Study Objective: Epidemiological studies have shown a close correlation between obesity and sleep disorders which threatens the quality of life in the elderly. Thus, the purpose of this research was to study the effect of the aerobic exercise (with the aim of decreasing obesity) on quality of sleep in obese elderly women.

Method: 34 obese elderly women with sleep disorder recognized by Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), were recruited purposefully from the Preventive healthcare Center and randomly allocated to two groups either aerobic training (3 sessions a week for 12 wk.), or a control group. All Obesity indexes measures including Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Hip Ratio (WHR), and Percent Body Fat (PBF) were measured using bioelectrical impedance analysis.

Results: The results suggested that PSQI, Sleep quality, Sleep duration, Sleep Efficiency, Sleep disturbance, Sleep medications and Daytime dysfunction were significantly improved in experimental group, besides (p<0.05). All obesity indexes including BMI, PBF and WHR were significantly improved after exercise intervention (p<0.05).

Conclusion: The exercise-induced weight loss improved the quality of sleep in obese elderly women.