ArticleBMC public health2025
The interplay of physical activity, sleep, and chronotype on physical and mental health in Italian university students: a moderated mediation analysis.
Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Psychobiological Correlates of Perceived Physical Activity Barriers: Insomnia, Chronotype, and Caffeine Consumption.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- A Chain mediation model linking experiential avoidance, cognitive flexibility, negative emotions, and sleep quality in university students.Scientific reports · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPhysical and mental health are receiving increasing attention among university students. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between physical activity level, chronotype, and sleep quality in influencing physical and mental health in a sample of 691 active Italian university students.
methodsParticipants completed the GSL-TPAQ, MEQ, PSQI, and SF-12 questionnaires and were divided into three categories based on physical activity level (low, medium, high). A three-way ANCOVA assessed the main effects of physical activity, chronotype, and sleep quality on physical and mental health. A moderated mediation model tested whether sleep quality mediated the relationship between chronotype and health, and whether physical activity moderated the effect of sleep quality on health.
resultsA three-way ANCOVA revealed that high physical activity, morningness, and good sleep quality were associated with better mental health. Specifically, students with high physical activity reported higher mental health (43.23 ± 8.97 a.u.) than those with low activity (40.65 ± 10.21 a.u.; p < 0.05). Morning-types reported better mental health (43.6 ± 9 a.u.) compared to evening-types (39.08 ± 10.05 a.u.; p < 0.001), and good sleepers scored significantly higher on mental health (43.64 ± 9.04 a.u.) than bad sleepers (37.7 ± 9.68 a.u.; p < 0.001). Good sleepers also had better physical health (52.55 ± 5.32 a.u.) than bad sleepers (50.14 ± 5.97 a.u.; p < 0.001). A moderated mediation model confirmed that sleep quality mediated the relationship between chronotype and mental health (indirect effect: B = -0.08, 95% CI [-0.12, -0.04]), with morningness associated with better sleep, and in turn, better mental health. Physical activity significantly moderated this effect: the index of moderated mediation was significant for medium activity (Index = -0.04, 95% CI [-0.08, -0.01]) and high activity (Index = -0.04, 95% CI [-0.07, -0.01]), suggesting that individuals with medium and high activity levels benefit most from the protective role of sleep in the chronotype-mental health pathway.
conclusionThese findings underscore the need to promote both good sleep hygiene and regular, sustained physical activity to support mental well-being among university students, especially those with an evening chronotype or bad sleep quality.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.