Exercise Before Bedtime Means Better Sleep: Study

Young adults who exercised vigorously before bed ended up getting better sleep than their peers who reported less strenuous evening activity, a new study found.

The results, based on sleep patterns during a single night, go against the usual advice to avoid being too active before bed.

“We believe that the present study has the potential to shed light on the issue of whether evening exercising should be discouraged,” Serge Brand of the University of Basel in Switzerland and his colleagues write.

“The findings may also have practical implications, since, for most employed adults and parents, evening hours often provide the only opportunity for exercise,” the researchers add.

They studied 52 Swiss high school students who were an average of 19 years old and played sports two or three times per week.

The participants followed their normal routine on the day and night of the study, including playing sports for 65 to 90 minutes in the evening and ending about one and a half hours before their usual bedtime.

A number of sleep studies have discovered that daytime exercise promotes better sleep. Even walking 1 mile as an older adult can help your sleep cycles, although doctors recommend 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week or 75 minutes of intense exercise. While many people argue they are too tired to exercise, this may be a vicious cycle. Without exercise, your sleep cycles may not be deep enough to promote a restful sleep to provide enough energy for your daily routine. You can choose the type of exercise that works best with your routine. When, where and how you exercise can affect your sleep cycles. It is a good idea to plan your workout routine according to these rules, or implement new relaxation routines. Read more to find out how to sleep better with exercise.

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Increase your aerobic exercise by 20 to 30 minutes. This is the type of exercise that gets your heart rate going, but is moderate enough to allow you to breathe heavily but still keep up a conversation. You can choose fast walking, swimming, jogging, cross-country skiing, biking, dancing or using an elliptical machine.

Studies also show that yoga and Tai-Chi have a similar effect of increasing blood circulation and lung capacity. They have been shown to positively affect sleep cycles.
Sleep studies showed that people who engaged in regular aerobic activity secreted more growth hormones, which help you to repair your body's systems and heal more quickly.

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Exercise in the late afternoon or early evening. Although you may already feel exhausted during this part of the day, exercise at this time may energize you for a few minutes, get you excited for dinner, but use up your remaining energy stores. This energy release can cause you to have deeper sleep.