Effects of Electrical Automatic Massage of Whole Body at Bedtime on Sleep and Fatigue

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effect of electrical automatic massage (EAM) at bedtime on sleep quality and fatigue. METHODS: We recruited consecutively 35 adults (23 male, 48.7±8.07 y) who complained of poor sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index≥5) and fatigue (Chalder Fatigue Scale≥4). This is a cross over study including two consecutive sleep studies with or without EAM. The EAM session includes preset ‘sleep mode’, which last 30 minutes covering whole body. Participants were seated in the commercially available massage chair (REX-L®) under the calm and dim light condition immediately before polysomnography. Participants reported perceived sleep latency, sleep duration, and fatigue using visual analogue scale following morning. RESULTS: Polysomnography parameters and subjective reports were compared between sleep with EAM and sleep without EAM. Paired comparison on average revealed sleep structure improvement N1 (13.6→10.9%) and N2 sleep (59.3→57.2%) decreased, and N3 sleep increased (3.0→6.4%), as well as sleep latency (10.3→5.6 min). Improvement in arousal index (17.1→13.0/h) and apnea-hypopnea index (9.1→7.0/h) were also seen following sleep after EAM. Sleep efficiency and total sleep time were not changed by EAM. Participants subjective reports also indicated better sleep on EAM; more lengthened sleep (306→330 minutes) and more relieved fatigue significantly after EAM. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that muscle relaxation through EAM at bedtime may improve the sleep and alleviate fatigue. It suggests that EAM may be one of alternatives to promote sleep quality. Further studies in a clinical setting are warranted to support this finding.