Effects of resistance training in the disturbances of sleep and the quality of life in patients with Alzheimer's dementia

• Grant number: 10/00542-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2010
• End date: December 31, 2010
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Physical Education
• Principal Investigator: Florindo Stella
• Grantee: Angelica Miki Stein
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Rio Claro. Rio Claro , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia in the elderly. Among the harmful changes arising from the AD, we highlight the sleep disturbances and the negative impact of disease on quality of life. Physical activity is an important non-pharmacological appeal, that provides positive effects for the treatment of disease. However, there are few studies that clarify the effects of resistance training in this population. Thus, the present study has as objective analyzes the effects of the resistance training in the disturbances of the sleep and in the quality of life of this population. They will participate from this study 30 patients with clinical diagnosis of AD divided into two groups: Training Group (TG) and Social Interaction group (SIG). The subjects of TG will be submitted the a protocol of physical activity systematized, of anaerobic character, appropriate to the individual conditions, during three days no consecutive in the week, with duration of 60 minutes each session, for 16 weeks. The SIG won't participate in any systematized physical activity. Both groups will be assessed at the beginning of the program and after 16 weeks. For the assessment will be used questionnaires and scales. The data will be treated as descriptive procedures. Afterwards the Shapiro Wilk's will verify the distribution of the data. In case of normal distribution, will be used Student's t test for independent samples and test, Pearson correlation. In case the distribution is not parametric, it will be performed test of Mann Whitney U test and Spearman correlation. Significance's level of 5% will be admitted. (AU)