of Pregnancy Symptoms Inventory: transcultural adaptation and reliability.

AIM: To transcultural adapt and analyze the reliability of Spanish version of Pregnancy Symptoms Inventory (PSI) and assess the prevalence of pregnancy symptoms in Spanish pregnant women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A subsample of 120 healthy pregnant women answered the PSI twice and a sample of 280 report the prevalence and limitation of pregnancy symptoms. The reliability was examined by means of percent agreement and weighted Kappa coefficients. The prevalence of pregnancy symptoms was evaluated by the frequency of answers. RESULTS: Perfect and perfect-acceptable agreement was observed in 82% and 96% of the pregnant women, respectively. Weighted Kappa coefficients ranged from 0.589 to 0.889, indicating a good reliability. The most frequent symptoms perceived by Spanish pregnant women were urinary frequency, poor sleep, increased vaginal discharge and tiredness. CONCLUSION: Spanish Pregnancy Symptoms Inventory is a brief, conceptually equivalent and satisfactory reliable tool that allows an early assessment of the wide range of pregnancy symptoms in the health care practices.