February 28, 2022
Can exercise help you sleep? Absolutely. And if you’ve never experienced that immediate sleep-inducing exhaustion one might experience after a day of hiking or a gruelling boot camp class, there’s a ton of scientific research to back up this claim. Working out helps you maintain your circadian rhythm (that is, your body’s internal clock). Exercise helps your body understand the schedule it’s on; and morning exercise primes your body to sleep better at night. But what about late-day exercise? While it is possible that exercising at night will keep you awake longer, science says it’s a matter of choosing the right type of workout and finding the right workout schedule for you.
So how to make sure you will get a good night sleep.
1. Wearing ‘Blue Light’ Glasses
These special frames have specifically designed lenses that help reduce exposure to HEV light.
2. Magnesium supplements
Magnesium might help you to fall asleep 17 minutes faster, helpful if you are a tosser and turner.
3. No phones before bed
If you want to get a better night’s sleep, you need to reduce your screen time. A digital detox an hour before bed to allow your mind to switch off and reduce the odds of psychological arousal or getting distracted online.
4. Keeping your bedroom cool
In order to fall asleep, we need our body temperature to cool. A popular sleep hack is to set your bedroom between 16 degrees Celsius and 18 degrees Celsius for an optimum slumber.
5. Having a hot bath before bed
Spending as little as 10 minutes in a bath or shower of 40-42.50 degrees centigrade (that’s warm and not scalding hot for you and me) between 1 and 2 hours before going to sleep will result in better quality sleep.
6. Rising at the same time every day, including weekends!
Ensuring that you wake up around the same time every day help to anchor your circadian rhythm (remember from before – exercise bit) and helps your body to anticipate waking and sleep times by releasing the right hormones at the right times. But still make sure you are getting at least 7 hours of sleep though! No point waking up same time if you only getting 5 hours sleep, you’ll still feel tired!!!
Sleep gives your body time to recover, conserve energy, and repair and build up the muscles worked during exercise. When we get enough good quality sleep, the body produces growth hormone.
So go and enjoy your shut eye !