Abstract
BACKGROUND: Psychological symptoms and sleep disturbance are common during pregnancy. Observational data suggest that being physically active during pregnancy is related to better mood and sleep, but whether sedentary behavior reduction interventions provide similar benefits is untested. We aimed to determine whether reducing sedentary behavior across pregnancy improved psychological and sleep parameters. METHODS: Pregnant participants (n = 51) were allocated 2:1 to a sedentary behavior reduction intervention or control in their first trimester. Depressive symptoms, perceived stress, mood disturbance, nausea/vomiting quality of life, and sleep parameters were assessed with validated questionnaires in each trimester. Linear mixed effects regression examined differences between groups across pregnancy. Spearman correlations tested whether changes in sedentary time and physical activity were associated with changes in psychological and sleep outcomes without regard to group. RESULTS: Despite significant reductions in sedentary behavior (-0.84 hour/day), the intervention had no effect on psychological health outcomes. Further, intervention participants demonstrated significant worsening of sleep efficiency factor scores compared with control (p = 0.038). Small but significant correlations were found between changes in sedentary time and nausea/vomiting quality of life, and between changes in physical activity and nausea/vomiting quality of life, sleep duration, and sleep efficiency. CONCLUSIONS: Reducing sedentary behavior during pregnancy did not improve psychological symptoms and may worsen sleep efficiency. Recommendations for future sedentary behavior reduction research in pregnancy include a larger sample with poorer psychological health and sleep at baseline, targeting reductions in mentally passive sedentary behavior, and including device-based sleep assessments.