Effects of health qigong exercise on sleep and life quality in patients with drug abuse

Objective The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Health Qigong (HQ) exercise on the subjective and objective sleep quality and the quality of life in male patients with drug abuse who received treatment at a mandatory drug rehabilitation residential institution. Methods Ninety male patients (mean age, 36.85 ± 8.72 y) were included and randomly divided into the Health Qigong (HQ) group, aerobic exercise (AE) group, or control group. The participants in the HQ and AE groups exercised four times a week for 1 hour per session for 12 weeks, while the control group maintained their original lifestyle. The following parameters were recorded before and after exercise: Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); SF-36; and total sleep time, sleep efficiency, sleep latency, deep sleep time, deep sleep rate, light sleep time, and light sleep rate using actigraphy. Results Health Qigong improved the subjective sleep quality, objective sleep quality, and quality of life after a 12-week intervention. Considering the subjective sleep quality, Health Qigong helped improve several aspects of the PSQI, including the overall sleep quality (p < 0.01), sleep latency (p < 0.01), sleep duration (p < 0.01), sleep latency (p < 0.01), sleep disturbance (p < 0.01), and day dysfunction (p < 0.01). In relation to the objective sleep quality, Health Qigong improved the total sleep time (p < 0.01), sleep efficiency (p < 0.01), sleep latency (p < 0.01), deep and light sleep rate (p < 0.01). Considering the quality of life, Health Qigong helped improve the role-physical (p < 0.01), general health (p < 0.01), bodily pain (p < 0.01), and mental health (p < 0.01) aspects of SF-36. Conclusion Health Qigong may be an effective approach to improve the subjective and objective quality of sleep and life quality of patients with drug abuse.