The Effectiveness of Regular Exercise on Improving Sleep in Older Adults

Phase 2

Completed

Conditions: Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders
Sleep Disorders, Intrinsic

Interventions: Behavioral: Health Education Class
Behavioral: Moderate-Intensity Aerobic Physical Activity

Brief Summary: This study will evaluate the effect of regular aerobic exercise on improving sleep in older adults with moderate difficulty sleeping.

Detailed Description: Sleep deprivation is a common problem among older adults. It is often at the root of increased mortality and some psychiatric disorders. Regular participation in a medium-intensity exercise regimen may help people sleep better. This study will assess the effectiveness of a regular exercise program on improving sleep in older adults with moderate difficulty sleeping.

Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two conditions. One group will partake in a moderate-intensity physical activity training regimen. The other group will act as a non-exercise attention-control comparison group. Each group will undergo its assigned treatment for 12 months. Sleep quantity and quality will be measured objectively using in-home polysomnography. Subjective sleep quality and health-related quality of life measures will be evaluated with questionnaires. All measurements will be performed at the beginning of the study, Month 6, and Month 12.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Moderate difficulty sleeping unrelated to a physical illness or psychopathology (determined by the Sleep Questionnaire and Assessment of Wakefulness)
Currently not physically active on a regular basis
Body mass index less than 38

Exclusion Criteria

Currently physically active on a regular basis
Diagnosed with a clinically significant sleep disorder
Mild or no sleep complaints (determined by the Sleep Questionnaire and Assessment of Wakefulness)
Unstable on medications
Current smoker
Consumes more than three alcoholic beverages per day
Medical condition that may limit participation in moderate-intensity exercise
Diagnosed with clinical psychopathology

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
2	Health Education Class	Attention-control of exposure to study staff. Weekly general health education classes conducted in group sessions.
Exercise training	Moderate-Intensity Aerobic Physical Activity	Group based exercise training. Two weekly classes including aerobic endurance physical activity and strength and flexibility training, and up to three home-based sessions of similar composition of aerobic endurance, strength and flexibility training.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
% Time in Stage 2 Sleep at 12 Months, Adjusted for Baseline	baseline, 12 months	Percent of total sleep time spent in Stage 2 sleep at 12 months after adjusting for baseline level of Stage 2 sleep (i.e., baseline value included as a covariate in regression models conducted).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Sleep Disturbances	12 months	Self-reported sleep disturbance subscale on Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Subscale consists of 9 items scored on a range of 0 to 3, 0 indicating no disturbance and 3 indicating frequent disturbance. All 9 items are summed, and the summary scores is captured by 1 of 4 categories ranging from 0 to 3, with 0 indicating less frequent disturbances and 3 indicating greater frequency of disturbances.
Peak Exercise Oxygen Consumption	12 months	Peak oxygen consumption measured during symptom limited treadmill exercise stress test