Editor’s Note: Dana Santas, known as “The Mobility Maker,” is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist and Mind-Body Coach in professional sports and author of “Practical Solutions for Lower Back Pain Relief.”
CNN
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The importance of sleep to overall health can’t be overstated. Sleep has a wide range of benefits, including improving mood, increasing energy, and lowering the risk of disease. Yet many people struggle to get a restful night’s sleep. According to a 2022 survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 39% of U.S. adults ages 45 to 64 report not getting enough sleep.
Now, a small efficacy study published July 16 in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine suggests a simple but effective strategy for improving sleep time: incorporating short resistance exercise, or strength training, breaks in the evening.
Based on the findings, this novel approach could change the way people think about their pre-bedtime routines and provide a practical solution for people who need more sleep.
The small study, conducted by researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand, looked at the effects of three minutes of regular resistance exercise every 30 minutes over a four-hour period in the evening.
Twenty-eight healthy, non-smoking women aged 18 to 40 years (who typically sit for long periods during the workday and in the evenings) were fitted with activity monitors and either took activity breaks or remained sedentary in a supervised laboratory environment.
The results were compelling: participants slept an average of 27.7 minutes longer when they took regular exercise breaks compared to when they remained sedentary. What’s more, there were no significant differences in sleep efficiency or number of awakenings, indicating that the short exercise sessions didn’t interfere with other aspects of sleep quality.
The researchers said the results were unexpected: “Given current sleep hygiene guidelines, we were surprised to see such a positive effect on sleep,” said Jennifer Gale, a PhD student in human nutrition at the University of Otago and lead author of the study.
Gale says most conventional sleep hygiene advice discourages prolonged, vigorous exercise close to bedtime because it’s widely believed to raise body temperature and heart rate, negatively impacting sleep quality. But this study challenges that notion. “Our study found that interrupting evening sedentary time with short bouts of light exercise increased sleep duration and did not impair sleep quality,” Gale added in an email.
The study authors suggest that the right type of exercise at the right time is important to improve sleep quality rather than disrupt it. The exercises in the study were short and low-intensity, so they are unlikely to raise body temperature or heart rate enough to disrupt sleep.
Dr. Raj Dasgupta, an associate professor of clinical medicine at Huntington Health in California, who was not involved in the study, stressed the importance of short, less intense exercise to improve sleep quality without giving people an extra boost of energy before bed.
Dasgupta said the approach “is particularly useful for people whose daily lives involve a lot of sitting, offering an easy way to combat sedentary habits without having to make major adjustments.”
Gayle and her team are currently conducting a follow-up pilot study to explore the question of how to best support people to take regular, appropriate sleep-improving activity breaks at night in real-world settings.
Resistance training (also known as strength training) involves exercises that involve contracting muscles against external resistance. The resistance can come from your own body weight, free weights, machines, or resistance bands.
Common strength training exercises include push-ups, squats, and weightlifting. These exercises are designed to work against a force to improve muscle strength and endurance.
Dasgupta said the study used “simple and practical” strength training that most people can do. He highlighted other health benefits beyond improved sleep, adding that strength training can improve quality of life and help people maintain independence as they age.
Below are the three specific exercises used in the study, along with a set of other comparable alternative exercises for added variety: Based on the research, any similar light to moderate resistance exercises should work.
Important Note: Before beginning this or any new exercise program, consult with your physician. As always, listen to your body and adjust the intensity and duration as needed to find what works best for you.
Study practice:
• Chair squats: Stand up from a seated position without using your hands, then sit down again and repeat for 20 seconds.
• Calf raises: Stand up on your toes, then lower back down, and repeat for 20 seconds.
• Standing Knee Raises and Straight Legs Hip Extensions: Alternate raising your knees toward your chest, then straightening your legs behind you, for 20 seconds each. Use a chair back or wall for support if needed.
Alternative exercises:
• March in place: Alternate raising your knees to hip height while swinging your arms, then repeat for 20 seconds.
• Wall Push-Ups: Stand facing a wall with your arms straight and your hands on the wall at shoulder height, palms down. Do push-ups against the wall for 20 seconds.
• Side leg raises: Stand with your feet hip-width apart and raise one leg to the side, then lower it. Repeat for 10 seconds on each side for a total of 20 seconds. If you need help maintaining balance, hold onto the back of a chair or a wall for support.
Repeat one set, or three variations, of the above exercises three times, 30 minutes apart, for a total of three minutes over four hours in the evening. Start these breaks around 4 or 5 pm and end at least an hour before your planned bedtime to allow your body to wind down and prepare for rest. That adds up to 24 minutes of exercise each night.
Sitting for long periods of time, especially in the evening, has been shown to have negative health effects, including an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. Incorporating short bouts of activity into your routine can help break up your sitting time and potentially reduce some of these risks.
Beyond improving sleep, the findings suggest that an evening activity break may also have a positive impact on overall health by improving postprandial metabolism (i.e. how your body processes the nutrients you ingest) and reducing the risk of cardiometabolic disease. Gayle cited this finding as one of the study’s main outcomes, saying that breaking up evening sitting time could improve health in “a variety of ways.” “The key is to get up and move around frequently,” he added.
Dasgupta agreed, saying that despite the small size of the study, the results were “very promising” and drew valuable conclusions.
“Adding a short, easy, light resistance exercise break to your evening routine could be a simple way to improve your sleep and health,” he said.
So why not give it a try tonight? Taking a few short exercise breaks might just improve the quality of your sleep.
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