The impact of mind-body and aerobic exercises on subjective and objective sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

5 Repeated evidence

What this means for you: this is established.

Type of study: meta-analysis or systematic review
Studied in: people
Participants: not stated in the abstract
Published: 2026 in Geriatric nursing (New York, N.Y.)
Cited: 0 times by other research
Who paid: Not declared. PubMed carries no conflict-of-interest statement for most articles; that is not the same as independent.
Source: PubMed 41570569 · doi 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2026.103867

The plain-language write-up of this study is still being written. Below is the abstract exactly as the researchers published it.

Abstract by the researchers — original text

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of mind-body and aerobic exercises on subjective and objective sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults. METHODS: A systematic search was conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang databases. RESULTS: Twenty-eight studies were included. Compared to the control group, mind-body (P < 0.00001) and aerobic exercises (P = 0.0001) significantly improved subjective sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults. For objective sleep quality, both mind-body and aerobic exercises significantly increased total sleep time (P = 0.004) and reduced wake time after sleep onset (P < 0.00001). However, improvements in sleep efficiency (P = 0.06) and reductions in sleep onset latency (P = 0.19) were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Mind-body and aerobic exercises have shown to improve sleep quality in middle-aged and older adults, particularly in increase total sleep time, decreasing nighttime wakefulness, and improving subjective sleep quality.