If you have a sleep disorder, it can be hard to get a good night’s rest. Whether you have insomnia, sleep apnea, or another condition, you deserve to have restful nights. One of the most common ways to improve your sleep is actually through healthier habits, like incorporating regular exercise into your routine. Exercise can be an effective method to improve your sleep quality. However, what activities are best, and when do you exercise?
In this article, we’ll explore how to use exercise as a tool for sleep disorder management and what kinds of exercise you can try. From aerobic exercises to yoga, there are plenty of options! We’ll also explore how you can easily implement exercise into your daily routine. Before we get to these topics, let’s first dive into the science behind sleep and exercise and why it is a tool for better rest at night.
The Science of Sleep and Exercise
We all know that exercise is good for us, but what exactly does it do to our bodies? Exercise can help us alleviate symptoms of anxiety, overcome stress, and more, but when it comes to sleep, you might be surprised just how much of an influence it has. For those with insomnia or occasion daytime sleepiness, exercise actually helped to improve some of these symptoms over time.
Not only that, but exercise can improve sleep by also reducing sleep latency and increasing slow-wave sleep, which is essential for much of our rest and recovery overnight (Source: Scientific Reports). So, if you’re looking for an improvement of symptoms related to your sleep disorder or even just enhanced rest, exercise can truly help you overcome some of these persistent challenges. But what kind of exercises are the best for sleep health? Are there specific types of movement that help people more than others? Let’s explore that next.
Best Types of Exercise to Improve Sleep
No matter what you like to do to work out or what sleep disorder you may have, there are proven exercises that can help you improve your sleep. However, there are some that are more helpful than others. Here are three types of exercise that can be more helpful than others when it comes to improving your sleep, especially if you have sleep disorders:
- Aerobic Exercises: For many years, researchers have supported the use of swimming, jogging, and cycling as a means of improving sleep health and helping to overcome sleep disorders. Even HIIT training, when used with a method called whole-body electro-myostimulation training (EMT) which uses electrical impulses to get your muscles to contract, can improve sleep time, efficiency, and wake after sleep onset (Source: European Journal of Clinical Investigation).
- Resistance Training: If you need to solve issues related to sleep onset latency and sleep duration, engaging in resistance training might be the best choice for you. According to one study on patients with sleep disturbances, resistance training had more of an influence on sleep efficiency, onset latency, and duration. So, pick up those weights and put your muscles to the test, and you’ll also sleep better as a result.
- Yoga and Mindfulness Exercises: Yoga and related exercises, such as Tai Chi, Qigong, and Wuqinxi, have shown beneficial results in people with sleep disorders. Several studies have shown that they can help you improve your sleep quality, but there was one study that showed that insomnia cannot be improved by this alone (Source: Journal of Integrative Medicine). However, if you have other sleep disorders, you can alleviate some of the symptoms with a Tai Chi or yoga session.
How to Implement Exercise into Daily Routine
Now that you know a little bit more about the best exercises for sleep disorder management, how do you implement this into your daily routine? How long should you exercise for, and how often should you work out? Fortunately, it won’t take too much of your time, and it is easy to put into your schedule.
First, you’ll have to decide what would be the best exercise for you. You should always choose exercises that make you feel good and align with your physical limitations, but you also need to make sure you allocate enough time every week or even every day. When you create a schedule, you must ensure that you have the time required to care for yourself.
For patients with insomnia, you should aim for around 30 minutes at least three times a week, as this was proven to help improve sleep quality (Source: PubMed). Some people also work out every single day for 30 minutes, which could be as easy as going for a walk or jogging in the morning.
However, experts agree that the best time to work out if you have a sleep disorder might be in the evening. According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, exercising one to two hours before bed can help your brain “wind down” and initiate that body cooling that you need to get sleepy. Thus, if you are looking to implement workouts into your daily routine, aim for the evening and make it at least 30 minutes and a few hours before bedtime. This will help you immensely with your sleep health and managing a range of sleep disorders!
How Will You Incorporate Exercise into Your Life?
With an understanding of the benefits of exercise and how it can help people with sleep disorders, you’re ready to take steps to improve your health and rest. Don’t forget to tailor your workout plan to your needs to encourage better rest. As long as you are consistent and you avoid over-exercising, you’ll likely notice a difference in your symptoms and energy levels over time.
For more information on the latest insights regarding sleep health, visit our website today to read the newest articles on how to improve your rest and overall well-being.
