Many people struggle to get enough good quality sleep. Not only does this leave us feeling drained the following day, but over the long run poor sleep can even have a negative effect on other facets of our health and wellbeing. There’s no shortage of things individuals are told they’ll do to get a greater night’s sleep – from taking a hot bath within the evening to ditching their phone a few hours before bed.
But one of the crucial common pieces of recommendation for people struggling to get an excellent night’s sleep is to exercise usually. And in keeping with research, this is definitely pretty good advice.
For example, a meta-analysis from 2015 which checked out all the present research on sleep quality, duration and exercise, showed that each short-term and regular exercise (a number of sessions per week) can lead to raised sleep. This implies that even a single bout of exercise could also be enough to enhance sleep quality and duration.
Research also shows us which sorts of exercise will help improve sleep. Regular aerobic exercisefor example, has been shown to assist people go to sleep quicker, get up less in the course of the night and feel more rested the next morning. This was true for a lot of differing kinds of aerobic exercise, reminiscent of cycling, running, and even brisk walking.
Even only a single, 30-minute session of aerobic exercise can improve multiple facets of sleep – although to not the identical extent as regular aerobic exercise. But, it was still shown to enhance sleep duration, decrease the time it takes to go to sleep and increase sleep efficiency (the share of time in bed that’s actually spent asleep). A better sleep efficiency indicates higher sleep quality.
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Research on resistance exercise (reminiscent of weightlifting) and its effect on sleep is more limited. But from the small variety of studies which have been conducted, it appears resistance exercise can also find a way to enhance sleep.
Studies have found that individuals who do resistance exercise usually (around three sessions per week) have higher subjective sleep quality. Even just considering you might have good quality sleep can affect how well you perform throughout the day.
Regular resistance training can also help individuals with insomnia to go to sleep quicker and increase their sleep efficiency. However, there’s still little or no research on this area so we should be cautious about making any conclusions.
The excellent news is that the advantages of exercise for sleep appear to work for everybody, no matter your age or whether you might have certain sleep disorders (reminiscent of insomnia or sleep apnoea).
The influence of exercise
While the research is obvious that exercise can improve our sleep, scientists still aren’t entirely sure exactly the way it does this – though they do have a number of theories.
Our body’s sleep-wake cycle follows an roughly 24-hour period, which is controlled by an internal body “clock”. As a part of this cycle, a hormone called melatonin is released within the evening, which helps us feel drained. Exercise in the course of the day can result in an earlier release of melatonin within the evening, which could also be why individuals who exercise go to sleep quicker.
Exercise also raises our core body temperature. But after we finish a workout, our core body temperature begins to return back to normal. A drop in core body temperature can even help us go to sleep. This may explain why evening exercise can actually help some people sleep higher that night – contrary to popular belief.
Exercise may also lead to raised sleep due to its positive effects on mood and mental health, each of which might be related to sleep quality. During exercise, the body releases chemicals referred to as endorphins, which improve mood. Regular exercise can even reduce symptoms of tension and depression. The positive effect of exercise on each mood and mental health may due to this fact help people get to sleep more easily.
Although more research still must be done to work out exactly why various kinds of exercise affect many various facets of our sleep, it’s clear that exercise might be useful for sleep. Just 30-60 minutes of exercise day by day may make it easier to go to sleep faster, stay asleep in the course of the night and get up feeling more rested the following morning.
While only one workout can improve your sleep, figuring out usually is more likely to provide ever greater improvements to your sleep. Since so many sorts of exercise are linked with improving sleep, all you should do is select a workout you enjoy – whether that’s running, swimming, lifting weights and even just going for a brisk walk.