The impact of exercise on sleep in people with Parkinson’s disease a scoping review

While high intensity exercise is associated with improvement of both motor and non-motor symptoms in Parkinson's disease (PD), there is limited evidence on its impact on sleep disturbances in PD. This scoping review aims to provide a preliminary statement of the potential size and scope of available evidence for the interaction between exercise and sleep in people with PD. Research to date on non-motor symptoms of PD is broad, with scarce information regarding specific effects of exercise on sleep. A systematic literature search was conducted through three phases. Fifteen articles met the inclusion criteria for this study. Resistive exercise and multimodal exercise programs were frequently studied and found to improve sleep and decrease sleep-related disorders. These findings suggest that exercise programs may improve sleep and other non-motor symptoms of PD. The research was inconclusive when comparing the effects of high and low intensity exercises. Further research on the interaction between exercise and sleep in PD may have implications for rehabilitative therapy interventions.