Working out on a regular basis has so many positive benefits for your health. For example, it can reduce stress, boost alertness during the day as well as even improve your quality of sleep. There’s no one perfect exercise which will enhance your sleep as any type of movement is better than none.
Morning workouts are often the best choice for those who would like to stay consistent because getting exercises done at the crack of dawn will prevent you from pushing them away when you’re hit with the requirements of the day.
Exercising in the early hours has an additional bonus: deeper sleep at night. Actually, people who work out on a treadmill at 7:00am:
- Sleep for longer periods of time,
- Experience deeper sleep cycles, and
- Spend 75% more time in the most restorative stages of slumber as opposed to those who exercise at later times that day.
In addition, if you exercise outdoors in the morning, you’re bound to get a daily dose of sunshine, which can assist with regulating your sleep/wake cycle.
The Advantages Of Working Out In The Afternoon
If an early morning gym appointment is not for you, you are in luck. Working out in the afternoon hours has benefits for both your performance as well as your shut-eye. As your body is one or two degrees warmer in the afternoon as opposed to when you first wake up, your muscles are able to work more efficiently so that you have a reduced risk of injury and will be more proficient at completing complex movements (such as swinging a tennis racquet or mastering those Zumba moves).
In addition, afternoon workouts — specifically aerobic ones — may even assist with overcoming insomnia, which will cause you to fall asleep quicker as well as wake up less frequently during the night. This may be because exercise increases your body’s temperature for about four to five hours. After that, your core temperature decreases, which signals your body to start shifting into sleep mode.
Aerobic Exercise For Better Sleep
Activities which get your heart rate up – such as running, brisk walking, cycling as well as swimming – have been demonstrated to improve sleep as well as keep insomnia at bay. Even small stretches, such as 10 minutes, may help. However, the goal is to get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity (or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity) aerobic exercise every week.
Strength Training Assist With Deeper Sleep
Building muscle has been demonstrated to improve the quality of sleep. In addition, it can also help you fall asleep faster as well as wake up less frequently throughout the night. So try doing exercises such as shoulder presses, bicep curls, tricep dips, squats, lunges, calf raises, sit-ups in addition to push-ups which will make you stronger.
Yoga
Yoga’s relaxing poses, stretches and the calming breathing exercises that accompany them may be especially helpful if stress is what’s preventing you from falling asleep. Those who suffer from insomnia and do yoga daily, for a period of eight weeks, are expected to fall asleep faster and boost the amount of time that they spend sleeping.
Contact Trifocus Fitness Academy
Exercises have loads more benefits than just helping you to sleep well. Find out what these are with our Personal Training Diploma. For more information about our premier fitness course, please follow this link.