Qigong exercise improves the sleep quality of the patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: A waitlist randomized controlled trial

Background: Our previous studies showed Qigong exercise may reduce fatigue level of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Sleep disturbance is a common complaint in CFS. However, few studies investigated it. Objectives: Effects of Qigong exercise on sleep quality and fatigue were assessed. The correlations between changes of sleep quality and fatigue were assessed as well as dosage of Qigong practice.

Methods: A RCT was conducted with Qigong (n = 75) and control (n = 75) groups. 16 sessions (twice a week for 8 weeks) of Baduanjin Qigong of 1.5 hours each was delivered. Fatigue was measured by Chalder's fatigue and sleep quality was measured by Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) at baseline (T0), post-intervention (T1) and 3-month post-intervention (T2). The interaction effect of group and time in sleep quality and fatigue between two groups were compared by ANOVA. The correlations between changes of outcomes (T1 – T0) with dosage of Qigong were assessed. Results: PSQI were 10.0 (3.7) at T0, 8.2 (3.4) at T1 and 8.3 (3.4) at T2 for intervention group, and 10.2 (3.8), 9.5 (3.7) and 9.3 (3.5) for control group respectively. F-values for effect of group x time were 3.006 (p=0.048) for PSQI and 10.376 (p<0.001) for fatigue. Change of PSQI had significantly positive association (R=0.569, p< 0.001) with that of fatigue, and significantly negative with attendance rate of Qigong class (R=-0.288, p=0.013)

Conclusion: It suggested Qigong exercise can improve sleep quality of CFS and dosage of Qigong practice had a close relationship with improvement of sleep quality.

Acknowledgement: Hong Kong hospital Authority research fund