The effects of physical activity on sleep: a meta-analytic review

Abstract

A significant body of research has investigated the effects of physical activity on sleep, yet this research has not been systematically aggregated in over a decade. As a result, the magnitude and moderators of these effects are unclear. This meta-analytical review examines the effects of acute and regular exercise on sleep, incorporating a range of outcome and moderator variables. PubMed and PsycINFO were used to identify 66 studies for inclusion in the analysis that were published through May 2013. Analyses reveal that acute exercise has small beneficial effects on total sleep time, sleep onset latency, sleep efficiency, stage 1 sleep, and slow wave sleep, a moderate beneficial effect on wake time after sleep onset, and a small effect on rapid eye movement sleep. Regular exercise has small beneficial effects on total sleep time and sleep efficiency, small-to-medium beneficial effects on sleep onset latency, and moderate beneficial effects on sleep quality. Effects were moderated by sex, age, baseline physical activity level of participants, as well as exercise type, time of day, duration, and adherence. Significant moderation was not found for exercise intensity, aerobic/anaerobic classification, or publication date. Results were discussed with regards to future avenues of research and clinical application to the treatment of insomnia.

Exercise to reduce work-related fatigue among employees: a randomized controlled trial

“…Similar to previous intervention studies (28), a moderate effect of EI on sleep quality was found in both ITT and PP analyses. Effects on sleep quality were maintained at follow-up.…”

“…Additionally, we aimed to investigate the effect of exercise on five secondary outcomes of employee well-being: self-efficacy, sleep, work ability, cognitive functioning, and aerobic fitness. Prior work shows that fatigued employees often show deficiencies in these outcomes (20)(21)(22)(23)(24), while it has been suggested that exercise positively affects them (25)(26)(27)(28)(29), see 30 for a more extensive justification for the choice of secondary outcomes). We therefore expected that exercise improves general and work-related self-efficacy, sleep quality and quantity, work ability, cognitive functioning, and aerobic fitness.…”

The Exercise-Induced Weight Loss Improves Self-Reported Quality of Sleep in Obese Elderly Women with Sleep Disorders

“…It was suggested in a study that exercise can even improve the sleep latency, but no change was observed for other sleep indices, such as sleep duration, sleep efficiency, sleep disturbance, and daytime functioning (Yang, Ho, Chen, & Chien, 2012). Another meta-analysis on the effect of exercise on sleep quality, including 66 studies, demonstrated positive effects of the exercise in this field (Kredlow, Capozzoli, Hearon, Calkins, & Otto, 2015). Kamath et al (2014) argued that sleep duration influences on the metabolism and regulates body weight which is consistent with our study, demonstrating the correlation between BMI and sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep disturbance, sleep medications.…”

The Somnolent Youth-Sleep and the Influence of Exercise: A Narrative Review

“…In contrast to research on adults [19], a minimal intensity threshold may exist in order for exercise to elicit an effect on adolescent sleep stage characteristics. This may be in part due to the slower accumulation of sleep pressure amongst adolescents [63], with only high-intensity exercise resulting in changes to SWS proportions due to depletions in brain energy stores [111].…”

“…While there has been several reviews on the effects of sleep on academic and cognitive outcomes in adolescents [8,[11][12][13], the need for exercise and physical activity amongst adolescents [10,[14][15][16], and the influence of exercise on sleep amongst adults [17][18][19], there has not been a review integrating these topics, specifically looking into the impact of sleep loss, and the sleep promoting effects of exercise in adolescents.…”