Effects of Aerobic Exercise Training on Nurses' Sleep Quality, Fatigue, Attention and Cortisol Profile: A Randomized Controlled Trial

When work shifts and lifestyles change, the synchronous relationship between the body's biological clock and the environment, i.e., circadian rhythms, is disrupted, resulting in insufficient sleep and insomnia. Shift work in nursing has been found to result in sleep disruption and sleep deprivation, and in sleepiness or fatigue at work. Slow reaction, insufficient attention and poor judgement often come with increased fatigue, which contributes to a high risk of accident and patient safety. Studies have shown that aerobic exercise is helpful in promoting high sleep quality, whereas few researchers have argued over how aerobic exercise training improves sleep quality in nurses. The study is conducted in two stages. Previous stage, we conducted with a cross-sectional study design with convenience sampled 200 participants to fill out the Chinese Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (CPSQI) questionnaire for screen the low sleep quality (CPSQI > 5) participants. A total of 200 nurses were recruited, and 199 valid samples were collected, 108 participants were found to have low sleep quality (CPSQI > 5). The study will adopt a prospective, longitudinal, parallel-group comparative study, randomly sample from previously screen low sleep quality participants, then random assign to experimental (aerobic exercise) and control (routine activity) groups, and actigraphy sleep recording, saliva samples and attention data will be collected.

The study aims to investigate the effects of aerobic exercise training on nurses' sleep quality, fatigue, attention and cortisol profile. The findings of the study could provide guidelines on improving nurses' fitness and sleep quality.