Exercise Improves Sleep, But Be Patient

[haha]

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/how-exercise-can-help-us-sleep-better/

NYT article that discusses study that showed that exercise had power to improve sleep time, but not right away. If you exercise,. you will very likely sleep better, but today's exercise not likely to help you tonight.

From experience I can say that if you really exhaust yourself, you likely will sleep better tonight. Otherwise I guess slow and steady works better.

It does help me, more than anything else I have tried, but I would like an absolutely failsafe way to get 8 hours on demand. I guess most of us would like that. Remember high school? My Friday night goal was to get to sleep before the birds got started. Then clear sailing for 11-12 hours! Man, it was good to be young!

Ha

 

[W2R]

I usually sleep about 7 hours, but I slept soundly for 10 hours on Friday night after lifting weights.

I lifted weights again today, and I'm sleepy again. Off to bed!

 

[frank]

I think tha the secret is if you excercise, avoid taking a nap in the afternoon.

 

[Ronstar]

I sleep better after exercise also. And it helps if I exercise outdoors. I hiked yesterday and slept 8-9 hours with no problem. I usually sleep 7-8 hours.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

I think the well intentioned researchers would have seen better results had they gradually ramped the exercise sessions from 30min to an hour or more - IMHO 30min of exercise is too little to get the better sleep effect. Also, it would have been helpful to include an intensity measure like heart rate. Lower intensity requires more duration.
OTOH, if exercise is a dreaded task, distraction is your friend. In this study, multitasking put a lift in the step of participants making it more palatable -

06 » UF study shows benefits of multi-tasking on exercise » University of Florida

 

[haha]

So many members here have found exercise modes, durations, and intensities that work for them. I am very impressed by the collective skills on display. And to W2R-10 hours sleep, congratulations!

Ha

 

[RunningBum]

I think tha the secret is if you excercise, avoid taking a nap in the afternoon.

But that's the best nap there is!

I pretty much go by sleeping until my eyes stay open rather than worrying about getting X hours. If I only need 6-7 hours, I'll wake up then. If I need 8-9, my eyes tend to shut and I go back to sleep. I try not to schedule things very early in the morning because I like sleep and like relaxing over and after breakfast.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

P.S. - I didn't mean to come across so strict, I was referring to the "hyper aroused, neurologically different" insomniacs targeted in the study.
I resemble that description.

 

[ERhoosier]

Lots of variables here, even in same person (Me ). Exercise late in the eve can delay falling alseep. Some vigorous exercise may be stimulating. Exhausting prolonged exercise at any time of may promptly induce sleep (or at least passing out ). Exercise causing injury can prevent sleep due to pain, ongoing muscle cramps, etc.

 

[AllDone]

I find that early morning sun exposure does the trick for me. It helps to trigger melatonin production in the evening. Now that my morning is my own, I can sleep on my own schedule which also helps a lot.

As we get older we tend to need less sleep too

Here's a story about cognitive behavioral therapy for chronic insomnia. It has a pointer to a program that you can purchase for a reasonable price, but I haven't tried it myself since my sleeping problems disappeared with retirement (or my spouse's retirement.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/09/upshot/the-evidence-points-to-a-better-way-to-fight-insomnia.html