Introduction
The quality of sleep significantly impacts the health and performance of the human body. Adequate sleep is necessary for the normal functioning of all body systems. Chronic sleep deprivation significantly increases the risk of both physical and mental illness and plays a significant role in car accidents (Dolezal et al., 2017).
Discussion
Today, the problem of insomnia and other sleep disorders is relevant for many population groups, particularly university students (Ezati et al., 2020). There are many ways to deal with this problem, including exercise. In particular, eight weeks of aerobic exercise increased sleep duration among subjects aged 18 to 26 (Ezati et al., 2020). Another study showed that twelve-week daily exercise helped reduce sleep disturbance and increase subjective sleep quality compared to a control group (Wang et al., 2021). These findings point to significant promise for the use of exercise in the treatment of sleep disorders, but a broader body of data must be considered for more solid conclusions.
A meta-analysis of thirty-four articles indicates a significant relationship between exercise and several sleep characteristics of the subjects, such as total sleep duration, wake time after sleep onset, and daytime sleepiness (Dolezal et al., 2017). Researchers offer various hypotheses to explain this phenomenon, such as the balance of glycogen metabolism at the cellular level, the influence of changes in body temperature, or the concentration of cytokines (Dolezal et al., 2017). Some studies have shown a negative correlation between sleep duration and exercise, which, however, can be explained by the methodology. In some cases, with more physical activity, people have less time to sleep (Dolezal et al., 2017).
Conclusion
However, most researchers still agree that exercise improves the subjective quality of sleep rather than its immediate duration (Dolezal et al., 2017). Further research on this phenomenon would help clarify the details of the interaction between exercise and sleep and develop new approaches to treating sleep disorders.
References
Dolezal, B. A., Neufeld, E. V., Boland, D. M., Martin, J. L., & Cooper, C. B. (2017). Interrelationship between sleep and exercise: a systematic review. Advances in preventive medicine, 2017. Web.
Ezati, M., Keshavarz, M., Barandouzi, Z. A., & Montazeri, A. (2020). The effect of regular aerobic exercise on sleep quality and fatigue among female student dormitory residents. BMC Sports Science, Medicine and Rehabilitation, 12(1), 1-8. Web.
Wang, F., & Boros, S. (2021). The effect of daily walking exercise on sleep quality in healthy young adults. Sport Sciences for Health, 17(2), 393-401. Web.