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

Poor sleep quality has been recognized as a major public health concern in the world. The prevalence of insomnia in Taiwan is comparable to that of Western countries. It is estimated that up to 50% of elderly complain about their sleep. Insomnia is associated with anxiety, falls, or cognitive impairment in the elderly, which may compromise their daily activities function and quality of life. Recently, researches have demonstrated the associations between insomnia and endocrine system dysfunction, metabolic disorders, and cardiovascular events and death. Therefore, it is an important issue to improve sleep quality of the elders. The side-effects of pharmacological treatments and high-cost of cognitive behavior therapy limit their accessibility and effectiveness, and exercise training has been expected to provide an alternative intervention for insomnia. However, the long-term impact of insomnia on health-related fitness and metabolic function, and the effect of exercise training remain inconclusive. Therefore, the study hypothesis is that exercise training affect functional performance and quality of life in community-dwelling elderly with insomnia.