Want to Sleep Longer? Adding Mini-Bursts of Exercise to Your Evening Routine Can Help – New Study

The Science of Sleep and Exercise

For decades, exercising before bed has been discouraged as the body doesn’t have time to wind down before the lights go out. However, new research has found that breaking up a quiet, sedentary evening with short bursts of resistance exercise can lead to longer periods of sleep. This is crucial as sleep plays a vital role in overall health, and sleeping too little or waking often in the night is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Nighttime Habits and the Impact on Health

Adults spend almost a third of their 24-hour day sleeping, and the quality and length of sleep can have long-term effects on health. In the evening, people often engage in the longest period of uninterrupted sitting, consume their largest meal, and tend to have lower levels of insulin, the hormone that helps remove sugar from the bloodstream. These factors promote elevated blood sugar levels, which can be detrimental to health over time.

Activity Breaks for Better Sleep

Our previous research found that interrupting evening sitting every 30 minutes with three minutes of resistance exercise reduces the amount of sugar in the bloodstream after eating a meal. This led us to wonder if frequently performing these short bursts of light activity in the evening would affect sleep.

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A New Study

We recruited 30 adults to participate in a study, where they completed two sessions based in a laboratory. In one session, they sat continuously for four hours while watching streaming services, and in the other, they interrupted sitting every 30 minutes with three minutes of body-weight resistance exercises (squats, calf raises, and hip extensions). After the sessions, participants went home and slept for the night, with their sleep monitored using a wrist monitor.

The Results

Our study found that the quality of sleep (measured by the number of times participants woke during the night and the length of these awakenings) was the same after both sessions. However, the night after the participants did the exercise "activity breaks," they slept for almost 30 minutes longer.

Implications for Sleep Guidelines

These results add to earlier work suggesting that current sleep guidelines, which discourage evening exercise before bed, may need to be reviewed. While more research is needed to explore the biological reasons for extended sleep, the findings suggest that getting up and moving at regular intervals in the evening can have clear health benefits.

Frequently Interrupting Sitting Time

The key to improving sleep and post-meal blood sugar levels may be to frequently interrupt evening sitting time with a little bit of whole-body movement at regular intervals. This can be achieved through various forms of exercise, such as marching on the spot, walking up and down stairs, or dancing in the living room. The most important thing is to get up frequently and move the body in a way that works best for an individual’s household.

Conclusion

Exercising before bed has traditionally been discouraged, but our research suggests that incorporating mini-bursts of exercise into the evening routine can lead to longer periods of sleep. As the activity breaks were performed in a controlled laboratory environment, future research should explore how activity breaks performed in real life affect people’s sleep. By making small changes to our evening routines, we can potentially improve our overall health and well-being.

FAQs

Q: What type of exercise was used in the study?
A: The study used body-weight resistance exercises, such as squats, calf raises, and hip extensions, performed every 30 minutes for three minutes.

Q: Can any type of exercise be used for activity breaks?
A: Yes, any form of exercise that involves whole-body movement can be used, such as marching on the spot, walking up and down stairs, or dancing in the living room.

Q: Will these activity breaks disrupt my sleep?
A: Our study found that the quality of sleep was the same after both sessions, suggesting that these short bursts of exercise do not disrupt sleep.

Q: How can I incorporate activity breaks into my evening routine?
A: You can try setting a reminder every 30 minutes to get up and move for three minutes, whether it’s stretching, jumping jacks, or dancing in the living room.