Effect of continuous aerobic exercise on apnea/hypopnea index(AHI) and BMI in middle aged men with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Obstructive sleep apnea(OSA) can be defined as a daily unjustified drowsiness with at least five obstructive breathing events during sleep time. Drowsiness  related to OSA can causes harmful medical and social consequences, so controlling it should be regarded. Concerning the role of being motionless, increasing BMI and decreasing the tone of the throat muscles base in causing OSA, the effect of continuous aerobic exercise on apnea/hypopnea index(AHI) and BMI has been surveyed in this study.  

In this quasi-experimental research, 24 middle aged men among the ages of 41-55, BMI=25-30 and AHI>10 were studied in two groups. Continuous aerobic exercise group started doing exercises for eight weeks, three sessions weekly and each session for 40 or 45 minutes with the intensity of 55 to 60 percent of the maximum heart rate and ended it with the 75 to 80 percent of MHR in the last week.control group had no exercise program. AHI was measured by polysomnography and BMI at the beginning and the end of the research. Comparing the data was done by independent T test in SPSS  software, version 26.

Evaluating differences among the averages for AHI, p= 0.028 was found so that there was meaningful difference between two groups (p < 0.05).besides for BMI, p= 0.11 was found so that there was no meaningful difference between two groups (p>0.05).

This research proved that a meaningful decrease in the amount of obstructive sleep apnea in affected  men occurred by doing continuous aerobic exercises while no meaningful change in BMI was observed.