EXPLORING THE INTERPLAY OF BODY COMPOSITION, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, AND OPTIMISM ON SLEEP DURATION AND QUALITY IN POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN

INTRODUCTION: Over 50% of postmenopausal women experience sleep disturbances, which negatively impact their quality of life. Poor sleep reduces physical activity (PA) and worsens body composition (BC) changes due to estrogen de- pletion. Maintaining a positive attitude can help manage menopause symptoms. This study analyses the relationship between BC, physical activity PA, optimism and sleep in postmenopausal women. METHODS: The study included 20 women (59.06 ±5.96 years) and half of the participants had been in late postmeno- pause. Moderate-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and sleep parameters (TST, total sleep time; SOL, sleep onset latency; SE, sleep efficiency; SFI, sleep fragmentation index) were recorded using Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers. The recom- mended levels were as follows: MVPA= 150 min/week, TST= 7 hours, SE= 85% and SFI< 5 events/hour. Fat mass (FM, %), trunk skeletal muscle mass (TSMM), and appendicular skeletal muscle mass were measured with InBody120 bioimped- ance. The index of appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASMMI) was calculated as ASMM divided by height squared. Obesity was defined as FM = 35%, and muscle mass deficit was identified with ASMMI < 5.5 kg/m². Dispositional opti- mism was assessed using the LOT-R scale. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics and significance was ac- cepted as p = 0.05. Partial correlation coefficient were used to assess associations between variables. RESULTS: In the sample, 95% experienced natural menopause, 85% did not use hormone therapy, and 35% used sleep- affecting medication. Nine participants were obese, and eight had low muscle condition. All women had SE = 85% and SFI < 5 events per hour, but 25% had insufficient sleep duration. Average MVPA was 243.55 minutes per week (90% were active) and LOT-R was 15.30 points. In early postmenopause, higher adiposity correlated with better SE (r=0.75, p=0.02), and more optimism correlated with longer SOL (r=0.67, p=0.05). MVPA inversely related to SE (r=-0.76, p=0.02). Significant associations (p=0.01), in the overall sample included SOL and LOT-R (r=0.54), SE and %FM (r=0.42), and SFI and TSMM (r=0.56). CONCLUSION: The results indicate that SE and SOL is influenced by adiposity levels and optimism in early postmenopausal women. Better trunk muscle condition is linked to a higher SFI. More active women and those with longer estrogen deple- tion show lower SE. A replication with a more representative sample is recommended.