Abstract:
Sleep is an active process that affects an individual's daily functioning and
physical and mental health. It is also beneficial for an individual's overall health and
well being. Children with autism often have difficulty sleeping. One common
complaint from parents of children with autism is that these children lack sufficient
sleep. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of physical activity on
sleep in children with autism. There were three specific research questions for this
study. The first question was to examine the amount of physical activity during the
day to determine if physical activity had a beneficial effect on sleep. The second
question was to examine the effect of physical activity within 1 hour of bedtime on
sleep. The third question was to examine the effect of physical activity within 2-3
hours of bedtime on sleep.
Twelve children between the ages of 3 and 11 years with autism who have a
sleep problem participated in this study. Children's physical activity and sleep were
assessed with an Actiwatch for 14 consecutive days. During this time, all children
maintained their normal daily routine and parents completed a sleep log. The sleep
logs were used to determine what time the children went to bed and what time the
children woke up. The effect of physical activity on sleep was examined by
comparing the 5 most active days vs. the 5 least active days within a child's 14 days of
data collection.
A one-way repeated MANOVA showed that there was a significant effect,
Wilk's ? = .32, (p < .05) of low level physical activity on sleep efficiency when
performed within 1 hour of bedtime. The findings suggested that higher levels of
physical activity prior to sleep have a negative effect on sleep efficiency. This finding
is similar to previous reports stating that physical activity prior to bedtime can be
disruptive for sleep. There were no other effects of physical activity on sleep in
children with autism determined in this study.
These results did not provide support for the effect of physical activity on sleep
in children with autism. Since this study only tested 12 children with autism, future
research should be conducted with a larger sample size. It is also suggested that future
research use a physical activity intervention and more consecutive days of data
collection.
