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Effect of physical activity on sleep quality in patients with major depression disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

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Abstract

Patients with major depressive disorders (MDD) who exercise report better quality of sleep, but there is a need for more conclusive evidence. This systematic review sought to gather data only from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that looked at how physical activity affects the quality of sleep in patients with MDD. Three e-databases (Web of Sciences, Scopus, and PubMed) were searched for relevant RCTs in January 2021. Ten RCTs (768 participants) with a total of 24 articles were deemed eligible, including RCTs with clinically diagnosed MDD. Across the studies, physical activity was found to improve sleep quality among people with MDD. However, the limitations of this systematic review include the few available trials, the small number of samples with clinically diagnosed MDD patients, and the wide range of exercise modalities. The physical activity enhanced sleep quality in people with MDD, especially in RCTs with 150 min per week moderate intensity interventions. Although more RCTs are required to examine the effects of physical activity among people with MDD, these findings are clinically useful.

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The datasets supporting the conclusions of this article are included within the article (and its additional file).

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Acknowledgements

We wish to express our gratitude to Reza Fadaei (Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Iran) for assist in data collection.

Funding

This study has been fund by Iran National Science Foundation (ISNF) with budget number: (99019689).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sleep Disorders Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), Kermanshah, Iran

    Habibolah Khazaie, Ebrahim Norouzi & Leeba Rezaie

  2. Department of Epidemiology, School of Health, Research Center for Environmental Determinants of Health, Research Institute for Health, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah, Iran

    Roya Safari-Faramani

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  1. Habibolah Khazaie
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  2. Ebrahim Norouzi
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Contributions

Habibolah Khazaie, Ebrahim Norouzi, Leeba Rezaie and Roya Safari-Faramani participated in the design of the study, carried out the data, analyzed the data, interpreted the results, and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ebrahim Norouzi.

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The Review Board of the Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences (Kermanshah, Iran) approved the study, which was performed in accordance with the ethical principles laid down in the seventh and current edition (2013) of the Declaration of Helsinki.

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The authors do not have any interests that might be interpreted as influencing the research, and ethical standards were followed in the conduct of the study. All authors declare no conflict of interests.

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Khazaie, H., Norouzi, E., Rezaie, L. et al. Effect of physical activity on sleep quality in patients with major depression disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Curr Psychol 42, 28846–28856 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03810-8

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