What is the most effective exercise for insomnia in old age?
Mar 05, 2025
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According to a study by a team led by Professor Kittiphon Nagaviroji of Mahidol University in Thailand published in the medical journal Family Medicine and Community Health on the 5th, muscle strengthening exercise was most effective in improving sleep quality in 24 meta-analysis of 2,000 insomniac elderly people.
The research team analyzed data from 24 international clinical trials comparing the effects of various physical exercises, daily activities, and non-physical activities such as sleep education on 2045 people over the age of 60 (average age of 70) diagnosed with insomnia.
It included aerobic exercises such as cycling, swimming, fast walking, and gardening, muscle-strengthening exercises such as weight training and push-ups, balance exercises such as step-ups and toe-walking, flexibility exercises such as gymnastics and yoga, and a combination of several exercises.
Exercise effect was measured by the Global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (GPSQI). GPSQI evaluates sleep quality based on scores of seven factors (3 points each), including subjective experience and objective variables, and a higher score means poor sleep quality, and a score of 5 or more means a serious sleep disorder.
As a result of the analysis, muscle strengthening exercise was found to be the most effective in improving insomnia with an improvement in GPSQI of 5.75 points. The GPSQI improvement effect of aerobic exercise was 3.76 points, and the combined exercise combining strength exercise, aerobic exercise, balance exercise, and flexibility exercise showed an improvement effect of 2.54 points.
The research team advised "One in five elderly people suffer from insomnia, and sleep quality is not only associated with various health problems and cognitive impairments, but also reduced workplace performance and increased the likelihood of absenteeism."Although some exercise may be difficult for the elderly with limited physical functioning, muscle-strengthening exercise may be the most effective exercise for resolving insomnia in old age."
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
