What’s Sleep Got to Do with It? Sleep Health and Sexual Risk-Taking Among Men Who have Sex with Men

Emerging evidence links poor sleep health with a range of adverse health behaviors, including condomless anal intercourse (CAI) among men who have sex with men (MSM). We tested associations between a range of sleep health indicators and sex outcomes in an online sample of 559 MSM in Paris France, recruited from a geosocial-networking phone application. Participants reported on sleep quality, sleep duration, problems falling asleep, and problems staying awake during wake-time activities, and four sex outcomes: numbers of receptive, insertive, and total CAI partners in the past three months, and use of substances before or during sex. In bivariate analyses, all four sleep variables were associated with the three CAI outcomes, whereas poor sleep quality and problems falling asleep were positively associated with using substances before or during sex. Most of these associations remained significant when adjusting for various socio-demographic and behavioral covariates. These findings highlight the importance of addressing sleep health to prevent HIV risk among MSM.