title: The effects of Pilates exercise on sleep quality in postpartum women.
abstract: Prolonged poor sleeping quality can decrease women's ability to perform their maternal and family duties after delivery. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of a Pilates training program on sleep quality in primigravida postpartum women in a randomized clinical trial. Eighty postpartum women were randomly divided into intervention and control groups (n = 40). Home-based 30-min Pilates exercises were started 72 h after the delivery and performed five times per week for consecutive 8 weeks. Sleep quality was assessed by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) prior to the intervention and 4th and 8th weeks afterwards. The intervention group showed a significant improvement in subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, daytime dysfunction and global PSQI score (P < 0.001); however, there was no difference in sleep duration, habitual sleep efficiency and sleep disturbance between the groups. In conclusion, Pilates exercises appeared to improve sleep quality in primigravida postpartum women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Midwifery, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kerman University of Medical Science, Kerman, Iran. Electronic address: ashrafifarzaneh60@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Farzaneh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ashrafinia
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mandana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mirmohammadali
authors.affiliation: Department of Sport Physiology, Tarbiat Moallem University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Hamid
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Rajabi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Anooshirvan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kazemnejad
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Khosro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sadeghniiathaghighi
authors.affiliation: Department of Reproductive Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
authors.forename: Mehrnoosh
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Amelvalizadeh
authors.affiliation: School of Medical and Molecular Biosciences, Faculty of Science, Centre for Health Technology, University of Technology, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D026241:Exercise Movement Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011788:Quality of Life; D012890:Sleep; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Pilates; Postpartum period; Primigravid; Sleep quality