TOPLINE:

High-intensity circuit training (HICT) combined with a sleep health (SH) intervention was linked to greater improvements in sleep outcomes and cardiometabolic health compared with either intervention alone in sedentary young women with poor SH, a new study showed.

METHODOLOGY:

• An 8-week, single-blind randomized clinical trial included more than 100 sedentary young women with poor SH (mean age, 23.5 years) in Hong Kong in 2024. All participants were randomly assigned evenly to receive the combined HICT-SH intervention, HICT alone, the SH intervention alone, or no intervention (control group) — which consisted of following their original lifestyle.
• HICT included three laboratory-based body weight training sessions per week; the SH intervention included a weekly individualized counseling session and use of a digital cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia app.
• The primary outcomes were changes in subjective sleep quality on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and objective sleep parameters using actigraphy. Both were evaluated at baseline and 48 hours post intervention.
• Secondary outcomes included changes in cardiometabolic health indicators, such as levels of cholesterol, triglycerides, and adiponectin.

TAKEAWAY:

• The HICT-SH combination group had greater improvements in sleep efficiency (mean difference [MD], 2.75 percentage points; P = .004) and reduced activity counts (MD, 7980; P = .003) than the SH group and greater reductions in wake after sleep onset than the HICT (MD, 14.5 minutes; P = .002) and SH (MD, 16.3 minutes; P < .001) groups.
• All intervention groups had significant improvements in sleep efficiency, latency, and sleep duration and significant reductions in wake after sleep onset and activity counts compared with the control group.
• Total PSQI scores were significantly decreased (signifying improvement) in all intervention groups vs the control group: HICT-SH (MD, 2.6 points; P < .001), HICT (MD, 3.3 points; P < .001), and SH (MD, 2.6 points; P < .001).
• The HICT-SH and HICT groups also had greater reductions in waist circumference (P = .003 and P = .004, respectively) and improvements in levels of total cholesterol, triglycerides, and adiponectin than the control group.

IN PRACTICE:

“These findings may guide treatment and primary prevention of sleep disorders,” the investigators wrote.

The authors of an accompanying editorial added that “incorporating continuous wearable monitoring and repeated biomarker assessment, and testing adaptive protocols that adjust the dose and timing of sleep and exercise based on individual response represent essential next steps.”

SOURCE:

This study was led by Borui Zhang, PhD, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China. The accompanying editorial was led by Azizi A. Seixas, PhD, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami. Both articles were published online on February 16 in JAMA Network Open.

LIMITATIONS:

The findings may not have been generalizable to broader populations with insomnia, including older adults or those with significant physical or mental comorbidities. Although actigraphy provided data on objective sleep measures, polysomnography was not performed, which may have provided more reliable data. The absence of follow-up measurements prevented the assessment of lasting effects, and the postintervention assessment coincided with final college examinations, which may have affected sleep patterns due to increased academic workload. 

DISCLOSURES:

This study was funded by The Education University of Hong Kong and the Research Grant Council. The accompanying editorial was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health. The investigators and editorialists reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.