The One Overlooked Practice to Increase Your Quality of Sleep

We are constantly reminded of the importance of sleep. Whether it is from our family, friends, the media … or even our own lack of sleep, the effects of sleep on our physical, mental and social wellbeing are undeniable. We know this, but all the knowledge in the world doesn’t necessarily make it easier to get to sleep, guarantee fewer nighttime awakenings or ensure that we engage in more deep sleep throughout the night. But is there a way to control for this? There might be!

For all the times we have been reminded of the importance of sleep, we have probably been reminded even more of the importance of regular exercise. The short term and long term effects of regular exercise on our physical health have been widely documented for centuries and recently the significant effects of exercise on our mental health have also become apparent. In fact, many of the overall effects of exercise and sleep on our health are quite similar including a decreased risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression, anxiety etc. So … can exercise help us improve our quality of sleep?

To assess this researchers conducted a study in which objective sleep patterns were observed between two groups of exercisers; an experimental group that completed a higher weekly exercise time (8.5 hours) and a control, which completed a lower weekly exercise time (2 hours). This study established that the group engaging in higher weekly exercise displayed increased slow wave sleep, less light sleep, less night time awakenings and shortened sleep onset latency (time it takes to get to sleep) and therefore a better overall quality of sleep.

Another study examining the effects of exercise intensity on overall sleep quality compared a group of young adults engaging in vigorous physical activity to a group engaging in moderate physical activity. The use of self reports as well as objective measures via a sleep electroencephalogram (a noninvasive test that records electrical patterns in your brain, also referred to as an EEG) were used. The results? The group engaging in more vigorous physical activity exhibited more time in stage 4 sleep, lower percentage of time spent in light sleep, more overall slow wave sleep and increased overall sleep time when compared to the group engaging in moderate physical activity. Additionally, they were also less at risk of experiencing mental health problems when exposed to high stress.

These studies, as well as a number of similar studies seem to suggest that an increased duration and increased intensity of exercise result in an overall higher sleep quality … but how about people who can’t exercise for long periods of time, or don’t have the ability to engage in intense exercise? Well this was addressed in a study by which a form of low intensity exercise - Baduanjin exercise – was implemented in a group of adults over a 12-week period. This groups overall sleep quality was then compared to a control group who did not engage in any regular exercise. Results found significantly improved sleep quality and sleep efficiency as well as shorter sleep onset latency, further suggesting that exercise, regardless of its form, produces positive effects on sleep quality. This is a promising finding considering not everyone is able to complete high intensity exercise due to factors such as disability, age or health.

So there you have it, while it does appear that a longer duration and higher intensity exercise can increase our overall quality of sleep, any form of regular physical activity can also result in these benefits. So if an increased physical and mental wellbeing wasn’t enough, then you can add a good nights sleep onto the list of reasons of why you should engage in regular exercise!