Investigation Moderator Effect of Body composition and gender on Improvement of Sleep Quality, Sleepiness and Quality of Life during Aerobic Interval Training program in People with Multiple Sclerosis

Because of the scarcity of data available from effect of weight and gender on beneficial effect of exercise training, it is unknown whether overweight people with multiple sclerosis (MS) can improve their the sleep quality, sleepiness and quality of life as much as normal weight people and whether women can improve as much as men in response to exercise training. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of gender and weight on the improvement of quality of sleep and life response to exercise training in people with MS.

Thirty-six persons with MS were recruited to participate in aerobic interval exercise training based on body weight status and gender, and divided into four groups include normal weight-male, normal weight-female, overweight-male and overweight-female. The exercise included 8-weeks of interval exercise at 60-75% Wattpeak. Sleep quality, sleepiness and quality of life were measured before and following the 8-week period.

All indicators showed significant improvement after exercise training. There were significant weight effects for improvement quality of sleep and life during exercise training. There were no significant gender and weight-gender interaction effects for improvement quality of sleep and life during exercise training. No significant weight, gender and interaction effect was found for sleepiness indicator during exercise training. Weight loss significantly associated with improvement of quality of life and sleep.

The results confirm that exercise is an effective therapeutic method for improving quality of life and sleep, which dependent of body composition in people with MS.