Abstract
Cardiopulmonary endurance is a crucial factor affecting cardiovascular health. In recent years, the incidence of metabolic syndrome among university students has been on the rise due to poor cardiopulmonary endurance. Existing studies have shown that high-quality sleep is an important means of improving cardiopulmonary health; however, the mechanism by which sleep influences the cardiopulmonary endurance of university students remains unclear. This study introduces emotional regulation ability and exercise adherence as mediating variables. Using a combination of testing and questionnaire surveys, it explores the relationship between sleep quality and cardiopulmonary endurance in university students and conducts path analysis. The 20-meter shuttle run test (20mSRT) was used to assess cardiopulmonary endurance, and effective scales such as the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS), and the Exercise Adherence Scale (EAS) were employed in the survey. A total of 266 valid questionnaires were collected (validity rate of 96.4%), and the Bootstrap method was applied to conduct chain mediation effect analysis. The results indicate that the proportion of students with good and poor sleep quality were 30.5% and 0.7%, respectively, while 98.9% of students were at high risk in terms of maximum oxygen uptake (VO2 max) for cardiopulmonary endurance. Sleep quality was found to have a low negative correlation with cardiopulmonary endurance (r = -0.033), a significant negative correlation with emotional self-regulation ability (r = -0.281), and a significant low negative correlation with exercise adherence (r = -0.143). Emotional self-regulation ability was moderately positively correlated with exercise adherence (r = 0.499). Mediation effect testing revealed that emotional self-regulation ability and exercise adherence fully mediated the relationship between sleep quality and cardiopulmonary endurance. The total indirect effect was significant, with a total effect of -0.412, a direct effect of -0.184, and an indirect effect of -0.228. In conclusion, the overall sleep quality of university students is relatively good. Higher sleep quality can predict stronger cardiopulmonary endurance, and emotional self-regulation ability and exercise adherence fully mediate the relationship between sleep quality and cardiopulmonary endurance. In other words, sleep quality indirectly enhances cardiopulmonary endurance by improving emotional regulation and exercise adherence, with no direct effect between the two.