Archive | 2021
Physical Activity, Sleep, and Sleep Disorders
Abstract
Science-based knowledge about the influence of physical activity on sleep has grown during the past 5 years. The available evidence reviewed in this chapter shows that clinicians can safely recommend the adoption and maintenance of regular physical activity as an adjunctive therapy for patients with insomnia and obstructive sleep apnea. Specific conclusions are that healthy people who engage in a single bout of physical activity show small sleep benefits compared to a day in which no physical activity was performed; healthy sedentary people who adopt a program of regular physical activity show improvements in sleep after exercise training, especially in perceived sleep quality; (physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness are associated with reduced sleep complaints and a small number of randomized trials with insomnia patients supports that regular physical activity can improve their sleep; regular physical activity reduces the severity of obstructive sleep apnea and improves daytime sleepiness in these patients; exercise reduces symptoms of restless legs syndrome in patients with kidney disease but the evidence is uncertain whether physical activity improves restless legs syndrome in other patient groups; physical activity has the potential to treat circadian rhythm sleep–wake disorders because a single bout of appropriately timed exercise can cause circadian phase shifts and it is uncertain if physical activity impacts the sleep of patients with narcolepsy or parasomnias.