Exercise And Sleep - Is There A Relationship
Working out is excellent for the mind, body, and soul.
Regular exercise boosts our mood, melts stress, brings a deep sense of fulfilment, helps us lose weight, and makes us happier and more optimistic.
Exercise also makes us stronger, and allows us to remain independent, well into our fifties, sixties, and beyond.
As it turns out, exercise is also tightly correlated to good sleep. In this post, we’ll go over five potential reasons why that is. Let’s dive into it.
1. It Melts Stress
How many times have you found yourself lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, and stressing about a thousand different things?
If you’re like most people, this probably happens occasionally, which can significantly lengthen the time it takes you to fall asleep.
Regular exercise is well-documented as an anti-stress measurement, which means that it brings about a sense of calmness and relaxation, which should hopefully help us sleep better.
2. It Helps Prevent Anxiety And Depression
A large body of research points at one simple fact:
Regular physical activity battles anxiety and depression. Active people are less anxious, suffer from depression less often, and are generally happier. In contrast, sedentary individuals are at an increased risk of depression, anxiety, and general life dissatisfaction.
And, given that anxiety and depression contribute to sleeplessness, it’s vital to combat both of these psychological conditions as well as we can.
3. It Boosts Serotonin Levels
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that plays a role in carrying chemical messages between nerve cells (neurons) throughout the entire body. Its roles within the body are complex and quite diverse. For instance, serotonin is linked to our mood, sense of well-being, learning, memory, cognitive function, reward system, and other physiological processes in the brain and stomach.
Serotonin is also a precursor to melatonin - the primary hormone involved in sleep. According to research, adequate serotonin levels are essential for sleep, which makes sense on a physiological level.
The interesting thing is that regular physical activity, exposure to sunlight, and other beneficial habits appear to help maintain optimal serotonin levels. This, in turn, allows us to sleep better, feel good, and ward off depression.
4. It Makes Us Tired
Perhaps the simplest and most obvious reason why exercise improves our sleep is that we get tired. Moderate-to-intense physical activity taxes the mind and nervous system, allowing us to fall asleep more easily.
Think of a day when you had to do a lot of physical work like moving furniture, doing manual labour, hiking, training or similar. How did you feel by the evening? Chances are, you felt exhausted and couldn’t wait to get to bed for some sleep.
5. It Creates A Positive Loop
According to research, sleep deprivation can be used to predict lower levels of physical activity. In other words, when people get a poor night of sleep, they tend to move around less the following day.
The lack of activity then further contributes to sleep issues, which creates a negative loop.
In contrast, when a person begins to exercise more often, their sleep improves, making them more likely to remain more active. This creates a positive loop:
Exercise è Better Sleep è More Exercise è Good Sleep Again