Long-term Follow-up of Functional Performance and Exercise Efficacy in Community-dwelling Elderly With Insomnia

This project will be conducted in three years: In the first year, we will compare the cardiorespiratory function, body composition, physical activity, and metabolic biochemistry parameters in community-dwelling elders with good and poor sleep quality. One hundred and twenty elders will be recruited to receive the actigraph accelermometer recording, sleep quality questionnaire, exercise test, bioelectrical impedance analysis, heart rate variability analysis, cognitive and depression evaluation, and biochemistry analysis. Secondly, the study will evaluate the efficacy and possible mechanisms of a 16-week exercise training for insomnia. Sixty patients with insomnia elders will be randomized to exercise group or control group. Participants in the exercise group will receive aerobic and resistance exercise 3 times per week for 16 weeks. The controls will receive sleep hygiene education and consultation. All measurements will be performed as described before. Finally, all the 120 elders participating in this study will receive 12-month follow-up assessments to explore the longitudinal impact of insomnia on cardiorespiratory function, body composition and metabolic function, and long-term effect of exercise training on insomnia. We expect elders with poor sleep quality have lower level of health-related fitness and metabolic function; exercise training is effective to improve sleep quality, metabolic function and general health in the elders with insomnia, and the effect can be sustained for a long period.