Physically active elderly women sleep more and better than sedentary women

Background and purposeThe aging process leads to changes in sleep with a negative impact on the quality of life. Sleep is an important marker of quality of life and the relationship between physical exercise and sleep conditions has been the subject of various scientific studies, suggesting that the elderly who practice physical exercise present fewer sleeping problems. The purpose of this study was to compare the sleep of physically active and sedentary elderly women.Patients and methodsWe included 101 elderly women, 53 practicing physical activity (PAG) and 48 sedentary (SG), matched for age, weight and height. All kept a sleep log and were asked to rate their sleep quality on a visual analog scale (VAS) daily for 30 days.ResultsMean total sleep time (TST) was 7h12min for PAG and 6h24min for SG (p < .01). There were no differences for mean total nap time (TNT) and amount of naps (AN) between PAG and SG. Mean wake up after sleep onset (WASO) was 1 h in the PAG and 2 h in the SG (p < .05). The mean perception of sleep quality was 8.3 for PAG and 5.8 for SG (p < .001).ConclusionsThe results of this study indicate that physically active women sleep more and better than sedentary women.