Walker J M, Floyd T C, Fein G, Cavness C, Lualhati R, Feinburg I
J Appl Physiol Respir Environ Exerc Physiol. 1978 Jun;44(6):945-51. doi: 10.1152/jappl.1978.44.6.945.
We tested the hypothesis that EEG sleep stages 3 and 4 (slow-wave sleep, SWS) would be increased as a function of either acute of chronic exercise. Ten distance runners were matched with 10 nonrunners, and their sleep was recorded under both habitual (runners running and nonrunners not running, 3 night) and abruptly changed (runners not running and nonrunners running, 1 night) conditions. Analyses of both visually scored SWS and computer measures of delta activity during non-rapid eye-movement (NREM) sleep failed to support the SWS-exercise hypothesis. The runners showed a significantly higher proportion and a greater absolute amount of NREM sleep than the nonrunners. The runners showed less rapid eye-movement activity during sleep than the nonrunners under both experimental conditions, indicating a strong and unexpected effect of physical fitness on this measure. Modest afternoon exercise in nonrunners was associated with a strong trend toward elevated heart rate during sleep. Mood tests and personality profiles revealed few differences, either between groups or within groups, as a function of exercise.
