Report: Weight, resistance training may help older adults tackle insomnia

Weight and resistance training could be the best type of workout to help older adults combat insomnia, a new report shows.

Aerobics or a mix of balance and flexibility workouts may also help to a lesser degree, the report suggested. The meta-analysis was published on Monday in Family Medicine and Community Health.

The team evaluated research for clinical trials that examined exercise and insomnia, and used 25 existing reports on 2,045 adults who were at least 60 years old. They looked at activities such as swimming, walking, gardening, weight training, yoga, gymnastics and others. 

Most of the studies were conducted in Asia, North America, South America and Europe; 1 in 5 studies were performed among nursing home residents. More than half of the studies reported mild to moderate or moderate exercise, with an average workout session just over 50 minutes. People in the studies worked out two to three times a week for 14 weeks on average.

Combined exercise significantly improved the The Global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (GPSQI) by 2.35 points while aerobic activity improved it by 4.35 points. Strength training and resistance workouts were the most effective, improving the GPSQI by 5.75 points.

Sleep education was quite effective to improve insomnia, but the type or level wasn’t defined in the studies. But it wasn’t as good as muscle strengthening and resistance training, the authors noted.

Combining muscle endurance training with walking was more effective in improving sleep quality than sleep hygiene, pilates, only walking, health education or resistance training, the results showed. 

Investigators acknowledged that exercising can be challenging for older adults due to limitations in physical capacity.

About 1in 5 older adults experience insomnia, according to the authors of the paper. Poor sleep quality is linked to many serious health problems and cognitive impairment. 

“Exercise, particularly strengthening exercise and aerobic exercise, is beneficial for enhancing subjective sleep quality at a clinically significant level compared with normal activities,” the authors wrote.