Relationship between Gymnastics Exercise and Insomnia in Elderly

Objective: To analyze the relationship between gymnastics exercise and insomnia in elderly. Methods: This study involved 60 elderly as the respondents. The respondents were divided into two groups: group 1 consisting of elderly who practiced gynmastics exercise and group 2 consisting of elderly who did not practice gymnastics exercise. The members of group 1 were enrolled from 3 gymnastic groups in 3 villages in Jatinangor, West Java, Indonesia and the members of group 2 were elderly who lived in the same villages as the elderly in group 1. The inclusion criteria were elderly women who could communicate effectively and with a Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of >23. Particularly for group 1, additional criteria were applied, i.e. elderly who did gynmastics exercise minimal once a month and each exercise lasted for at least one hour. Insomnia level was determined using the insomnia severity index (ISI). This study was carried out in June 2017. Homogeneity of the groups was examined using proportion difference test and data were analyzed using chi-square test and one way ANOVA. Results: Insomnia prevalence was 56.6% but insomnia prevalence in group 2 was higher (43.3%) than that of group 1 (13.3%). This study discovered that there was significant relationship between gymnastics exercise and insomnia in elderly (p=0.000). Referring to the frequency of the gymnastics exercise, significant relationship between gymnastics exercise and insomnia in elderly was also found (p=0.040). Conclusions: Gymnastics exercise is a promising nonpharmacologic therapy to treat insomnia in elderly