We spoke in the previous video on how sleep can improve your gains, but does it work vice
versa?
Can your gainz improve your sleep?
We can go on for days talking about how important sleep is, but the fact of the matter is that
for many people, getting quality sleep, let alone fall asleep in the first place, is much
harder than we think.
Exercise is great for a host of health benefits, such as improving heart health with cardio
and HIIT, to improving overall strength with resistance training.
And time and time again it's been shown that exercise will also help with getting more
shut-eye at night.
But for those of you that need a bit more convincing, as if you already need more reasons
to exercise, here’s some very real and clear evidence of the magical sleeping aid we call
gainz.
First, understand that to invoke sleep, our body follows a near 24-hour cycle known as
the circadian rhythm.
Based on different cues and signals, this rhythm knows when to tell you when it’s
time to go night night.
One way in doing so is by raising body temperature.
Through the circadian cycle, your body slowly increases in heat, reaching its highest temperature
at night right before sleep.
This, along with the lack of light, signals the body to increase the sleep-inducing hormone
melatonin.
People struggling to sleep can use exercise as a way to actively increase body temperature
in hopes to drive this signal.
On top of that, a byproduct of burning more energy with exercise is raising levels of
adenosine, another hormone responsible for making you feel tired and sleepy.
Another pesky thing that inevitably makes it harder to sleep is age.
With age, the responses to sleep signals and the circadian cycle slows down.
As we saw, exercise can help with that silly circadian guy and it does not discriminate
with age.
In fact, a 6-month long study of elderly individuals partaking in a resistance training program
not only saw a 38% improvement in sleep quality based on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index,
but the folks even saw an awesome 52% increase in upper body strength.
Sleep better AND open pickle jars easier?
That… that’s a win-win!
Oh, and in case exercise alone is not good enough as you grow older, another study showed
that engaging in wieght training, walking, and more social activities improved sleep
for older invididuals better than doing any of the three alone.
And for people that have the most trouble sleeping, like people with chronic insomnia,
exercise has undoubtedly shown to improve sleep.
A study showed that as little as one exercise session was able to not only help people suffering
chronic insomnia sleep faster, but also sleep longer.
The exact reason why is not fully known, but possible reasons are one, the link to body
temperature and the circadian rhythm as discussed before, and two, exercise can lower anxiety
and depression symptoms, which is something that many with chronic insomnia suffer as
well.
Sleep better and be in a better mood.
As far as the type of exercise, it seems that any type will undoubtedly improve sleep.
We know resistance training improves sleep based on earlier studies and might make you
rip a few sleeves.
But studies show that, yes, cardio improves sleep as well.
A representative study of over 2600 people of all ages performig at least 150 minutes
per week of moderate to intense exercises, including cardio, on average reported a 65%
improvement in sleep.
They even felt less sleepy during the early hours of the day!
This is even more true for people with insomnia, as studies showed that low intensity exercises
are much more effective than higher intensity.
And the time you exercise matters, too.
When you exercise in the morning, and especially outdoors, you’ll come in contact with more
sunlight, which is a signal to the circadian cycle to increase wakefulness and lower sleep-inducing
melatonin levels.
That means by working out early, you’ll feel more energetic throughout your day.
Other studies have shown that you can also benefit from working out in the afternoon
because at this time, you will be at your strongest.
And you might have heard that working out at night will make your sleep worse, but luckily,
that’s not true.
A study from the Journal of Sleep Research found that 35 minutes of exercise 2 hours
before sleep did slightly increase heart rate during sleep, but it had no effect on sleep
quality.
In fact, exercise at night might help you sleep better by first raising your core body
temperature and then quickly cooling you down, which is something that happens when you sleep.
So choose a time to workout that’s best for you.
At the end, exercise at any time will be better than exercising no time.
With 40% of the population having sleep troubles, finding out ways to improve sleep is extremely
important.
And based on that, exercise seems like a no brainer.
So head to the gym, the park, the dance class, the garage, wherever you might be working
out, and go get your gainz and get your sleep.
Good lifting and good night.