Exercise provides you with various health benefits including good sleep. It helps to promote relaxation and reduce anxiety, helping you to normalize your body clock. Exercise increases the core of body temperature and when the temperature drops, you feel sleepy. It is one of the strong beliefs or perceptions of people that exercising before going to bed can make it harder to fall asleep. You can exercise any time of the day and can enjoy exercising without compromising your sleep but it is one of the most asked questions, whether you should exercise before going to bed. Moreover, if you or anyone you know is going through aggressive changes of the body due to exercise, you can connect with the experts of currae hospital thane.
- The key is to have mindful timings. You can focus on the type of exercises that won’t affect your sleep and the capability to fall asleep.
- You can perform exercise but the question is- Do the after-effects of exercise make it difficult to fall asleep.
- Sometimes, we often come across the type of work that involves exercising like dancing. Most people perform the same at night time. However, high music and aggressive dancing can affect your sleep.
What does science say about healthy sleeping and exercising before going to bed?
According to science, exercising before going to bed can affect your sleep. You can perform evening workouts that may further increase your capability of falling asleep. Evening time does not create any disturbance about sleeping and its capability. Evening workouts improve sleep especially when you have performed moderate exercise at least for one hour or before going to bed.
Is exercising a good option before going to bed?
Not all exercises create an equal effect when you perform them before going to bed. If you want to have a workout in the evening, you must choose the exercise wisely. You can consider the timings, your dinner time and your sleeping time.
In general, if you are going to perform some exercises at night, you should go for light to moderate intensity activities. This much level of exercise may help you fall asleep faster and with good quality of sleep.
Also, it is important to have at least one hour-long workout before going to bed. If possible you can aim for 90 minutes before heading towards your bed. This will give your body enough time and enough wind to set down after the exercise.
You can go for light to moderate exercising that may include:
- yoga
- stretching
- walking
- swimming leisurely
- biking leisurely
- light to moderate weightlifting
Vigorous workouts even in the evening can hinder your sleeping capability. Strenuous physical activities raise the heartbeat and make it difficult to fall asleep.
Examples of vigorous-intensity exercise include:
- high-intensity interval training (HIIT)
- running
- swimming laps
- jumping rope
- competitive cycling
- heavy weightlifting
What should be the time limit for exercising at night time?
Exercising before going to bed is effective but if you perform light and moderate exercises as a part of leisure. This will ultimately induce sleeping and give you relaxation from mind and body. You can improve your sleep health by aiming for at least 30 minutes of moderate to intense aerobic activity, especially during the day and evening time.
- Regular exercise is beneficial for continuous sleep benefits. You can strive for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise every week. For the rest of the days, you can perform a 30-minute exercise or workout at least 5 days a week. In such a case, it sometimes becomes hard to commit at least 30 minutes to your workout. For convenience, you can break your workout into at least 15 minutes gaps or can perform the same at least 5 days a week.
- If you are preferring a more strenuous activity, you can have workout gaps of at least 75 minutes. But, you need to make sure that you do not perform these vigorous activities within one hour before going to bed. You can find the type of activity that may give you relaxation and may help you with the easy regularity of your next day.
What factors can induce good sleeping?
Apart from being active the whole day long, you can boost your sleep health by considering the following factors:
- Try to stick to the consistent sleeping schedule
Wake up and go to bed according to your schedules. You can have a long sleep during the holidays, that is an exception. Try to maintain a consistent schedule and stick to it every day except holidays or weekends.
- Avoid the use of electronic devices before bedtime
Turn off your phones and other electronic devices like television, laptops, etc, before going to bed. The light of these devices affects your brain and keeps you awake all time.
- Create a relaxing bedtime routine
If you want something to please you, you can try to listen to some good music and perform some stretches before going to bed. Soothing music will help you fall asleep faster.
- Try to avoid the sounds at night
Maintain the environment of your room. Try to keep your room away from loud sounds during nighttime. Use fans, air conditioners, etc that may not interrupt your sleep.
- Maintain a comfortable and sleepy temperature
The effective room temperature for good sleep is 18.3°C. You can have the use of air conditioner or fans to maintain the room temperature. This will help you fall asleep faster.
Conclusion
Working out before going to bed is usually discouraged. You can exercise during the day if it is only about a workout or making body and muscles. Do not create interruptions with your good sleep. However, science says that moderate-intensity exercises will not affect your sleeping capacity. You can complete your exercise at least one hour before going to bed. If you are performing strenuous exercises at night time, it can affect your sleeping and may create inactiveness in your body for the next day because of not sleeping for at least minimum hours.
