The Relationship between Sleep Quality, Body Composition, Physical Activity and Depression among Female College Students.

Abstract

There is growing interest in how body composition, physical activity, sleep quality, and depression are interconnected, especially among female college students. This Study aims to enhance current understanding by examining a conceptual model that explores these associations among female college students. This quantitative study involved 132 female college students aged 18 to 24 from the University of Sulaimani (UOS), Kurdistan Region, Iraq. A convenience sampling method was employed, and the public university was selected randomly. Descriptive statistics were computed using SPSS software, and data were analyzed with Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The results designated an affirmative correlation between Body Mass Index and depression among female college students. Conversely, physical activity exhibited a negative correlation with depression. Additionally, negative correlations were found between sleep duration, sleep efficiency, and depression. Conversely, sleep disturbances and the use of sleep medication were positively correlated with depression. Subjective sleep quality also had a significant negative relationship with depression. However, no significant correlations were observed between body fat, daytime dysfunction, and sleep latency with depression among the participants. This study underscores the complex interplay between Body composition, Physical activity, and sleep quality relative to depression among female college students. Considerably higher depression was associated with elevated BMI and poor sleep-related factors, but better sleep quality and physical activity were linked to lower depression rates. These results point out that interventions aimed at sleep quality, as well as physical training programs, could help minimize depression within this population bracket. However, more research needs to be done to understand these associations better and design precise plans for enhancing mental health.