Submaximal exercise effects on sleep patterns in young women before and after an aerobic training programme

We studied the sleep patterns of nine young women when sedentary (untrained) and following a 12 week physical fitness training programme. A comparison of baseline sleep patterns and of sleep patterns following one hour of submaximal exercise performed in the evening was carried out at 0 and 12 weeks. The submaximal exercise task was for each subject to cycle for one hour at 70% of her maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) as measured when untrained and on completion of the training programme respectively. Changes in fitness were assessed by changes in VO2 max and anaerobic threshold (AT). On the day leading to the all night baseline sleep recordings the subjects carried out their normal daily routines and did no specific exercise. Lean body mass (LBM) was calculated from total body potassium measurements before and after training. A significant improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness did not result in any changes in baseline sleep parameters. The response to the submaximal exercise was an increase in stage 2 NREM sleep and a decrease in slow-wave sleep (SWS, stages 3 & 4) which is possibly indicative of a stress effect. However, in the trained compared to the untrained state, SWS was significantly higher after an exercise load.