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Physical activity improved sleep in women with vasomotor symptoms
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Recent data presented in the journal Menopause suggests that physical activity may provide some defense against sleep disturbances associated with menopausal vasomotor symptoms.
“Women with vasomotor symptoms who engaged in greater levels of physical activity reported better sleep and fewer nighttime awakenings, mainly if white and not obese,” wrote Maya J. Lambiase, PhD, and Rebecca C. Thurston, PhD, both researchers at the University of Pittsburgh.
They assessed a sub-cohort of 52 women (27 white, 25 black) aged 54 to 63 years in the Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) for self-reported and actigraphic sleep measurements for 4 nights, according to data. Menopausal patients included in the study displayed vasomotor symptoms and were not taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or hormone therapy.
Lambiase and Thurston examined the associations between physical activity (leisure time and household) and sleep (diary, actigraphy and global sleep quality), in addition to interactions by race and BMI.
“When comparing the physical activity levels of our sample to data from a larger sample of SWAN participants, household physical activity levels were broadly consistent between studies, whereas leisure time physical activity was lower in the present study,” researchers wrote.
According to data, greater leisure time physical activity was linked to higher odds for rating global sleep quality as “good” (OR=8.08; 95% CI, 1.5-44.5), and more household physical activity was associated with more positive diary-reported sleep characteristics (ie, fewer awakenings during the night [P=.01]). Further data indicate that household physical activity also was associated with more favorable sleep characteristics among white women and those who were not obese, researchers wrote.
“Further work is needed to replicate these findings in larger samples and to identify the mechanism that may link physical activity, including household physical activity, to sleep,” they concluded.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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