High-intensity workouts can enhance sleep quality, potentially by alleviating anxiety and hyperarousal indicators, in females exhibiting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, as indicated by recent research conducted by the University of Georgia’s Department of Kinesiology.

Authored by Melissa McGranahan (B.S.Ed. ’14, M.S. ’18, Ph.D. ’23) along with Patrick O’Connor, a faculty member in the Mary Frances Early College of Education, the study also emphasizes a group that has been inadequately represented in earlier investigations.

“The incidence of PTSD is around two times higher in women compared to men, yet research involving women in exercise intervention studies has been limited,” stated McGranahan, who is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at Emory University School of Medicine. “While physical training has shown beneficial effects on sleep in healthy populations, scarce evidence exists concerning its influence on sleep in women with PTSD.”

Over the course of six weeks, thirty female participants with PTSD symptoms engaged in high-intensity interval training, completing three sessions each week. The individuals exercised on bicycle ergometers within the Exercise Psychology Laboratory at Ramsey Student Center, where researchers measured the participants’ power output.

The post Research links exercise with enhanced sleep quality in women with PTSD symptoms first appeared on UGA Today.