Sleep and Exercise Go Hand-in-Hand

Sleep and exercise, exercise and sleep go hand-in-hand. Do you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep at night? Is it tough waking up in the morning especially to get your workout in? Do you feel sluggish during your workout? Are your nighttime workouts keeping you up? Here’s some information and some tips that might help your work out and sleep patterns.

Exercise is proven to help you fall asleep and sleep better. It does depend on the person though, it’s recommended to try what works best for you. For instance, see how you feel with morning workouts. See if that gets you through the day and if you’re able to sleep at night. Then try an end of the day workout and see how that goes. Trying a couple variations will help you pinpoint what works best for you. Especially during aerobic exercises, the brain releases endorphins through the body. This could keep you awake. It is recommended to wait at least 1 to 2 hours after a workout to help lower these levels to make falling asleep easier. If waiting doesn’t fit in your schedule it is recommended to try lower intensity workouts closer to bedtime if possible. Also during exercise your body temperature rises. After your work out when your body temperature is lowering this is what makes you tired and helps you fall asleep.

Everyone has an exercise goal, all exercise goals require adequate sleep. Adequate sleep helps with recovery getting you back on your feet and ready for the next workout. It also helps muscles repair, during exercise your body breaks down muscle fibers. During this repair is when you build lean muscle, which is the majority of people’s goals. Scientifically speaking, during sleep your body releases growth hormone, growth hormone helps control metabolism and helps your body get adequate sleep. Intern this helps build lean muscle. Also during sleep your body is going through proteins synthesis, this is when cells make proteins for cell structure and function this helps build and maintain tissue throughout the body.

Majority of people are not getting enough sleep, if you’re sleeping close to 6 hours a night that is not enough. It is recommended to get between 7 to 8 hours of sleep, also getting more than 9 hours of sleep is just as bad as getting 6, so you want to get something in between. Also, disturbed sleep is not good either, exercise will also help you sleep throughout the night.

Sleep itself does not make you stronger but it helps you focus more on your workouts because sleep helps the mind and if the mind is functioning properly it helps the body. This will help with less fatigue and you will be able to get a faster harder workout in. Less sleep will make it difficult to get through your whole work out.

Knowing what sleep does on the body and how important it is to get the recommended amounts of sleep is the best way to reach your fitness goals. Everyone’s different, so try variations to see what works best for you.