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Alternative Strategies for Managing Insomnia: The Case of Physical Exercise and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. A Narrative Review

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Abstract

The sleep–wake cycle is a process regulated by multiple neurobiological mechanisms that in aberrant functioning provokes several sleep disturbances. Among the major categories of sleep disorders, insomnia represents one of the most reported in population. Pharmacological interventions aimed for treating this sleep disturbance include compounds such as antidepressants, antihistamines, sedative-hypnotics, among others. However, using pharmacological treatments increase undesirable side effects such as addiction to sleep-inducing drugs. Here, we review and summarize recent publications available in PubMed regarding the use of non-pharmacological/invasive means to control insomnia, including physical exercise and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Current data suggest that these two strategies efficiently manage insomnia, and in turn opens new approaches to develop therapeutical tools to diminish this pathology. Nevertheless, additional research is required to understand the neurobiological mechanism of action of physical exercise and tDCS in insomnia control.

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Funding

This work was supported by The University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS) and Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT. Grant CN-17-19) and Escuela de Medicina, Universidad Anáhuac Mayab Grant (PresInvEMR2017) given to EM-R.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Neurociencias Moleculares e Integrativas, Escuela de Medicina, División Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Anáhuac Mayab, Carretera Mérida-Progreso Km. 15.5, A.P. 96 Cordemex, C.P. 97310, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico

    María Fernanda Higuera-Hernández, Elena Reyes-Cuapio, Marissa Gutiérrez-Mendoza & Eric Murillo-Rodríguez

  2. Grupo de Investigación en Envejecimiento, División Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Anáhuac Mayab, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico

    María Fernanda Higuera-Hernández, Elena Reyes-Cuapio, Marissa Gutiérrez-Mendoza & Eric Murillo-Rodríguez

  3. Intercontinental Neuroscience Research Group, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico

    María Fernanda Higuera-Hernández, Elena Reyes-Cuapio, Marissa Gutiérrez-Mendoza, Nuno Barbosa Rocha, André Barciela Veras, Henning Budde, Sérgio Machado & Eric Murillo-Rodríguez

  4. Escuela de Nutrición, División Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Anáhuac Mayab, Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico

    Elena Reyes-Cuapio

  5. Faculty of Health Sciences, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Nuno Barbosa Rocha

  6. Laboratory of Panic and Respiration, Institute of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    André Barciela Veras & Sérgio Machado

  7. Postgraduate Program in Health Psychology, Dom Bosco Catholic University Campo Grande, Campo Grande, Brazil

    André Barciela Veras

  8. Faculty of Human Sciences, Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

    Henning Budde & Johanna Jesse

  9. Sports Science Department, Physical Activity, Physical Education, Health and Sport Research Centre (PAPESH), School of Science and Engineering, Reykjavik University, Reykjavík, Iceland

    Henning Budde

  10. Lithuanian Sports University, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Henning Budde

  11. Physical Activity Neuroscience Laboratory, Physical Activity Sciences Postgraduate Program of Salgado de Oliveira University, Niterói, Brazil

    Sérgio Machado

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  1. María Fernanda Higuera-Hernández
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  2. Elena Reyes-Cuapio
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  3. Marissa Gutiérrez-Mendoza
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  9. Eric Murillo-Rodríguez
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Correspondence to Eric Murillo-Rodríguez.

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Higuera-Hernández, M.F., Reyes-Cuapio, E., Gutiérrez-Mendoza, M. et al. Alternative Strategies for Managing Insomnia: The Case of Physical Exercise and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation. A Narrative Review. Sleep Vigilance 2, 39–44 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41782-018-0037-x

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