Study connects exercise with improved sleep quality in women with PTSD symptoms

High-intensity exercise can improve sleep quality, possibly by reducing anxiety and hyperarousal symptoms, in women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, according to new research from the University of Georgia’s Department of Kinesiology.

Published by Melissa McGranahan (B.S.Ed. ’14, M.S. ’18, Ph.D. ’23) and Patrick O’Connor, a professor in the Mary Frances Early College of Education, the paper also highlights a demographic that has been underrepresented in prior studies.

“The prevalence of PTSD is approximately twice as high in women as in men, yet women have been underrepresented in exercise intervention studies,” said McGranahan, now a postdoctoral research fellow at Emory University School of Medicine. “Although exercise training has demonstrated positive effects on sleep in healthy samples, limited evidence exists for its impact on sleep for women with PTSD.”

In three sessions per week over six weeks, thirty female participants with PTSD symptoms completed high-intensity interval training exercises. Participants used bicycle ergometers in the Exercise Psychology Laboratory at the Ramsey Student Center to exercise, which the researchers used to quantify the participants’ power output.

At the end of the six weeks, 60% of participants reported an increase in sleep quality, going from poor sleep to good sleep, compared to improved sleep quality in six percent of the waitlist control group. Another variable, heart rate variability, did not account for the sleep changes.

“Inactive women with PTSD who aren’t sleeping well, if they adopt a time-efficient, high-intensity exercise program, they’re likely to feel like their sleep is better after six weeks,” O’Connor said.

The pilot study, published in the journal Sleep Medicine, was part of McGranahan’s dissertation research as a doctoral student in the College’s exercise psychology program. She chose the topic in part due to the lack of female participants in prior studies.

“I selected this topic to address this critical gap in the literature and to contribute to a more inclusive, evidence-based understanding of how exercise training may support recovery for women with PTSD,” McGranahan said. “By advancing research in this area, we have the opportunity not only to improve sleep and overall health outcomes for a group too often overlooked, but also to empower women on their journey toward healing and resilience.”

The findings could also pave the way for similar, larger studies with other groups of people who experience PTSD symptoms, such as veterans.

“It’s well-recognized some veterans return home and in response to the trauma they get exposed to, they have a lot of nightmares and sleep problems, and there’s really not a lot of great treatments for it,” O’Connor said. “So, if exercise truly improves their sleep quality, that would be really useful.”