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Sleep and Fitness
Quality sleep and fitness have a strong correlation. Sleep-inducing techniques are almost always about the mitigation of stress, both physical and mental, in order to allow for less resistance from the body and mind when trying to sleep.
To truly find that blissful, beautiful restfulness however, it's important to release your bottled energy throughout the day in the form of exercise. No amount of meditation or relaxation can fight off an abundance of unused, bottled energy. Even beyond just the release of energy though, studies show evident links between fitness and sleep, and that a decent dose of both will enhance one another.
There are a few factors to consider when exercising if difficulties with sleeping are a concern.
Physical fitness in the late afternoon or early evening is the ideal time in order to support healthy and preferable sleep patterns. Exercising a few hours before bed allows your body temperature to spike while leaving plenty of time for it to gradually plummet before bedtime, which is ideal. Exercising right before bed however, is the bane of a good night's sleep, as it stimulates too much blood-flow and a rise of body temperature far too close to the desired pillow-time.
Exercising too early will offer little benefit toward sleep, as your body temperature will rise and plummet, though likely rise again long before you ever make it to the bedroom. Your core temperature should be substantially lower at night than daytime, in order to sleep well.
Of secondary importance to the time of exercise is the environment in which fitness takes place.
Coupling exercise with exposure to outdoor light in the late afternoon is a great idea. The exposure to light solidifies the sleep-wake cycle of day and night, indicating to your brain the pattern that physical work takes place in the light, and in darkness comes restfulness. This will do wonders for affirming the cycle in which melatonin is produced, which should be taking place at the latter end of the sleep-wake cycle, as melatonin induces tiredness.
In addition to both the time and environment in which physical fitness should take place, there is the consideration of what type of exercise is best suited for mitigating sleep troubles.
If amending a poor sleeping pattern is the goal of the fitness, or if you simply wish to exercise without interfering with an already great cycle, cardiovascular routines are the best. Raising body temperature and heart rate for twenty minutes a day, preferably past the point of breaking a sweat, will surely suffice. Realistically there is no need to get carried away with expensive equipment, as a nice jog alone will be suitable. A twenty-minute run in the falling sunlight of the late afternoon, however, would be perfect.
The correlation between sleep and fitness is vital, but there are other ways to increase your chances of getting a good night's rest. Check out the articles below, the rest of our Sleep Well mini-series, to learn more:
Sleep and Meditation and Sleep and Scent
For more on sleep and fitness, visit the EnvyMyHealth.com Fitness Channel!
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Even more than the other two articles concerning sleep, I think this really captures an idea that people miss. If you're having trouble sleeping, it could ...
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