The Effects of Eight Weeks Selected Aerobic Exercises on Sleep Quality of Middle-Aged Non-Athlete Females

BACKGROUND: Sleep is considered as one of the most important factors, directly influencing mental and physical health components. In the last decade, low sleep quality - i.e. poor sleep - has become one of the major problems of the individuals, especially in middle-aged women. Low quality sleep also directly influences memory, functional components, nutrition, and mood. OBJECTIVES: This study aims to detect the effect of selected aerobic exercises on sleep quality in non-athlete middle-aged women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen non-athlete middle-aged women participated in this study, all of them suffered from insomnia. Pittsburgh questionnaire was used for determining sleep quality in this sample. Four indices including sleep duration, sleep disturbance, sleep latency, and sleep efficiency have been investigated through this. The period of exercises included eight weeks, three one-hour sessions each week. The sample group was trained during eight weeks through performance of selected aerobic exercises including three groups: sequential movements equip mental movement and movements on the pad. The selected protocol included performance of exercises: 10 minutes for warm up, 10 minutes for sequential movements, 20 minutes for movements by using equipment, 15 minutes for movements performed on the pad, and 5 minutes for cooling down. The exercises during the first four weeks have been presented with 60% increase of the heart rate, and 75% increase during the second four weeks. The sample group was provided with Pittsburgh questionnaire at the beginning of the exercises and the end of each week. The information of each person was registered. RESULTS: The results showed that the mean of sleep duration, sleep disturbance, sleep latency, and sleep efficiency indices significantly reduced 32%, 22%, 30%, 14% and 36%, respectively. The results also showed that the trend of changes in sleep duration, sleep disturbance, sleep latency, and sleep efficiency indices had significant descending trend. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that eight weeks of aerobic exercises can significantly increase sleep quality in middle-aged women.