Doctors consistently recommend exercise as a tool to improve sleep.
But certain types of movement can help you sleep more than others, experts say.
Resistance training (using weights, body weight, or resistance bands) is the best way to improve sleep, according to Dr. Nerina Ramlakhan, a physiologist specializing in sleep therapy.
This involves movements such as squats, lunges and push-ups, as well as lifting hand weights or using machines.
Resistance training covers a wide range, but generally includes exercises that put muscles under tension.
The benefits of resistance exercise for improving sleep lie in the fact that your muscles produce more of a sleep-producing hormone called adenosine, compared to cardiovascular exercises like running and HIIT. Dr. Ramlakhan told the stylist.
Sleep is crucial for health. Those who get enough sleep generally have a poorer quality of life and a higher risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer and death, according to the study. National Council on Aging.
So if you are one of the 30 percent of Americans For those struggling with insomnia, mixing some push-ups, deadlifts, or cable pulls into your routine could make a difference.
Ramlakhan’s revelation is based on a study 2022 of 386 Americans by the American Heart Association.
According to the study, people who did resistance training slept 40 minutes more per night than people who did no exercise and 17 minutes more than people who only did cardio.
They also had better sleep quality and reported feeling more rested when they woke up.
Lifting weights can cause your body to release more of the sleepy chemical to stimulate repair, Dr. Ramlakhan said.
During the night, our body is thought to repair damage caused by the stress it experienced during the day, said Professor Angelique Brellenthin, an author of the study and an assistant professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. he told CNN.
When muscles are more fatigued, they may release more chemicals, such as adenosine, Dr. Ramlakhan said. These chemicals tell your body to sleep longer and deeper, so your body has more time to repair muscle tissue.
‘Physical movement can help us produce the chemical adenosine, which promotes sleepiness and activates melatonin. [sleep regulation hormone] to work more effectively,” Dr. Ramlakhan told Stylist.
‘The buildup of adenosine levels is the catalyst for stopping adrenaline and other stimulating hormones. This initiates the biochemical changes necessary for sleep.’
Dr. Ramlakhan says just one hour of mild resistance exercise a day is enough to reap sleep benefits.
Resistance band workouts can be used for an upper body, leg, or core workout, depending on where you place the bands.
Some experts believe that weight training stimulates testosterone and growth hormones, which have been linked to “better, deeper sleep,” Professor Brellenthin said.
The authors of the American Heart Association study caution against abandoning cardiovascular exercise completely, as it has been shown to support heart health and general well-being.
But if you’re worried about your sleep in particular, combining a couple of resistance workouts a week could make a big difference.
“While both aerobic and resistance exercise are important for overall health, our results suggest that resistance exercise may be superior when it comes to improving ZZZ overnight,” Brellenthin said.