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Outcomes of a walking exercise intervention in postpartum women with disordered sleep
Author(s) -
Liu YuHsiang,
Chang ChingFeng,
Hung HsuanMan,
Chen ChungHey
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of obstetrics and gynaecology research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.597
H-Index - 50
eISSN - 1447-0756
pISSN - 1341-8076
DOI - 10.1111/jog.14672
Subject(s) - medicine , physical therapy , depression (economics) , intervention (counseling) , sleep quality , repeated measures design , sleep (system call) , quality of life (healthcare) , postpartum depression , edinburgh postnatal depression scale , analysis of variance , insomnia , psychiatry , depressive symptoms , pregnancy , anxiety , nursing , statistics , genetics , mathematics , biology , computer science , economics , macroeconomics , operating system
Aim Good sleep quality is essential to physical and mental‐health‐related quality of life. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a walking exercise in relieving sleep quality, fatigue, and depression in new mothers during the postpartum period. Methods This quasi‐experimental study was conducted at a teaching hospital in southern Taiwan. One hundred and four eligible postpartum women with poor sleep quality (Postpartum Sleep Quality Scale; PSQS score ≧16) were assigned to either the experimental group ( n = 50) or the control group ( n = 54) according to their individual preferences. The participants in the experimental group participated in a 12‐week stride walking exercise intervention. The control group did not receive any exercise intervention. The PSQS, Postpartum Fatigue Scale, and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were used to assess outcomes. Results Repeated measures ANOVA demonstrated that the experimental group participants perceived milder physical symptoms associated with sleep inefficiency at 4‐week posttest ( F = 7.25, p < 0.01) than their control group peers. However, no significant differences were found between two groups in terms of either fatigue or depression at 4‐week and 12‐week posttest. Conclusion Significant improvement in the physical symptoms associated with sleep inefficiency was observed. The findings may be used to encourage postpartum women with disordered sleep to incorporate 20–30 min of stride walking into their regular routine to improve sleep quality.