PURPOSE: Sleep quality was considered a priority concern facing pregnant women. Conventional wisdom argues that good sleep quality benefits pregnant women and their fetuses. The aim of this study is to assess the effects of a specific exercise program on the sleep quality in pregnant women. METHODS: Searches were executed in seven databases since their inceptions until February 28th, 2019 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the effects of an exercise program on the sleep quality and insomnia in pregnant women. A random effect model was applied for meta-analyses and odds ratio (OR), mean differences (MDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) shown as parts of outcomes. RESULTS: Seven studies were included for meta-analysis. Compared with their not-exercising counterparts, Analyses showed that regularly-exercising women had significantly enhanced the sleep quality, with an OR of 6.21 (95% CI 2.02 to 19.11; p = 0.001; I2 = 80.2%), with a SMD of -0.93 (95% CI -1.19 to -0.67; p < 0.001; I2 = 30.0%). However, exercising women showed no significant insomnia improvement, with an SMD of -2.85 (95% CI -7.67 to 1.98; p = 0.250, I2 = 97.0%), relative to their not-exercising counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Our research indicated that exercise has a positive impact on the sleep quality of pregnant women. Despite the aforementioned positive impact on sleep quality, the current study didn't find evidence to support that exercise may also improve insomnia for pregnant women.

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