Work

Religiosity and spirituality as stressors or stress relievers in relation to sleep health among African American women

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: STUDY OBJECTIVES: To investigate associations between religiosity/spirituality (R/S) and sleep along with potential modification by stress among Black/African American (AA) women. METHODS: Participants from the Study of Environment, Lifestyle, and Fibroids (2010-2018) reported importance of faith and R/S as a source of strength/comfort (ranging from "very" to "not at all") as well as frequency of prayer/meditation (ranging from "everyday", to "<once/month") at baseline. There were repeated measures of daily stress ("very high/moderate" vs. "low/none"), short sleep duration (<7 hours), non-restorative sleep (NRS, waking rested <4 days/week), and insomnia symptoms (IS; difficulty falling/staying asleep). Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPRs) were estimated with Poisson regression with robust variance, and adjusted risk ratios were estimated by applying generalized estimating equations to models. R/S-by-stress terms 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 R/S as a source of strength/comfort, 58.8% prayed/meditated daily, 43.8% reported high/moderate stress, and poor sleep was prevalent (short sleep:58.4%, NRS:62%, and IS:17.9%) at baseline. There were no associations with short sleep and IS. All three R/S measures were each cross-sectionally but not longitudinally associated with lower likelihood of NRS, however, associations differed by stress. R/S as source of strength/comfort and prayer/meditation showed protective associations with NRS prevalence at baseline only among participants with low versus high stress (e.g. prayer everyday vs.

Source: SLEEP

DOI: 10.1093/sleep/zsag157