Friday, March 22, 2013

Exercising close to bedtime may not disturb sleep

This article discusses results of a National Sleep Foundation poll showing that exercise close to bedtime does not interfere with sleep. The article discusses that it is not true that exercise close to bedtime will disrupt sleep. I completely agree. I used to be a long distance runner. In high school and high school, I would run late at night after work. I slept like a baby. But the article misses the important point about exercise and insomnia. For those with chronic insomnia, exercise close to bedtime can worsen insomnia.

This article could be about anything you hear about sleep - don't drink caffeine before bedtime, watch TV in bed, sleep in on the weekends, take naps. All of these are fine to do...IF you don't have insomnia. If you do have insomnia, than the above activities can worsen the insomnia. So in you "good" sleepers, go ahead and workout close to bedtime. For you chronic insomniacs, you also need to exercise, but do it in the morning, or no later than late afternoon.

No comments:

Post a Comment