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Effect of Daily Physical Activity on Sleep Characteristics in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Thai Duy Nguyen1, Michel Guinot1, Véronique-Aurélie Bricout1

  • 1HP2, Inserm U1300, CHU Grenoble Alpes, Univerité Grenoble Alpes, 38000 Grenoble, France.

Sports (Basel, Switzerland)
|July 2, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often experience sleep problems. Physical activity (PA) may improve sleep, but both too little and too much PA can negatively impact sleep quality in children with ASD.

Area of Science:

  • Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • Pediatric Sleep Medicine
  • Behavioral Pediatrics

Background:

  • Sleep disturbances are frequently observed in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
  • Physical activity (PA) is a potential intervention to improve sleep patterns in this population.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To evaluate sleep characteristics in children with ASD compared to neurotypical controls.
  • To examine the influence of varying physical activity levels on sleep quality in children with ASD.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized accelerometer devices to measure activity and sleep patterns over five consecutive days in 50 boys with ASD and 18 controls.
  • Employed principal component analysis and agglomerative hierarchical clustering to identify distinct profiles of physical activity and sleep quality.

Main Results:

  • Children with ASD exhibited higher resistance to waking up and lower total PA time and daily steps compared to controls.
  • Sedentary behavior was significantly higher in the ASD group.
  • Three clusters emerged: two with poor sleep quality associated with either insufficient or excessive PA, and one with moderate PA and the best sleep indices.

Conclusions:

  • A dose-response relationship between physical activity and sleep quality exists in children with ASD, highlighting significant individual variability.
  • Findings suggest the importance of moderating PA levels to prevent detrimental sedentary behaviors or over-activity that can impair sleep quality in children with ASD.

Keywords:
autism spectrum disorderscluster analysisphysical activitysleep disorder

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