Health
Evening exercise may improve sleep quality, research suggests
Topline
Evening bodyweight workouts may be linked to about 30 minutes of extra sleep at night and without increasing sleep interruptions, a new study suggests, the latest evidence in the long debate over the relationship between evening exercise and sleep.
woman sleeping in bed.
Key facts
The consensus on whether exercising before bed is detrimental to sleep health has been a long-debated topic among many studies Finding exercise – especially vigorous exercise – in the evening results in poor sleep quality, so a new study in New Zealand and published Tuesday in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine has taken a new look at this relationship.
Before the study, 21% of the 30 participants – who were between 19 and 39 years old and mostly women – slept less than seven hours per night, 4% slept more than nine hours and the rest slept seven hours, which is the average . optimal amount of sleep.
Participants completed a three-minute exercise break every 30 minutes for a four-hour period starting between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., and the exercises included bodyweight resistance training such as chair squats and calf raises; the control group remained seated for four hours.
The researchers found that participants who had evening breaks slept an average of 27 minutes longer than those in the control group who were sedentary for four hours.
There were also no significant differences in uninterrupted sleep between the two groups, suggesting that evening exercise does not cause sleep interruptions, the study said.
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What is the recommended amount of sleep per night?
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute recommends adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep per night. Although less than seven hours of sleep can have detrimental effects on a person’s health, sleep-deprived people and young adults sometimes need more than nine hours, such as when recovering from an illness.
How does sleep quality affect your health?
Sleeping well is important because sleep is connected to every aspect of human health, from how they think to how the body fights infections, according to at Yale Medicine. Women who sleep five hours or less are 15% more likely to become obese study found it. People with an irregular sleep schedule are more likely to suffer from this high bloodpressure. Participants at a Center for Disease Control and Prevention study who got six hours or less sleep were 2.5 times more likely to have frequent mental health problems than those who slept more. According to a 2022 study, people who get the recommended amount of sleep reduce their risk of heart disease and stroke by 75%. study by the European Association of Cardiologists. Good sleep can strengthen the immune system, improve mood and energy, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, increase muscle growth and boost brain function. according to to the American Heart Association.
Important background
There is conflicting research on the impact that exercising at night has on sleep. A study found that strenuous exercise, such as high-intensity interval training and lifting heavy weights, three hours before bedtime can have a negative effect on the heart during the first hours of sleep. Evening exercise may negatively impact the sleep cycles of early risers, but not for night owls, according to a separate study study. However, one study which allowed participants to maintain their normal exercise routines and not assign new routines, found that there was no difference in sleep quality between people who exercised in the morning and evening. The researchers think this is because people chose training times that suit them best circadian rhythm, which is the body’s natural clock. Participants who exercised at moderate intensity four to two hours before bed did not notice any disruption to their ability to sleep, a 2020 study study found it.
