Department of Physiology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Gerontology. 2013;59(1):8-16. doi: 10.1159/000342213. Epub 2012 Aug 29.
Physical activity is known to influence sleep efficiency. Relatively little is known about the relationship between physical activity and sleep efficiency in young and older humans and the impact of exercise training on sleep efficiency in healthy older individuals.
To determine the relationship between physical fitness and daily energy expenditure with sleep efficiency in young and older subjects, and assess the effect of 12-month exercise training on sleep efficiency in healthy older participants.
The relationship between physical fitness (maximal cycling test) and daily energy expenditure (accelerometry) with sleep efficiency (accelerometry) was examined cross-sectionally in 12 healthy young adults (27 ± 5 years) and 21 healthy older participants (69 ± 3 years). Subsequently, the effect of 12-month exercise training (n = 11) or control period (n = 10) on sleep efficiency in older participants was examined using a randomized controlled trial.
Daily energy expenditure and sleep efficiency did not differ between young and older subjects. A significant correlation was found between energy expenditure and sleep efficiency (r = 0.627, p = 0.029) in young adults, but not in older participants (r = -0.158, p = 0.49). Physical fitness did not correlate with sleep efficiency in either group. Exercise training significantly improved physical fitness (15.0%, p < 0.001), but failed to alter sleep characteristics such as sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency and awakenings.
We found that young adults with higher daily energy expenditure have greater sleep efficiency, whilst this relationship is diminished with advanced age. In contrast, we found no correlation between physical fitness and sleep characteristics in healthy young or older participants, which may explain the lack of improvement in sleep characteristics in older participants with 12-month exercise training. Exercise training may be more successful in subjects with existing sleep disturbances to improve sleep characteristics rather than in healthy older subjects.
体力活动已知会影响睡眠效率。人们对年轻人和老年人的体力活动与睡眠效率之间的关系以及健康老年人的运动训练对睡眠效率的影响知之甚少。
确定身体素质和日常能量消耗与年轻和老年受试者睡眠效率之间的关系，并评估 12 个月运动训练对健康老年参与者睡眠效率的影响。
通过横断面研究，检查了 12 名健康年轻成年人（27 ± 5 岁）和 21 名健康老年人（69 ± 3 岁）的身体素质（最大自行车测试）和日常能量消耗（加速度计）与睡眠效率（加速度计）之间的关系。随后，通过随机对照试验检查了 12 个月运动训练（n = 11）或对照组（n = 10）对老年人睡眠效率的影响。
年轻和老年受试者的日常能量消耗和睡眠效率没有差异。在年轻成年人中，能量消耗与睡眠效率之间存在显著相关性（r = 0.627，p = 0.029），但在老年人中没有相关性（r = -0.158，p = 0.49）。在两组中，身体素质均与睡眠效率无关。运动训练显著提高了身体素质（15.0%，p < 0.001），但未能改变睡眠特征，如睡眠效率、入睡潜伏期和觉醒次数。
我们发现，日常能量消耗较高的年轻成年人睡眠效率更高，而随着年龄的增长，这种关系会减弱。相比之下，我们发现身体素质与健康的年轻或老年参与者的睡眠特征之间没有相关性，这可能解释了 12 个月运动训练对老年参与者睡眠特征没有改善的原因。运动训练可能在有现有睡眠障碍的受试者中更成功地改善睡眠特征，而不是在健康的老年受试者中。
