Can exercise help you sleep?

Exercise has long been associated with better sleep. Many studies have found that the relationship between the two are reciprocal as poor sleep contributes to low physical activity, and low physical activity contributes to poor sleep.¹ Sleep is essential for learning, memory, sex drive, physical and mental health, weight management, and more.^{2 3} If you struggle with getting enough restorative rest, you may want to start by addressing your diet or your exercise routine. But exactly how can exercise help you sleep? Find out below.

How can exercise help you sleep?

• Exercise reduces stress: Regular physical activity helps regulate cortisol levels and reduce overall stress, which has shown to be associated with improved sleep quality in adults.⁴

“Resistance training helps regulate the body’s production of stress hormones, leading to a more relaxed state conducive to restful sleep.” – Pascal, The Fast 800 Exercise manager

• Exercise introduces sleep thermoregulation: Sleep thermoregulation is your body’s natural drop in temperature that acts as a key signal to sleep.⁵ But how can exercise help you sleep as a result of thermoregulation? “Elevation of the heart rate and body temperature contributes to a post-exercise drop that signals the body it’s time to wind down,” says Pascal. So, if you have trouble falling asleep, raising your temperature in the early evening by exercising may lead to that key drop in temperature that encourages sleepiness later on.
  NOTE: Studies suggest exercising too close to bedtime is correlated with poor sleep, so it’s important to workout in the early evening to get the benefits.6

• Exercise improves sleep quality: Not only can exercise help you fall asleep quicker, it can also improve the quality of sleep so you feel better rested. High intensity interval training (HIIT) in particular has been shown to improve total sleep time, sleep efficiency and wake-after-sleep onset.⁷ Visit The Fast 800 Programme for guided HIIT workouts.

• Exercise can help reduce sleep disorders through weight loss: Obesity and weight related illnesses can have a negative impact on sleep, increasing your chances of disorders like sleep apnoea.⁸ With exercise being a key component of healthy weight loss, it can help you achieve a weight that reverses sleep-combating disorders and leads you to be better rested.
• Exercise aligns your circadian rhythm: While external factors like light can have an impact on your circadian rhythm, exercise can act as an internal non-photic clock-setter. It is suggested to do this through regular changes in blood pressure and heart rate.⁹ 
• Exercise may improve gut health: You may wonder, how can exercise help you sleep by improving your gut health? Research shows that exercise can promote beneficial gut microbiota and diversity, which in turn promotes the happy hormone serotonin.¹⁰ Serotonin then creates the sleep hormone melatonin, so if you want to sleep well you should ensure your gut is happy through both diet and exercise.¹¹

If you’ve been wondering ‘how can exercise help you sleep?’, and you’d like to explore more benefits of exercise, head here.

How to get into exercise

There are plenty of ways you can explore adding physical activity into your daily routine, whether you fancy picking up a new hobby like trying yoga classes, or want to start a walking group with friends, or simply aim to up your incidental exercise.

Alternatively, The Fast 800 Programme offers many guided workout videos and exercise plans led by our fitness experts, ranging from true beginner and progressing up. They can be followed along from the comfort of your own home, with little to no equipment needed, and there are even a few seated exercise resources if you struggle with mobility.

So, to answer the question ‘can exercise help you sleep?’ yourself, sign up to your 7-day free trial of our Programme and see how making a change to your daily exercise can transform your sleep, and your overall health.