Physical exercise has long been prescribed as a way to improve the quality of sleep.
In a new study, researchers found that even when exercise causes objectively measured changes in sleep quality, these changes may not be subjectively perceptible.
They found that vigorous exercise was able to modulate various sleep parameters linked to improved sleep, without affecting subjective reports regarding sleep quality.
The research was conducted by a team from the University of Tsukuba.
Exercise is known to improve overall sleep quality by reducing the amount of time it takes to fall asleep and increasing the power of brain waves during slow-wave sleep (SWS), also known as deep sleep.
In the study, the team used a new computational method for analyzing brain signals like those collected in sleep research. It can quantify sleep depth according to the characteristics of brain oscillations.
The researchers recruited a group of healthy young men and examined the effects of 60 minutes of vigorous exercise on sleep quality in terms of both subjective reports and polysomnography.
They then used the CVE approach to assess the stability of SWS.
The team found that exercise improved the quality of sleep as measured using objective techniques, while the participants reported no change in the quality of their sleep.
The researchers speculated that the benefits of enhanced sleep quality might have been countered by an increase in stress and muscle soreness because the participants were not accustomed to vigorous exercise.
The results indicate that regular moderate exercise may be more beneficial for perceived sleep quality than occasional vigorous exercise, which might not have a subjective effect despite objective improvements in sleep.
Individuals who engage in vigorous exercise may perceive a decrease in the quality of their sleep compared with if they had not exercised at all.
However, the findings of this study indicate that the sleep structure may indeed be improved by exercise and have potential application in developing new treatment recommendations for various sleep disorders.
The study is published in Scientific Reports. One author of the study is Professor Kaspar E. Vogt.
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