A two-week exercise intervention improves cold symptoms and sleep condition in cold-sensitive women

We examined whether an aerobic exercise intervention in young women with cold sensitivity symptoms improves sleep quality and decreases cold complaints. Furthermore, we examined the association with increased foot skin temperature (Tsk) before falling asleep and decrease in sensitivity to cold in the brain.

We recruited 16 female adult volunteers who had cold sensitivity and were not engaged in daily exercise training, and they were divided into an exercise group (EXE) and a control group (CON). EXE was given a 2-week exercise intervention that consisted mainly of walking and jogging. Before and after the intervention, temperature sensation and body temperature parameters were measured just before bedtime; electroencephalogram measurements were taken during sleep; and subjective sleep surveys, including Oguri-Shirakawa-Azumi (OSA) sleep inventory (middle-aged and aged version) and visual analogue scale (VAS), were conducted immediately after waking up. All experiments were performed in the winter season.

In EXE, overall and foot warmth and comfort increased (p < 0.05) after the 2-week exercise intervention. The exercise intervention also decreased (p < 0.05) the scores for cold feeling in the fingertips, feet, and toes. In the OSA sleep inventory, factor IV (refreshing) and factor V (sleep length) were increased (p < 0.05) by the exercise intervention. Subjective sleep quality evaluated by VAS increased (p < 0.05) with exercise intervention. The exercise intervention in EXE shortened middle awake time after sleep onset (p < 0.05) and prolonged deep sleep length (p < 0.05). The exercise intervention increased (p < 0.05) alpha-wave power before sleep. In CON, all variables remained unchanged throughout the 2-week control period.

Short-term aerobic exercise alleviated peripheral extremity cold sensitivity symptoms and improved subjective sleep quality. Our findings suggest that these improvements were not due to increased Tsk at rest before bedtime but to decreased sensitivity to cold in the brain that was expressed as increased alpha activity.