Why does exercise help us sleep better?
The relationship between exercise and sleep has long been studied. According to previous studies, proper exercise helps relieve sleep disorders and get the appropriate rest. Recent studies have shown that not getting enough sleep or poor sleep conditions can lower physical activity. For this reason, not only can regular exercise habits help you sleep, but also enough sleep can help you maintain a healthy level of physical activity.
The importance of sleep
Sleep helps the body and mind recharge. Healthy sleep helps keep the body healthy and prevents disease. Your brain doesn’t function properly if you don’t get enough sleep. Most adults need to sleep for seven to nine hours, and children and teenagers need more sleep. Daily stress, bedroom environment, and health conditions can be a hindrance to getting enough sleep. A healthy diet and regular exercise will help you get proper sleep (Pacheco, 2022).
How does exercise affect sleep?
Regular exercise reduces the risk of diseases such as cancer and diabetes and improves physical function. In particular, moderate aerobic exercise improves the quality of sleep and puts you in a state of good sleep. Proper physical activity can also relieve sleepiness (Pacheco, 2022).
Moderate aerobic exercise reduces the risk of excessive weight gain, reducing the likelihood of developing symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea. It is because obesity is the cause of more than 60% of obstructive sleep apnea cases. People who do not get enough sleep in poor bedroom conditions are likely to be diagnosed with sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and lower extremity anxiety syndrome. On the other hand, light and regular aerobic exercise greatly improve the quality of sleep. However, high-intensity exercise increases stress and fatigue, which rather lowers the quality of sleep (Pacheco, 2022).
Will exercising at night be bad for deep sleep?
Studies on whether exercise just before bedtime negatively affects sleep have been continued for a long time. In general, exercise can have a negative effect three hours before reaching sleep. It is because exercise increases heart rate, body temperature, and adrenaline levels. On the other hand, some studies have shown that exercise before bedtime may not have a negative effect on sleep. A survey found that people who exercise after 8 p.m. get enough deep sleep. However, the researchers pointed out that the high core temperature that can occur after exercise is associated with lowering sleep efficiency. Therefore, exercise before bedtime is not inherently harmful, but vigorous exercise just before bedtime can negatively affect sleep efficiency and sleep time (Pacheco, 2022).
The proper amount of exercise for a deep sleep
The National Institutes of Health and the American Heart Association recommend that healthy adults do at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week. Studies have shown that symptoms of people suffering from sleep disorders can be gradually alleviated through regular exercise. However, severe high-intensity exercise negatively affects the quality of sleep. The side effects of overtraining are insomnia and sleep disorders (Breus, 2022).
Conclusion
Everyone knows that sleep is important to live a healthy life. However, it is hard to increase sleep time for modern people who live busy lives. Therefore, it is wise to focus on improving sleep quality rather than increasing sleep time. Proper exercise increases the time of non-rem sleep, which is in a state of deep sleep, helping muscles and brain cells recover from fatigue. Short exercise for 30 minutes three to four times a week improves sleep quality than doing it for more than an hour once a week (Breus, 2022). In addition, exercising during the day rather than exercising just before bedtime increased adrenaline levels and helps you sleep deeply. However, it should be noted that severe high-intensity exercise increases the body’s fatigue and hinders sleep. It can be seen that it is important to exercise properly to get good sleep and improve health (Pacheco, 2022).
References
Breus, M. (2022). The Benefits of Exercise For Sleep. [online] The Sleep Doctor. Available at: https://thesleepdoctor.com/exercise/benefits-of-exercise-for-sleep/ [Accessed 4 November 2022].
Pacheco, D. (2022). Why do we need sleep? [online] Sleep Foundation. Available at: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works/why-do-we-need-sleep [Accessed 4 November 2022].
Pacheco, D. (2022). Exercise and Sleep. [online] Sleep Foundation. Available at: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/physical-activity/exercise-and-sleep [Accessed 4 November 2022].
