Can training in the evening disturb your sleep?

If you ask people around you about when they go to work out, most of them will tell you it's in the evening. And it's no wonder - most people work in the morning, followed by some family obligations, and the only time left to clear your head and work out is in the evening. But have you ever wondered if exercising before bed is actually effective? And doesn't it interfere with falling asleep? That's what we'll look at in our article today.

Article content:

• Sleep and training go hand in hand
• Can training before bed have an effect on falling asleep?
• Conclusion.

Sleep and training go hand in hand

Sleep and training complement each other to some extent - intense training will tire you out and make you sleep better. If you give your body enough space to recover, it will be more rested and you will be able to perform better in training. And so it goes on and on. But equally, physical activities are good for relieving anxiety or perhaps optimising circadian rhythms. However, if we're talking specifically about training before bed, some sources say there can be some negatives - for example, that exercise raises our core body temperature, whereas it's important for good sleep that this temperature is lower. Is this really the case?

Training before sleep is specific in many ways.

Can bedtime training have an effect on falling asleep?

The idea presented in the previous paragraph probably makes perfect sense to a rational eye. But recent scientific studies have found that the answer may not be nearly so clear-cut. For example, the first research divided participants into three groups, one of which did half an hour of strength training, another half an hour of aerobics, and the third didn't exercise at all. And how do you think that turned out? They found that the type of exercise performed 90 minutes before bedtime had no effect on sleep quality. A subsequent study then came up with a similar finding, but unfortunately both were linked by a very small number of participants.

Perhaps the most important conclusions were reached by a 2019 meta-analysis of scientific studies, which came to the conclusion that exercise only promotes sleep if it is a moderate-intensity workout that ends earlier than an hour before falling asleep. This brings us to the point that there is no such thing as a workout, and while some activities are perfectly fine before bed, others can actually disrupt sleep.

What activities are okay?

As we mentioned in our article on the ideal time to exercise, our performance peaks around midday. So the evening should be rather relaxed and you should prepare for sleep during this time. Some of the ideal activities to support sleep include:

• Yoga or stretching - these have a huge advantage, especially as they improve your mobility, which you will appreciate later, for example with basic exercises. They will also help you burn calories, even if it is not an intense exercise that will exhaust you.
• A walk - taking a short walk in the park or woods is definitely not a bad idea even before bedtime. It's a great way to relax, sort out your thoughts or plan the day ahead.
• Light swimming or light strength training - A light swim or strength training is definitely not out of the question. But if you go to the gym or pool an hour and a half before bedtime, don't overdo it with the intensity.

While strength training before bed may not be the best choice, half an hour of yoga is absolutely great.

What activities are inappropriate?

Inappropriate bedtime activities include de facto any type of exercise that requires an increase in heart rate and stimulation of the nervous system, which could have a negative impact on the quality of subsequent sleep. Typical examples of inappropriate activities include intense sprints, heavy workouts in the gym, cardio, HIIT or even intense cycling. These activities are of course great for training during the day, but before bedtime they can do more harm than good.

One of the activities not suitable for bedtime is HIIT or intense cardio, for example.

Conclusion.

It's one thing what the results of scientific studies look like, but it's another thing to apply them in practice. While on paper it may look like it's best to exercise lightly after noon and include at most as light a physical activity as possible before bed, in reality few of us have the time to do so. And it's definitely true that it's better to exercise in the evening than not at all. If you go to the gym at such a time that your workout ends more than an hour and a half before you plan to fall asleep, you don't have to worry about the quality of your sleep at all.

Perhaps with our 10 tips for better sleep, you'll be able to prepare for sleep without any problems and won't experience any negative effects. If your workout ends less than the aforementioned 90 minutes before bedtime, you should be able to tell if you're having trouble falling asleep or not. If you don't mind training before bedtime, you don't need to change your routine at all, but if you find it harder to sleep, wake up groggy or can't fall asleep, the solution may be to reduce the intensity of your training or change the type of sport you do.

Pre-workouts without stimulants