Exercise Training Improves Sleeping Heart Rate Variability And Sleep Efficiency In Cancer Survivors Undergoing Treatment

PURPOSE: It is well established that chronic exercise can provide significant health benefits in the cancer population. Recent research has reported that regularly performed exercise can improve markers of sleep quality such as heart rate variability (HRV) during sleep and sleep efficiency (%). The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of exercise on HRV during sleep and its association with sleep efficiency in cancer survivors undergoing treatment. METHODS: Cancer survivors currently receiving chemotherapy and/or radiation were recruited for this study and further divided into groups of exercise intervention (n = 18) and control (n = 8). Individualized prescriptive exercise sessions occurred 1 hour/day, 3 days/week for 12 weeks. All participants wore a commercially available sleep tracking device throughout the entirety of the 12-week intervention to obtain HRV measurements during sleep and to calculate sleep efficiency values. RESULTS: Exercise training resulted in a significant increase in HRV (+5.36 ms ±10.26, p = 0.047) and sleep efficiency (+1.94% ± 2.98, p = 0.005). Conversely, the control group showed a significant decrease in HRV (-5.37 ms ± 8.53, p = 0.032) and no significant change in sleep efficiency. CONCLUSIONS: Exercise resulted in a significant increase in HRV during sleep and was associated with improved sleep efficiency among cancer survivors undergoing treatment. Furthermore, sedentary cancer survivors undergoing treatment had a significant decrease in HRV and no change in sleep efficiency.