Surprise with exercise to help sleep deeper and better, especially good for men

In addition to diet and medication, proper exercise can also help improve sleep quality. A new study has found that certain types of exercise have many benefits for sleep.

Exercise can help you sleep well, especially when applying this exercise

Exercise is an energy-intensive process, so the body will feel tired and sleepy after exercise. However, a new study has found that not all types of exercise help with sleep. So, which type of exercise should we choose to achieve greater efficiency?

An article published at the American College of Cardiology’s 2022 Annual Symposium offers the answer.

The Iowa State University team gathered 386 subjects and randomly divided them into four groups for a year-long experiment. The groups are as follows:

As a result, the team found that subjects in the weight training group slept 40 minutes longer than the no-exercise group, the medley group 23 minutes longer, and the aerobic group only 17 minutes. The sleep quality of the weight training group was also much better than that of the other three groups. The time to fall asleep, with the weight group, was also less than 3 minutes.

Both aerobic exercise and weight training are good for health, but when it comes to timing, the quality and speed of falling asleep, said researcher Angelique Brellenthin of the Department of Sports Medicine at Iowa State University. , then weight training is still better.

Why weight training is better than aerobic exercise, experts speculate 2 reasons

Chen Yuren, a physician from the Department of Rehabilitation, Tucheng Hospital, Taiwan, said that exercise can increase core temperature, when exercise is over and the temperature is gradually reduced, the body will relax. and fall asleep, the duration of deep sleep will also increase.

Exercise can release endorphins and help people relax, exercise itself is an energy drain, the body goes into repair mode, and deep sleep can help repair.

While the reasons and mechanisms are still unclear, experts say a number of studies have suggested possible reasons, including:

1. According to Dr. Chen Yuren, studies have shown that exercise can reduce anxiety, depression, and the effects of weight training are better than aerobic exercise.

2. Mr. Cai Yuzhe, supervisor of the Taiwan Association of Applied Psychology, founder of Wosai Psychology, said that gaining muscle can also increase testosterone levels, which in turn aid sleep, but this is not. Only useful for older men.

However, Mr. Cai Yuzhe said that the results of this study are not complete, and more research is needed to find out the real cause. “But overall, exercise can help improve physical fitness and reduce the use of sleeping pills, so why shouldn’t we?” Cai Yuzhe said.

As for why aerobic exercise does not help sleep much, Dr. Chen Yuren said this question remains unanswered, it can be speculated that compared with weight training, aerobic exercise will cause sympathetic nervous more excited, thereby reducing fatigue from exercise, promoting the effectiveness of sleep.

Weight training to help you sleep is no longer a problem, just do the following 4 things

The subjects in the study exercised regularly for 60 minutes at a time over the course of a year, which is no easy task. However, Chen Yuren has combined previous studies and suggests that just doing the following 4 things, at least for 6 weeks and at most for half a year, will see results:

1. Number of sets of weight training: 4 sets, each set from 10 to 13 times.

2. Train 50% to 80% of maximum muscle strength. For example, if you do 80 kg weightlifting and feel exhausted, you only need to lift weights from 40 to 64 kg to help you sleep.

3. Exercise 2-3 times/week.

4. You don’t need to practice for 60 minutes, just practice the necessary number of sets.

Dr. Chen Yuren said that there have been previous studies showing that stretching exercises can help stretch muscles and support good sleep, but the practice time should be at least 60 minutes, but 4 sets of weight training can It takes less than 30 minutes to complete and the results are even better.

“If you want to sleep well through exercise, it’s best to practice in the evening and avoid exercising 1 hour before going to bed so as not to fall into a state of excitement after exercise, making it difficult to fall asleep,” said Dr. Chen. Yuren said.