Exercise leads to better sleep in children with inflammatory bowel disease

The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of an exercise program on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and sleep quality in children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in remission.

A total of 42 pediatric IBD patients in remission were recruited to participate in a 6-month-long home-based exercise program. Their mean age was 15.3 years (with a range of ± 2.08 years) and there were 25 boys. With regard to disease type, 22 had Crohn's disease (CD), 18 had ulcerative colitis (UC), and two had unclassified inflammatory bowel disease (IBD-U). Prior to starting the program, and after its completion, HRQoL was assessed using the IMPACT III questionnaire, and sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) questionnaire. Patients also wore a triaxial accelerometer for 5 consecutive days before and after the completion of the exercise program to assess physical activity (PA) objectively.

Study participants experienced no significant increase in their IMPACT III score (from 147.6 ± 2.7 to 149.6 ± 2.7, p = 0.106) following the completion of the exercise program. The prevalence of impaired sleep quality (PSQI > 5) decreased significantly from 30.9 to 23.8% (p = 0.027). At the baseline, participants' time spent in light PA (LPA) correlated positively with their IMPACT III score (coefficient (coef.) 0.398, p = 0.013). Following the completion of the resistance training program, the changes in the IMPACT III score correlated positively with time spent in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (coef. 0.329, p = 0.047) and negatively with changes in PSQI score (coef. -0.493, p = 0.001).

The number of children with impaired sleep quality decreased significantly following the completion of a 6-month-long home-based resistance training program but improvements in HRQoL scores did not reach statistical significance.