ABSTRACT
Objective
To investigate associations between religiosity/spirituality and sleep and potential modification by stress among Black/African American (AA) women.
Methods
Using data from the Study of Environment, Lifestyle, & Fibroids at enrollment (2010– 2012) and three follow-up periods (2012–2018), we estimated prevalence ratios (PRs), risk ratios, and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the following sleep dimensions: short sleep duration (<7 hours), nonrestorative sleep (NRS, waking rested <4 days/week), and insomnia symptoms (difficulty falling/staying asleep). At baseline, participants reported: importance of faith, religion/spirituality as a source of strength/comfort (‘very-to-somewhat’ vs. ‘not at all’), and prayer/meditation frequency (‘everyday,’ ‘every week,’ or ‘≥once/month’ vs. ‘<once/month’). Day-to-day stress was dichotomized as ‘very high/moderate’ vs. ‘mild/not at all.’ PRs were estimated using adjusted Poisson regression with robust variance, and longitudinal models used generalized estimating equations. Interactions between religiosity/spirituality and stress were tested.
Results
Among 1,693 Black/AA women (mean age ± SD 29.2 ± 3.4 years), 69.3% reported faith as important, 55.6% perceived religion/spirituality as a source of strength/comfort, 58.8% prayed/meditated daily, and 43.8% reported high/moderate stress. Short sleep affected 58.4% of participants, NRS 9.5%, and insomnia symptoms 17.9%. Everyday vs. <once/month prayer/meditation was associated with NRS (aPR=3.16 [95% CI:1.16-8.56]). Among women experiencing daily life stress vs. no daily life stress, those who reported religion/spirituality as “very much” a source of strength/comfort had significantly lower prevalence of NRS compared to those who did not (aPR = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.14–0.98, p = 0.05). Religiosity/spirituality was not longitudinally associated with sleep.
Conclusion
Daily prayer/meditation was associated with NRS. Religion/spirituality as a source of strength was associated with restorative sleep among highly stressed women. Future research should address potential reverse causation for both negative and positive effects.
Full Text Availability
The license terms selected by the author(s) for this preprint version do not permit archiving in PMC. The full text is available from the preprint server.
