Does subjective sleep quality improve by a walking intervention? A real-world study in a Japanese workplace

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of a 4-week walking intervention on subjective sleep quality. DESIGN: A prospective open-label study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 490 healthy workers were included in the study. The 490 participants were divided into a group of 214 participants with exercise habits (exercising group, EG) and a group of 276 participants without exercise habits (non-EG). INTERVENTIONS: A walking intervention with a target of walking 10 000 steps daily for 4 weeks. OUTCOME MEASURES: The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire was administered twice (before the start and after the end of the study). RESULTS: Overall, the walking intervention improved the participants’ PSQI global score, sleep latency (minutes), sleep duration (hours), perceived sleep quality factor and daily disturbance factor. Among the EG participants, the walking intervention significantly improved the PSQI global score and perceived sleep quality. Among the non-EG participants, the walking intervention significantly improved the PSQI global score, sleep latency, sleep duration and perceived sleep quality. CONCLUSIONS: A walking intervention might reduce the sleep latency and increase total sleep duration in working persons without exercise habits.