Exercise not a Quick Fix for Insomniacs

Insomnia is a problem which affects many people each day. Some take prescription drugs or over the counter medicines, but few people turn to exercise to cure insomnia.

However, based on a new study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 45 minutes on the treadmill won’t result in a good night’s sleep. Apparently, exercising these days will most likely not help insomniacs sleep better– although it can help significantly over time.

The study involves women ages 57 to 70, and they’re all inactive when the experiment started. They all kept sleep and exercise journals and was wearing tracking devices that were put on their wrists, which recorded how long they got to fall into sleep, how many times they awoke and how much sleep they got nightly.

In general, results were great: After 4 months, the exercise program did help improve mood, vitality and most of all, boost sleep among older women that suffer insomnia who had not exercised previously. On the other hand, just one workout session throughout the day didn’t promote better sleep that very same night.

Exercise helps insomnia, but not right away. Photo Credit: www.youbeauty.com

Exercise helps insomnia, but not right away.
Photo Credit: www.youbeauty.com

Not just that, it was also noted that sleeping inadequately one night resulted in a decrease in how long an individual spent working out the following day. This only means that the insomniacs were prone to plummeting into a vicious cycle where they became too tired to work out regularly to have better sleep eventually.

Read more from The Washington Post:

Exercise not a quick fix for sleep disorders, study says

While exercise has long been a prescription for insomnia, new research suggests that exercise doesn’t immediately translate into a better night’s sleep — unless you stick with it for months.

“Exercise isn’t a quick fix. . . . It takes some time and effort,” the study’s lead author, Kelly Glazer Baron, a clinical psychologist and director of the behavioral sleep program at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said in an interview. “It’s a long-term relationship.”

The important point is that those who have insomnia must be consistent with exercise. With regular exercise, you will notice that your quality of sleep has considerably improved, and also the shift between the cycles and phases of sleep gets smoother and even more regular. Maintaining your regular exercise daily will let you handle worries and stress of your life a lot easier.

By simply following a regular workout routine, you will notice a lot of changes as well as health benefits and on top of that, improved your quality of sleep. 

Want to become an Internationally accredited personal Trainer? Click here to check out our personal training course to find out more!