Aim: Good sleep quality is essential to physical and mental-health-related quality of life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a walking exercise in relieving sleep quality, fatigue, and depression in new mothers during the postpartum period.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted at a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan. One hundred and four eligible postpartum women with poor sleep quality (Postpartum Sleep Quality Scale; PSQS score ≧16) were assigned to either the experimental group (n = 50) or the control group (n = 54) according to their individual preferences. The participants in the experimental group participated in a 12-week stride walking exercise intervention. The control group did not receive any exercise intervention. The PSQS, Postpartum Fatigue Scale, and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were used to assess outcomes.
Results: Repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated that the experimental group participants perceived milder physical symptoms associated with sleep inefficiency at 4-week posttest (F = 7.25, p < 0.01) than their control group peers. However, no significant differences were found between two groups in terms of either fatigue or depression at 4-week and 12-week posttest.
Conclusion: Significant improvement in the physical symptoms associated with sleep inefficiency was observed. The findings may be used to encourage postpartum women with disordered sleep to incorporate 20-30 min of stride walking into their regular routine to improve sleep quality.
Keywords: postpartum care; quasi-experimental; sleep quality; walking exercise.
© 2021 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.