Balance of Autonomic Nervous Activity, Exercise, and Sleep Status in Older Adults: A Review of the Literature

Miki Sato, Feni Betriana, Ryuichi Tanioka, Kyoko Osaka, Tetsuya Tanioka and Savina Schoenhofer
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Miki Sato: Department of Clinical Nursing, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Nankoku 783-8505, Japan
Feni Betriana: Graduate School of Health Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8509, Japan
Ryuichi Tanioka: Graduate School of Health Sciences, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8509, Japan
Kyoko Osaka: Department of Clinical Nursing, Kochi Medical School, Kochi University, Nankoku 783-8505, Japan
Tetsuya Tanioka: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Graduate School, Tokushima University, Tokushima 770-8509, Japan
Savina Schoenhofer: Anne Boykin Institute, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL 33431, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 24, 1-15

Abstract: While older people are frequently known to experience sleep disturbances, there are also many older people who have a good quality of sleep. However, little is known about the balance of autonomic nervous activity, exercise habits, and sleep status in healthy older adults. This study reviews the literature regarding balance of the autonomic nervous activity, exercise, and sleep in healthy older adults. Relevant articles were searched from electronic databases using the combination of the following keywords: “Autonomic nervous activity”, “sleep status”, “sleep”, “healthy older adults”, “aging”, “heart rate variability (HRV)” and “exercise”. Articles were included if they met inclusion criteria: (1) Published in English, (2) Article types: research and review articles, (3) Main outcome was related to the autonomic nervous activity, lifestyle, sleep, and/or healthy aging, and (4) Fully accessed. From 877 articles that were identified, 16 articles were included for review. Results showed that the autonomic nervous activity changes with increasing age, particularly a constant decline in cardiac vagal modulation due to the significant decrease in the nocturnal parasympathetic activity. In addition, the autonomic nervous activity was also related to sleep status and lifestyle, particularly the capability to exercise. In preparing older people toward a healthy aging, maintaining good sleep quality and exercise is suggested.

Keywords: autonomic nervous activities; healthy aging; heart rate variability; sleep status; well-being; sedentary lifestyle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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