Good Sleep Eluding You? More Exercise May Help

When it comes to getting a good night’s sleep, you may tend to focus on nighttime behaviors such as avoiding caffeine and limiting screen time. But how restfully you sleep at night may depend largely on how active you are during the day. In a study published recently in the journal Sleep Health, researchers found a strong correlation between a person’s activity levels during the day and sleep quality at night. Study participants who increased their moderate-to-vigorous activity levels during the day felt less tired, had less troubled sleep, and enjoyed better quality sleep compared with their sleep quality and quantity prior to changing their exercise behaviors. As part of the study, researchers also had volunteers adjust their schedules to allow for more sleep time—going to bed a little earlier and waking up a little later. Interestingly, making more time for sleep was associated with more restless sleep. In other words, if your normal sleep routine is designed to get seven to nine hours of sleep per night, changing your routine to try to get more time in bed may not help. Additionally, while more exercise during the day is generally seen as beneficial for better sleep, you may want to focus on being more physically active earlier in the day, rather than the evening. Exercising too close to bedtime can raise your body temperature and heart rate, which may make it more difficult to fall asleep easily. Morning exercise has also been shown to help maintain healthy circadian rhythms, the body’s clock that affects your sleep-wake cycle and other functions.

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