Effects of a pedometer-based walking intervention on young adults' sleep quality, stress and life satisfaction: Randomized controlled trial

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of daily walking exercise on sleep quality, perceived stress and life satisfaction. It aimed to investigate the interaction between daily walking exercise and sleep components (sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep duration, sleep disturbance, sleep medication use, and daytime functioning). Methods: A four-week randomized control trial (RCT) was conducted by assigning 54 research volunteers into two groups randomly. The participants in the intervention group (IG) were asked to carry out a daily aerobic walking exercise (DAWE), and participants in the control group (CG) were requested to maintain a sedentary life style. Sleep quality, perceived stress and life satisfaction were assessed at the baseline and at the end of the intervention. All participants were equipped with Omron F11-112 pedometer to record their daily exercise and to fulfil a daily diary sheet. Results: By the end of the intervention, 26 out of 54 participants (M-age = 24.96; SD = 5.13) completed the task. There was no statistical significance between the two groups when comparing global sleep quality, stress and life satisfaction. The within group comparison showed positive effect of DAWE on subjective sleep quality (p = 0.05), less sleep medication use (p < 0.05), positive effect on daytime function (p < 0.01) and improved life satisfaction (p = 0.05) after four weeks of intervention. Conclusion: Findings suggested that incorporating daily aerobic walking exercise might be beneficial to sleep health. Further studies are suggested to ascertain the pedometer-based daily walking exercise's long-term effects and to unfold the biological mechanisms leading to its sleep quality improvement effect. (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.