10-Weeks of resistance training improves sleep quality and cardiac autonomic control in persons with multiple sclerosis

Luis Andreu-Caravaca; Domingo J Ramos-Campo; Oriol Abellán-Aynés; Vicente Ávila-Gandía; Linda H Chung; Pedro Manonelles; Jacobo Á Rubio-Arias

doi:10.1080/09638288.2021.1934738

10-Weeks of resistance training improves sleep quality and cardiac autonomic control in persons with multiple sclerosis

Disabil Rehabil. 2022 Sep;44(18):5241-5249. doi: 10.1080/09638288.2021.1934738. Epub 2021 Jun 9.

Authors

Luis Andreu-Caravaca^{1

2}, Domingo J Ramos-Campo², Oriol Abellán-Aynés^{1

2}, Vicente Ávila-Gandía³, Linda H Chung^{2

4}, Pedro Manonelles¹, Jacobo Á Rubio-Arias^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ International Chair of Sports Medicine, Catholic University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
² Faculty of Sport, Catholic University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
³ Department of Exercise Physiology, Catholic University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
⁴ UCAM Research Center for High Performance Sport, Catholic University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain.
⁵ Department of Health and Human Performance, Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Science-INEF, LFE Research Group, Madrid, Spain.
⁶ Department of Education, University of Almería, Almería, Spain.

PMID: 34107841
DOI: 10.1080/09638288.2021.1934738

Abstract

Purpose: To examine the acute and chronic effects of 10-weeks of progressive resistance training on sleep quality and sleeping heart rate variability in persons with Multiple Sclerosis (pwMS).

Methods: Eighteen pwMS (age = 44.8 ± 10.6 years; EDSS = 3.1 ± 1.7) completed a 10-week of resistance training, with three training sessions per week. Each session consisted of 4 lower body exercises, performing 2-4 sets of each exercise, with 8-15 repetitions each set, at an intensity ranging from 60 to 75% of 1-repetition maximum. Subjective and actigraphic sleep quality and sleeping heart rate variability were carried out at 4 different times: (1) Before the starting of the intervention on a rest day; (2) the night after training week 1 (3) the night after training week 10 and 4) after completing the resistance training program on a rest day.

Results: Regarding subjective sleep quality, significant main effects were observed on the variables of sleep quality, sleep comfort, easy of falling sleep, easy of waking up and felling of rest. Sleep quality, sleep comfort and easy of falling sleep were greater in rest night in week 1 vs. rest night in week 10_. Actigraphic sleep quality also improved after the training program (rest night in week 1 vs. rest night in week 10). In the pair-wise comparison showed an acute effect in the session after the training program (rest night in week 10< training night in week 10) on HF, pNN50 and RMMSD.

Conclusions: Resistance training is a non-pharmacological treatment that has the capacity to improve the regulation of autonomic system and, consequently, the sleep quality in pwMS.Implications for rehabilitation10 Weeks of resistance training improves the sleep quality of persons with multiple sclerosis.Resistance training can modulate autonomic cardiac control in this population.Improving the sleep quality is essential for persons with MS because of its close relationship to other variables, such as symptomatic fatigue.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04452760.

Keywords: Strength training; autonomic function; neurological disorder; parasympathetic nervous system; sleep disorders.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Autonomic Nervous System
Heart Rate / physiology
Humans
Middle Aged
Multiple Sclerosis*
Resistance Training*
Sleep Quality

Associated data

ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT04452760