Sleep quality, sleep duration and physical activity in obese adolescents: effects of exercise training

Summary Background Decreased sleep duration and altered sleep quality are risk factors for obesity in youth. Structured exercise training has been shown to increase sleep duration and improve sleep quality. Objectives This study aimed at evaluating the impact of exercise training for improving sleep duration, sleep quality and physical activity in obese adolescents ( OB ). Methods Twenty OB (age: 14.5 ± 1.5 years; body mass index: 34.0 ± 4.7 kg m −2 ) and 20 healthy‐weight adolescents ( HW ) completed an overnight polysomnography and wore an accelerometer ( S ense W ear B odymedia) for 7 days. OB participated in a 12‐week supervised exercise‐training programme consisting of 180 min of exercise weekly. Exercise training was a combination of aerobic exercise and resistance training. Results Sleep duration was greater in HW compared with OB ( P < 0.05). OB presented higher apnoea‐hypopnoea index than HW ( P < 0.05). Physical activity (average daily metabolic equivalent of tasks [ MET s]) by accelerometer was lower in OB ( P < 0.05). After exercise training, obese adolescents increased their sleep duration (+64.4 min; effect size: 0.88; P = 0.025) and sleep efficiency (+7.6%; effect size: 0.76; P = 0.028). Physical activity levels were increased in OB as evidenced by increased steps per day and average daily MET s ( P < 0.05). Improved sleep duration was associated with improved average daily MET s (r = 0.48, P = 0.04). Conclusion The present study confirms altered sleep duration and quality in OB . Exercise training improves sleep duration, sleep quality and physical activity.