Exercising Before Bed is Good for You?

No doubt, if you do regular exercise, you are involved in physical activities, sports you will be more fit and healthy compared to a lot of people around you. Not only this, people you are involved in physical activities, and exercises or any type of sports also sleep better.

Exercise helps to increase the core body temperature and when this temperature starts dropping you feel sleepy. People who exercise daily will notice that they feel more relaxed, their anxiety levels are reduced, and this also normalise their internal clock.

Mostly it is said that working out before sleep can make it harder to get a good sleep at night. But as per recent research, this general perception is not necessarily true. According to the studies it is possible to exercise before your sleep time and your sleep will not be disturbed or compromised.

But the key to fall asleep is to focus on the type of exercise. You need to do exercise that does not affect your sleep.

Exercise before sleep time – what does the study say? 

As per the recent studies if you exercise too late during the day time can disturb your sleep. Here is an experiment you must know to understand this topic easily.

In the year 2020, a small study was conducted in which 12 males went to a lab for three days at night time. They were told to do 30 minutes of moderate-intensity resistance training, 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise, or no exercise at all. But each

workout was ended 90 minutes before their sleep time.

The researchers at the lab keep a check on their core body temperature and their quality of sleep and at last, they found that due to moderate-intensity workouts the sleep quality of the participants was not affected.

Then, in another study in the year 2020, sixteen men and women were also told to do moderate-intensity workouts bur before 4 to 2 hours before bedtime, different times in a day. In the end, results showed that due to the moderate intense exercising, participants sleep quality was not disturbed.

So, what does the new research says? 

As per the new research, if a person does moderate-intensity exercise before bedtime but keeps a gap of at least 60 to 90 minutes then it does not affect their quality of sleep.

Fix an exact time to exercises before bedtime! 

It is important to fix the exact time of your exercise in the evening and also consider exercises that do not affect your sleep compared to other exercises. This is also advisable because not all exercises are equal when it comes to how they affect your sleep.

Also, it is advisable to complete your workout at least 90 minutes before you go to sleep. This will be helpful to give your system enough time to prepare for a good quality sleep.  

Here some moderate-intensity activities you can do before bedtime: 

  1. Stretching.
  2. Walking.
  3. Swimming (easy-going).
  4. Weightlifting (lightweight).
  5. Biking (easy-going).
  6. Yoga.

It is important to not do vigorous-intensity workout in the evening and be selective with the type of exercise you do before bedtime. If you do vigorous-intensity workouts before sleep time, then this will make it difficult for you to fall asleep.

Vigorous-intensity workouts raise your heart rate too much and stimulate your nervous system and therefore maintain 60 to 90 minutes gap and follow a moderate-intensity workout.

Here some vigorous-intensity exercise you should avoid before bedtime: 

  1. Running.
  2. Swimming laps.
  3. High-intensity training (HIIT).
  4. Skipping.
  5. Competitive cycling.
  6. Heavy weightlifting.

Do You Know How Much Exercise is Helpful for Quality Sleep?

At least a 30 minute ofmoderate-intensity exercise is helpful to improve your sleep health during evening or day time. 

Also, if you exercise regularly it has many sleep benefits. And, therefore it is extremely helpful to involve in moderate-intensity aerobics exercise for 150 minutes a week.

If you are not able to follow a 30 minutes workout you can also follow a 15-minute workout every day, and do this at least 5 days a week. It is even much easier to follow the exercise routine if you choose exercises that you enjoy doing it.

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