The effects of 12 weeks of Cardiovascular Exercise on Sleep Architecture and Corticospinal Excitability in Parkinson’s Disease: a mechanistic insight

The effects of 12 weeks of Cardiovascular Exercise on Sleep Architecture and Corticospinal Excitability in Parkinson’s Disease: a mechanistic insight | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The effects of 12 weeks of Cardiovascular Exercise on Sleep Architecture and Corticospinal Excitability in Parkinson’s Disease: a mechanistic insight Jacopo Cristini, Freddie Seo, Ashanté Bon, Bernat de las Heras, and 8 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7293351/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Regular exercise is a safe adjunct to standard pharmacological treatment and may improve common sleep architecture alterations observed in Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, research in this area is limited, and it is unclear which potential underlying mechanisms are involved. We conducted a proof-of-concept study to investigate whether 12 weeks (3 days/week) of moderate-to-vigorous cardiovascular training (CT) improves sleep architecture and non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep oscillations in PD. Additionally, we explored potential underlying mechanisms, focusing on measures of intracortical inhibition mediated by gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), given its critical role in sleep physiology and dysfunction in PD. We recruited 15 participants at early-to-moderate disease stages (66.0 ± 9.0 years; Female = 3). Participants “On” antiparkinsonian medications were tested before and after the CT program. Cardiorespiratory fitness level was assessed with a symptom-limited cardiopulmonary exercise test. Sleep was evaluated with polysomnography. Intracortical inhibition was assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation measures, including short intracortical inhibition (SICI) and the cortical silent period (CSP). Explorative outcomes included hypnodensity-related metrics, subjective sleep quality, cognition, motor signs severity, and fatigue. Following CT, we observed significant improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness level, the duration of NREM sleep stage 3, NREM stable sleep (hypnodensity-derived variable), SICI, and cognitive function. In contrast, there were no significant changes in other polysomnographic sleep outcomes, subjective sleep quality, CSP, motor signs severity, and fatigue. Although our findings require replication in RCTs, they expand previous research and suggest that CT may be a long-term, cost-effective strategy to mitigate common alterations in sleep and intracortical inhibition in PD. Physical Medicine & Rehab Parkinson’s disease Cardiovascular exercise Sleep NREM sleep oscillations Transcranial magnetic stimulation Inhibition Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files ExerciseandSleepinPDSuppFilesRS.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7293351","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":495549972,"identity":"36bc09ca-a4f3-4ceb-a14a-f806bf8243c6","order_by":0,"name":"Jacopo 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