Posted Sept 16, 2013
Health & Medicine Week
By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health & Medicine Week —
Investigators discuss new findings in Sleep Research. According to news reporting out of Chicago, Illinois, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Exercise improves sleep quality, mood, and quality of life among older adults with insomnia. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the daily bidirectional relationships between exercise and sleep in a sample of women with insomnia.”
Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Northwestern University, “Participants included 11 women with insomnia who engaged in 30 min of aerobic exercise 3 times per week. Self-reported sleep quality was assessed at baseline and at 16 weeks. Sleep and exercise logs and wrist activity were collected continuously. Sleep variables included subjective sleep quality and objective measures recorded via wrist actigraphy (sleep onset latency, total sleep time, sleep efficiency), wake after sleep onset, and fragmentation index. Age, subjective sleep quality, total sleep time, Sleep Onset Latency, and physical fitness at baseline were tested as moderators of the daily effects. Total sleep time, Sleep Efficiency, and self-reported global sleep quality improved from baseline to 16 weeks. Baseline ratings of sleepiness were negatively correlated with exercise session duration.
Daily exercise was not associated with subjective or objective sleep variables during the corresponding night. However, participants had shorter exercise duration following nights with longer Sleep Onset Latency(couldn’t fall asleep) . Total sleep time at baseline moderated the daily relationship between total sleep time and next day exercise duration. The relationship between shorter total sleep time and shorter next day exercise was stronger in participants who had shorter Total sleep time at baseline. Results suggest that sleep influences next day exercise rather than exercise influencing sleep. The relationship between total sleep time and next day exercise was stronger for those with shorter total sleep time at baseline.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These results suggest that improving sleep may encourage exercise participation.”
For more information on this research see: Exercise to Improve Sleep in Insomnia: Exploration of the Bidirectional Effects. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 2013;9(8):819-824. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine can be contacted at: Amer Acad Sleep Medicine, One Westbrook Corporate Ctr, Ste 920, Westchester, IL 60154, USA (see also Sleep Research).
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