SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1623506
This article is part of the Research TopicImpact of Physical Activity on Health and Behavioral Risks in AdolescentsView all 20 articles
Effects of Exercise Interventions on Sleep Quality in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Chengdu sport university, Chengdu, China
- 2Zhejiang normal university, Jinhua, China
- 3Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China
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Objective: Adolescents' declining sleep quality has caught the attention of educators, parents, doctors, and schools. Research, especially focusing on teenagers, is still lacking, despite numerous studies examining the connection between physical exercise and sleep quality across other demographics. This study aims to systematically review and conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the impact of exercise interventions on adolescents' sleep quality. Methods: Investigate articles available until April 17, 2025, in databases such as PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, EBSCO, and Embase. Evaluate the quality of the studies based on the standards outlined in the Cochrane Handbook and conduct data analysis with Review Manager 5.3 software. Results: After screening 2312 articles, 8 studies involving 710 participants were ultimately included for meta-analysis. The meta-analysis results indicated that exercise effectively improves sleep quality in adolescents (SMD=-2.10, 95% CI: -2.86 to -1.35, p <0.05). Various weekly exercise frequencies, single-session lengths, and total intervention durations all demonstrated statistically significant favorable impacts on adolescents' sleep quality, according to subgroup analyses. Regarding exercise modality, combined exercise demonstrated no significant effect on adolescents' sleep quality, whereas both aerobic and resistance exercise produced significant improvements. Conclusion: Exercise can effectively improve sleep quality in adolescents. A systematic exercise program lasting 3 to 12 weeks is beneficial for the sleep quality of adolescents, with the maximum benefit achieved at 12 weeks. Conducted at an appropriate frequency and with each session lasting more than thirty minutes, it is particularly effective in improving the sleep quality of adolescents. Both aerobic and resistance exercise significantly improve adolescents' sleep quality, whereas combined exercise shows no significant effect. Parents and educators should see exercise treatments as a practical, secure, and efficient non-pharmacological way to improve adolescents' sleep quality.
Keywords: exercise interventions, Adolescent, sleep quality, Meta-analysis, subgroup analysis
Received: 06 May 2025; Accepted: 20 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yan, Xin and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Guangjie Xin, Zhejiang normal university, Jinhua, China
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