Relationships among types of activity engagement and insomnia symptoms among older adults

BACKGROUND: An increasing awareness exists that lack of activity engagement is associated with insomnia symptoms. However, the majority of studies have focused on the association between a single type of activity engagement and insomnia symptoms. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study using secondary data from the Health and Retirement Study examining the relationships among different types of activity engagement and insomnia symptoms among older adults. The sample for this study included 3321 older adults who responded to survey modules on activity engagement and insomnia symptoms in 2016. Activity engagement was measured using items for three types of activities (i.e., social, cognitive, and physical) validated in this study. Insomnia symptoms were measured using four items (i.e., difficulty of falling asleep, waking up during the night, waking up too early, and feeling rested). Independent t-tests were conducted to identify the differences in insomnia symptoms according to activity engagement level. Regressions were conducted to examine the associations among three types of activity engagement and insomnia symptoms after adjusting for covariates such as demographics, chronic disease, activities of daily living difficulty, cognitive function, sleep disorder, loneliness, and caregiving. RESULTS: The respondents in the high-level social, cognitive, and physical activity engagement groups were found to show fewer insomnia symptoms. Furthermore, higher social (β = − 0.04, p = 0.040) and cognitive (β = − 0.06, p = 0.007) activity engagements were associated with fewer insomnia symptoms even after adjusting for other types of activity engagement and all covariates. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that older adults with higher social and cognitive activity engagements may be likely to have fewer insomnia symptoms. Based on these results, future research is needed to develop multi-component intervention programs that can encourage older adults to engage in these activities. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-021-02042-y.