Do pregnant women with restless legs syndrome experience better sleep with physical activity?

Pregnant women benefit greatly from exercise due to its powerful impact on maternal and perinatal outcomes. The purpose of our study was to assess whether exercise improves objective sleep quality in pregnant women suffering from restless legs syndrome. This cross-sectional study is based on data from a large, naturalistic, consecutive cohort study in pregnant women recruited by four sleep centres, in Bologna, Milan and Turin (Italy), and Lugano (Switzerland), named the Life-ON study. Objective sleep parameters of 316 pregnant women were measured using polysomnographic recordings during the second trimester of pregnancy, and a self-reported assessment was used to evaluate physical activity. Pregnant women with restless legs syndrome (n = 91) who engaged in physical activity (n = 28) experienced better sleep efficiency (84.20% versus 82.10%, p = 0.01), less stage 1 sleep (10.50% versus 11.40%, p = 0.04) and wake after sleep onset (52.20 min versus 76.40 min, p ≤ 0.001), as well as reduced periodic leg movements during sleep (5.50 per hr versus 16.40 per hr, p < 0.001) when compared with the sedentary restless legs syndrome group (n = 63). Sleep structure was also better conserved in physically active pregnant women without restless legs syndrome compared with the inactive restless legs syndrome negative group. Overall, this study provides further evidence of the benefits of physical activity in pregnant women by illustrating its positive impact on sleep structure.