The Impact of Physical Activity on Sleep in Alcohol Users: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Alcohol misuse impairs sleep quality and circadian rhythms. Yet, sleep is essential, as a lack of sleep is a predictive factor for addiction and relapse risk in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD). On the contrary, effective insomnia treatment after withdrawal increases abstinence. Meanwhile, physical activity (PA) has been shown to improve sleep quality and circadian rhythms in nonclinical population. Hence, it would be interesting to assess the impact of PA on sleep in alcohol users with and without dependence. Systematic search was conducted using Prisma guidelines for the screening and ROB-1 for bias analysis of randomized controlled trial (RCT). Out of 4995 studies screened, none assess as main purpose the impact of PA on sleep in alcohol users. Still, 81.8% of the selected studies, in their secondary outcomes, highlight PA's positive association with sleep in alcohol users with or without dependence. Main positive sleep outcomes were insomnia and sleep fragmentation reduction as well as sleep quality and duration improvement. There is a lack of publication regarding the impact of PA on sleep in nonclinical alcohol users and AUD patients. Still, PA appears to enhance sleep in both populations. Further well-designed RCTs are needed to produce robust data. In the first instance, feasibility study should be performed as adhesion can be an issue in the population. Finally, different PA programs (frequency, intensity, time, type and duration) should be compared to determine the optimal dose in different AUD status (intoxication, withdrawal and abstinence).