How Sports Help Improve Your Sleep

It may have been years since the last time you take you football or been part of a cycling club, but that should be no deterrent for you if you’re having problem in sleeping. In fact, sport not only helps you sleep, but it also tasks as a stress-reliever.

While you might be aware that high-intensity sports can make you exhausted, something you might not know is that some sports can help you to fall asleep more easily than others. There are three things to contemplate when working sport into your daily schedule, specifically if its main job is to help you sleep.

1.   Type of sport

Sports are broken down into two main categories: aerobic and non-aerobic. Aerobic exercise, or cardio exercise, is any uninterrupted physical activity lasting over 10 minutes that causes you to breathe harder, sweat more and increase your heart rate. Examples involve long distance running, swimming and cycling. Non-aerobic exercises, on the other hand, add short periods of higher intensity exercise where your body’s demand for oxygen exceeds the available supply. Examples include any speedy bursts of vigorous exercise, such as sprinting or weight lifting.

When it comes to allocating your sleep, aerobic exercises are the best to combat sleeplessness. Whether you select to walk, run or cycle, it is recommended to exercise daily for 30 minutes to really make a difference in your sleep cycle.

If this sounds like too much activity for you, why not contemplate something more relaxing, such as yoga? Both are calming exercises with a focus on growing your breathing technique, which in turn promotes regular and restful sleeping patterns and can even help individuals suffering from insomnia. 

Quick Tips:

There are devices on the market that can help you to track your activity levels, including the distances that you walk or run. Some of these activity traces even help you to monitor your heart rate, the number of calories that you consume and even the quality of your sleep!

2.   What time of day is best?

Knowing what time of day is the greatest time to do some exercise will help you sleep better.

Evening: This isn’t the best time to exercise, when you’re looking for ways to help you sleep. The reason for this is that exercise releases endorphins, which increases your adrenaline levels, making you more energised and therefore unlikely to fall asleep easily.

Morning: Exercising in the morning is an ideal way to begin your day - if you are a morning person, that is. Endorphins will soon kick the thought of an early morning out of your mind, and will bring you into the day.

Afternoon: If mornings seem intimidating, go for the afternoon exercise session. Keep in mind that it needs to be at least 3-4 hours before bedtime in order to permit your body to relax after the endorphin high.

3.   Sports, sleep and you

Playing the right sports and appealing in the correct physical activity can help you sleep through the night.

However, if you’re not the sporty type, there are simple adaptation that you can make to your daily routine that will help you to increase your activity level:

Walking/cycling or running to work instead of drive

Take the stairs is better than lift

Capture with your family by doing something active like swimming or bike riding

Whatever you choose to do, the more active you at the day, the more likely you will be to relax and fall asleep at night.