Effects of exercise on sleep spindles in Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Background: In a randomized, controlled trial, we showed that high-intensity rehabilitation, combining resistance training and bodyweight interval training, improves sleep efficiency in Parkinson's disease (PD). Quantitative sleep EEG (sleep qEEG) features, including sleep spindles, are altered in aging and in neurodegenerative disease. Objective: The objective of this post-hoc analysis was to determine the effects of exercise, in comparison to a sleep hygiene, no-exercise control group, on the quantitative characteristics of sleep spindle morphology in PD. Methods: We conducted an exploratory post-hoc analysis of 24 PD participants who were randomized to exercise (supervised 3 times/week for 16 weeks) versus 26 PD participants who were assigned to a sleep hygiene, no-exercise control group. At baseline and post-intervention, all participants completed memory testing and underwent polysomnography (PSG). PSG-derived sleep EEG central leads (C3 and C4) were manually inspected, with rejection of movement and electrical artifacts. Sleep spindle events were detected based on the following parameters: (1) frequency filter = 11-16 Hz, (2) event duration = 0.5-3 s, and (3) amplitude threshold