Can’t sleep? Exercise works better than sleeping pills

Sleep is important because then the brain and other tissues of the body recover from stress. A suitable dose of exercise at the right time makes it easier to fall asleep and improves the quality of sleep.

Regular exercise increases a sense of control over life, which improves sleep. The ability to recover from exercise increases, so the daily rush doesn’t overwhelm you. Stress tolerance also develops, and small troubles are not monitored for the wee hours.

With two or three training sessions a week, you can reap the benefits of exercise for sleeping.

Exercise quickly helps in finding and maintaining a sleep rhythm. Immobility, on the other hand, is reflected in a delay: difficulty falling asleep or night awakenings only start a couple of months after stopping exercise.

In terms of sleep, it is good to vary light and heavy exercise. By listening to your body, you can find the best sports, training times and powers.

MYTH 1: A fit person sleeps better.

Yes! It is certain that exercise increases healthy fatigue. Sleep comes more easily to the eye and is more uniform. It is known that a good oxygen absorption capacity helps to sleep a long enough night’s sleep. Studies have found that exercise increases the amount of deep sleep and affects the internal sleep rhythm by delaying and reducing the amount of REM sleep.

According to many studies, exercise improves sleep, but the mechanism is not completely clear. The positive effects have been thought to be due to muscle fatigue, hormone and body temperature changes caused by exercise, and the associated psychological relaxation.

In scientific circles, it is believed that exercise paces the internal clock and thereby has a positive effect on sleep.

When you exercise regularly, your sleep rhythm becomes clearer and you feel refreshed when you are awake. It is easier for an active person to follow a natural sleep rhythm when tired after a varied day.

MYTH 2: Sweaty exercise in the evening ruins a good night’s sleep.

Kind of true. After a hard workout, the heart rate is high, the body is in cycles and the mind is refreshed. In an overactive state, it is impossible to calm down and sleep. The stress caused by vigorous exercise seems to continue during sleep, especially in the early hours of the night. This affects the autonomic regulation of the heart and worsens the quality of sleep.

What time you can still train hard is individual and depends on the circadian rhythm.

There should be 3–4 hours between strenuous exercise and the desired time to fall asleep. So you should stop training at around six in the evening if you want to fall asleep around ten.

For most people, the best time for a hard workout is in the afternoon or early evening. You can save the hardest workout for the weekend, when you can schedule the sweating at an early enough moment.

In England, a lot of research has been done on the refreshing effect of exercise. It is known that after 9 p.m. the body begins to fall asleep. If you move around violently between 9 and 10 p.m., the time to fall asleep escapes and even in the middle of the night it can be difficult to catch up on sleep.

If the exercise in the evening feels too refreshing, a moderate sauna can speed up falling asleep. In a bath, the body warms up and the mind relaxes.

MYTH 3: Any kind of exercise improves sleep.

Wrong. Only mental exercise will help you sleep better. Exercising that is perceived as boring can be even more harmful than beneficial in terms of sleep.

Sporting goals that are too big can make you anxious and thus prevent you from falling asleep. If exercise causes

strong emotions, such as anger and self-pity, the quality of sleep decreases. Copious fluid loss during training or pains and aches caused by sports are monitored.

When you find an independent sport and it’s nice to do it, life tastes better, stress decreases and self-esteem increases. Satisfaction is positively reflected in sleep.

In terms of sleep, the best thing for most people is some type of endurance exercise, such as cycling, dancing, jogging, or functional gym training.

Mindful exercise protects against things that typically lead to serious and long-lasting sleep problems. These include, for example, depression, substance abuse, and physical illnesses such as sleep apnea.

MYTH 4: You shouldn’t exercise when you’re tired.

Vice versa. After a bad night’s sleep, it is good to try to move so that you can fall asleep quickly the next night and have as nutritious a dream as possible. You shouldn’t aim for top performance. Just getting started is a win.

When you are a little tired, it is good to practice light sports, where the risk of injury is quite small. Instead of completing a complex gym program, you can go for a walk or bike ride.

The change of scenery outdoors is refreshing, and the length of the route and the intensity of the exercise can be easily adjusted according to your stamina. Yoga, pilates, and stretching are also good choices on less strenuous days.

Vigorous exercise in the morning can be dangerous, especially for those suffering from heart and blood vessel diseases, because the blood’s tendency to clot is at its greatest in the morning. It is precisely on bitterly cold mornings, when the shovel handle has been plunged into the air, that most people with heart disease die.

MYTH 5: Exercise is the best way to relieve stress.

For most, no. If, after a nerve-wracking day, you go into a closing match with gritted teeth, the stress will increase rather than disappear.

It is known that exercise is a stress factor of its own. It increases stress hormone levels even more and keeps the heart rate up. When the body goes into overdrive, sleep may run long into the night and be intermittent. Even if you get to sleep, sleep is not always refreshing and restorative, which leads to a cycle of fatigue.

Gentle exercise, such as pole walking, mini golf, leisurely cycling or kayaking, is suitable for stressful days. Any sport that you enjoy doing will calm your mind and sleep better.

MYTH 6: An evening walk helps you fall asleep.

Indeed. Any calm, comfortable exercise in the evening is good for sleep.

Light exercise can be scheduled very close to the desired time of falling asleep. For example, you only need to set aside about an hour for your evening routine between your evening walk and going to bed.

The idea of ​​light evening exercise is to get the blood circulating and the body warm. When moving, the temperature of the body and brain rises, but starts to decrease soon after the performance. This phase of lowering the temperature is the best in terms of falling asleep, because it is at this point that fatigue and then sleep begin to set in.

In addition to walking, good evening sports are, for example, gentle stretching with a stick, tube rolling or hatha yoga.

It doesn’t matter if you move outside or inside, but nature also calms the mind. Instead, a restless street with bright lights can be too refreshing.

Falling asleep is especially facilitated by the fact that the limbs are warm. A good way is to stretch for a few minutes in the evening wearing woolen socks or take a warm shower before slipping into bed. Those prone to frostbite can still wear cotton mittens at night.

Cognoscenti: Tiina Hoffmanexercise physiologist and wellness expert, Firstbeat. Timo Partonenresearch professor, Department of Health and Welfare.

This article has appeared in Hyvä tervey magazine. As a subscriber, you can read all issues free of charge from the digilehdet.fi service.