Effects of Resistance Exercise on the Sleep Patterns of Sedentary Individuals

Background: The past decades have seen the conduction of a great number of studies that have attempted to assess the effects of physical exercise on sleep. However, the majority of these studies have specifically evaluated the effects of aerobic exercise. To the best of our knowledge, only one study has evaluated the effects of resistance exercise (RE) on sleep patterns. Objective: The aim of the current investigation is to verify the effect of one session of RE on the sleep patterns of sedentary individuals with good sleep quality. Methods: Twenty-seven sedentary men with good sleep quality between the ages of 20 and 40 participated in this investigation. The experimental protocol consisted of one session of RE, which was comprised of 3 sets of 15 repetitions with a load equivalent to 50% of the one-repetition maximum test (1-RM) with 90 sec intervals between each set. The sleep parameters were analyzed by means of a t-test, with significance defined as p < 0.05. Results: No significant differences were found between sleep parameters when RE was performed during different periods of the day. However, the sleep onset latency and the sleep efficiency in the evening group showed a trend toward alteration (p = 0.06). Conclusion: Sedentary individuals with good sleep quality did not display significant alterations in their sleep parameters after performing one session of RE with a load equivalent to 50% of 1-RM.