
Exercise: a requirement for sleep? - joelg87
http://joel.is/post/1636226903/exercise-sleep
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jcro41
I've read many anecdotes about exercise improving sleep, but research seems to
show something else:

 _In a representative study that he led several years ago, for instance,
college students — some athletic, some sedentary — kept detailed sleep and
exercise diaries for months. At the end of that time, the researchers cross-
referenced the diaries and found no notable correlation between exercising
more and sleeping better or vice versa. Meanwhile, in a second part of the
same study, a group of adults wore monitors that recorded their movements and
sleep patterns. The participants also filled out activity diaries. Using the
objective data from the monitors, together with the diary reports, the
researchers found only marginal impacts on sleep from exercise. The most
active volunteers tended to fall asleep about a minute and a half faster than
those who were the least active. Otherwise, their sleep was virtually
identical._

From [http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/phys-ed-does-
exerci...](http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/phys-ed-does-exercise-
help-you-sleep-better/)

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michokest
For the last couple years, I was working around 10 hours a day and did
absolutely no exercise. It took me sometimes up to one hour to fell asleep,
probably because of that.

Now I started going to the gym again, 3-4 times a week for one hour, doing
light exercise to compensate all the hours sleeping. As a result, my back no
longer hurts, I sleep better and feel a lot more focused in what I'm doing.

~~~
joelg87
Thanks for sharing that, it's really good to hear I'm not the only one.
Gladly, this is something I've just noticed in the last two weeks and I think
I can turn things around pretty fast now if I just fit in the exercise.

Good to hear that 3-4 times a week works well, as I am just deciding how much
exercise I need to aim for. I've had periods in the last where I've
consistently been going to the gym 3-4 times a week and I remember having no
issues with sleep, so I'm going to aim for that too.

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awolf
Absolutely agree that exercise is vital to good sleep and furthermore good
sleep is vital to good health.

A few other sleep hacks:

\- Sleep in complete darkness. Increases melatonin production. It's best if
you can sleep until you wake up without an alarm which means not being
disturbed by the sunrise. More reading on the link between darkness and
melatonin: [http://drbenkim.com/articles-sleep-darkness-prevent-
cancer.h...](http://drbenkim.com/articles-sleep-darkness-prevent-cancer.htm)

-Avoid blue spectrum light exposure for an hour before bed. Not sure if there is any research on this but it definitely does the trick for me. I bought a couple red light bulbs to use to catch up on reading. Now the red light is part of my routine that seems to just trigger me feeling sleepy as soon as I turn it on.

\- Magnesium citrate before bed. Most people are deficient in magnesium
anyway. Helps keep you regular and definitely knocks me out before bed. Check
out Natural Calm.

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oceanician
I personally find that once you loose routine from exercise you do it less.

I've often thought that it would be better if you could find others that
regularly want to exercise doing something that you also enjoy at the same
time, but I've not figured out a way to do this. Somet like sports-buddy.com
would be the idea there I guess.

I also found that late night exercise was actually a hinderance to sleep. A
problem when the most popular time slot for badminton is 8pm til 10pm which is
too late for me I've found.

Leaving work early to play badminton 6 til 8 worked much better for me, both
in terms of better exercise and sleeping better, but I did find that if I
didn't eat a snack mid afternoon (3.30ish) then my energy levels dropped off
too quick.

I'm slowly getting better at exercising again through going for regular small
bike rides, but hope to get my shoulder injury seen to with the new companies
healthcare soon, which I hope will mean more badminton again next year :)

So, perhaps it's more the finding a sport that interests more than gym and
swimming, and provides some social interaction is what we're all looking for?

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noelwelsh
Keith Norris <http://theorytopractice.wordpress.com/> writes a blog I like
that has some great ideas for short intense workouts. I never have trouble
sleeping after a heavy deadlift session, for example, and you can annihilate
yourself in 20 minutes of lifting. Alternatively you can mix stuff throughout
the day: pushups, pullups, etc.

~~~
joelg87
Love it! Think that's just what I need, as it takes me around 20 minutes to
walk each way to the gym, so I want to be as efficient as I can whilst I'm
there.

There's also some stuff I could do from home the days I don't go to the gym by
the sounds of it. Thanks!

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sudonim
A little OT, but for me exercise is important for focus and positive thinking.
I often get into a slump if I stop exercising for two weeks. Then, I go and
run 4 miles and my head is clearer and I accomplish difficult tasks with ease.

I absolutely wouldn't be able to do good work if I didn't exercise. And, it
helps prevent me from leaving dishes piled up and vegging out on the couch.

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doubleg
In my experience the type of exercise matters a lot: after my average cycling
training (50-100km) my legs are hurting but I feel more energetic and awake.
Mostly it results in staying up later than normal.

~~~
wazoox
I think it works both ways simultaneously. I can run 1H30 in the afternoon,
and go dancing until 4AM the same night, or go to bed at 10 and sleep like a
baby.

Without exercise, I go to bed tired at 11 and can't sleep until 3 :)

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rsheridan6
I think the best solution for busy people would be a treadmill desk. As a
student, I used to study while briskly walking on a treadmill, which meant
that I only had to sacrifice driving time.

~~~
jules
Another way to save time while exercising is to go to school and get groceries
on a bike. Deepening on the distance it might take 30 minutes instead of 25,
but it's a net win because now you got 30 minutes of exercise.

~~~
psadauskas
Trips to the grocery store are pretty much the only reason I use my car, I
bike everywhere else. I hate grocery shopping, and so I go as little as
possible. Biking home with $100 of groceries is tricky.

~~~
avar
If you got a cargo trailer for your bicycle you wouldn't need your car
anymore.

~~~
da5e
Good idea. Have they created a cargo trailer for runners?

~~~
neworbit
Baby jogging stroller

~~~
da5e
Good point. Off topic a bit but there's a homeless guy around here who has
opted for a stroller instead of a grocery cart for his valuables. :-)

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icegreentea
Once you start exercising more and get use to it, you'll have to be careful
when you do your exercise. I find that anything that blasts my heart rate into
high (+140.. guess its all relative though) for long periods of time (more
than 30 minutes) will prevent me from sleeping for the next ~2-4 hours. I'll
sleep fine afterwards, but during that time, trying to sleep is a usually a
lost cause.

There are always exceptions though, and it really varies from body to body.

The basic advice being 'listen to your body' and 'adjust to how your body
reacts' applies to everything to do with exercise.

(Also, noticing your note about 20 minutes transit. Strongly consider
running/biking to the gym. Dunno what type of weather you have over there, but
in anything above -10, you should be fine with a 10 minute run with sweatpants
over shorts and a sweater. Just bring one of those satchet bags with shoes,
lock, extra jacket or something. You'll save time, and feel badass when you
bounce into the gym heart already pounding, and a few randoms looking at you
going 'wow, he's ready')

~~~
wwkeyboard
You should try exercising in the morning. Lay out your running stuff before
you go to bed. In the morning get out of bed and off for your run before you
feel to tired to talk yourself out of it. This will also remove the 2-3 hour
brain warm-up time most people seem to have.

~~~
dkarl
Unfortunately, there's a body warm-up, too. Your spine is particularly
vulnerable to injury right after you get out of bed because fluid accumulates
in the discs overnight. As far as I know, running is fine for people with no
existing back injuries, but anything that loads or rotates your spine is iffy.
You're 90% back to normal an hour after getting up, though, so if you can find
something to do in the meantime without falling asleep again, you're golden.

~~~
sudont
Yep on the spine thing. A morning workout is a good way to get metabolism up
after resting, but anybody training (except for marathons, which largely start
in the morning) should work out at night, when the body is more efficient.

A workout in the morning now and then helps, as the body isn't accustomed to
working out in that time period. It's similar to the way a lifter changes
workout structure to prevent the muscle from getting accustomed to a
particular lift.

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sp4rki
Exercise does not guarantee a good night's sleep and can actually hinder it.
Good health does (guarantee a good night's sleep). The link between exercise
and sleep has more to do with the fact that people who exercise are mostly in
better health that the counterparts.

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fauigerzigerk
It's the same for me, but even short (10 minutes) intense exercises during the
day help me sleep much better. That's fortunate because I wouldn't be able to
fit hour long exercises into my workday.

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pghimire
I, for some reason, cannnot fall asleep if I workout at night. I get so pumped
up that sleeping becomes impossible. Working out in the morning works the
best. I feel energized throughout the day and byt the time bedtime comes
around I am wasted.

