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With a jam-packed schedule, most of us have to settle for either working out first thing in the morning or after work - but does our evening workouts have a negative impact on our sleep?
While many believe that hitting the gym before hitting the sack can actually hinder the quality of your sleep, Harvard Medical School (HMS) have looked into whether it really does.
The good news? You can actually doze off better thanks to a pre-bedtime workout – but it all depends on what type of exercise you take part in.
Citing a 2018 study, HMS explained that working out can help you snooze off faster and stay in deep sleep for longer.
This was proven all over again in 2019 meta-analysis in the Journal of Sports Medicine, which found that evening workouts increased slow-wave sleep, which is needed for muscle recovery and memory consolidation.
However, bagging yourself all these benefits all depends on how close the workout is to your actual bedtime.
The study found that if you take part in seriously vigorous workouts – such as high intensity interval training – in the hour before you try to fall asleep, then you shouldn’t expect a good night’s sleep anytime soon.
Why? When you exercise, your body releases elevated amounts of stress hormones and your heart rate and blood pressure goes up. When your body is in this stress mode, you find it harder to doze off, so it’s worth factoring in time to really ‘cool down’ from your evening workout before going to bed.
And if you do fancy a pre-bed workout, why not make it sleep yoga?
Move celebrates exercise in all its forms, with accessible features encouraging you to add movement into your day – because it’s not just good for the body, but the mind, too. We get it: workouts can be a bit of a slog, but there are ways you can move more without dreading it. Whether you love hikes, bike rides, YouTube workouts or hula hoop routines, exercise should be something to enjoy.
