Lifestyle habits in overweight and obese adult population: the role of physical activity, sleep and diet

Overweight and obesity compromise health, leading to significant long-term consequences, including the development of several chronic diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, and osteoarthritis as well as increasing the risk of developing cancers 1. Overweight, and obesity in particular, are rapidly growing public health problems affecting an increasing number of countries worldwide 2, so acting on lifestyle habits may be the best strategy 3. The present study aims to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and lifestyle habits, such as physical activity levels, chronotype, sleep and adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD), in an overweight and obese adult population. METHODS We recruited 744 participants (516 females, 70%, 228 males, 30%; 49.4  12.7 years) who spontaneously attended the International Centre for the Assessment of Nutritional Status (ICANS), University of Milan. Participants filled out the Godin Shephard Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire (GSL-TPAQ), the reduced version of the Morningness–Eveningness Questionnaire (rMEQ), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS), to assess physical activity levels, chronotype, sleep and MD, respectively. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 27. RESULTS Based on the scores of the questionnaires administered, the participants were classified as active (n=487, 66%) and inactive (n=257, 34%), Morning-types (n=237, 32%), Neither-types (n=421, 57%) and Evening-types (n=86, 11%), good sleepers (n=406, 55%) and bad sleepers (n=338, 45%), adherent to MD (n=151, 20%) and not adherent to MD (n=593, 80%). The correlation analysis on the entire sample showed that higher adherence to the MD (rs -0.13, p<.001), higher levels of physical activity (rs -0.12, p<.001), more hours spent in bed (rs -0.07, p<.05), and more slept hours (rs -0.11, p<.001) significantly reduce the BMI. Additionally, higher PSQI score, which is indicative of poor sleep quality, significantly increased BMI (rs 0.08, p<.01). No correlations were found between rMEQ score and BMI. CONCLUSIONS These findings show the importance of promoting strategies aimed at maintaining healthy active lifestyle in order to reduce the onset of overweight and obesity. Multidisciplinary interventions including physical activity, diet and sleep counseling could be effective in improving the overweight and/or obesity condition. 1. Agha M. and Agha R., The rising prevalence of obesity: part A: impact on public health. Int J Surg Oncol (NY), 2017. 2(7):e17. 2. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). Obesity: the prevention, identification, assessment and management of overweight and obesity in adults and children. 2006. 3. Wulaningsih W. et al., Investigating nutrition and lifestyle factors as determinants of abdominal obesity: an environmental-wide study. Int J Obes, 2017. 41:340-347.