Exercise to Sleep Better (and Vice Versa!)
If you’re not sleeping well, you may not be reaching your life goals, let alone your fitness goals. Here are some proven ways to sleep better.
IN THIS ARTICLE YOU’LL DISCOVER
- Why people who exercise regularly need more sleep
- How to sleep better with breathing techniques
- Bedtime routines to set you up for sleeping
- Ways that exercise helps you get better quality sleep
In the past, I’ve brought up the importance of rest and recovery more than a few times. If you do a quick search on the Quick and DirtyTips website, you can easy find them. I have even interviewed the inventor of a device that specifically measures your recovery based on how well you have slept in comparison to how hard you have worked out. But despite my best efforts as a podcaster, blogger and coach, sleep still remains an elusive and often overlooked aspect of fitness.
How Much Sleep Do We Need?
Way back in 2014, the Wall Street Journal reported that “seven is the new eight,” explaining that our bodies may need less sleep than what we had traditionally been told. What the Wall Street Journal failed to mention is the increased need for sleep in people who are exercising frequently, tearing down their muscle fibers with weight training, running or cycling, or even engaging in cognitively demanding tasks. (Yes, a stressful work day counts). If you are interested in having solid and consistent mental and physical performance, good sleep should be on the top of your list.
Let’s take a look at an infographic from an article on the website Fatigue Science called “Why Pro Athletes Sleep 12 Hours A Day” It’s for us fit folks who repeatedly engage in this type of body and brain stress. Here are a few highlights:
- Usain Bolt, the fastest sprinter in the world said “Sleep is extremely important to me. I need to rest and recover in order for the training I do to be absorbed by my body.”
- Roger Federer, a professional tennis player who is still at the top of his game at age 37 says “If I don’t sleep 11 to 12 hours a day, it’s not right.”
- Steve Nash, Canada’s best basketball point guard said “For me, sleeping well could mean the difference between putting up 30 points and living with 15.”
- Jarrod Shoemaker, professional triathlete: “Sleep is half my training.”
- And, not included on that info graphic, triathlete and past podcast guest Bread Kearns said “when I was competing at the highest level, I often joked that half of my life was spent asleep.”
While many of us don’t function on the fitness level of those athletes, here are two big reasons why increased sleep is still crucial for people who exercise regularly:
- Your nervous system and brain cleans up cellular garbage when you sleep, allowing you to form memories, learn, and be cognivively sharp the next day.
- Your body and muscles repair themselves while you sleep. This process is enhanced by the hormone release that occurs wen you’re in your deep sleep phases.
If you exercise frequently, then even if you embrace the “seven is the new eight” idea, make sure those seven hours of sleep count and you don’t spend any of those precious hours tossing and turning.
How To Sleep Better With Breathing Techniques
Let’s start here: you can pop all the sleep aids on the shelf at your local health food store but if your mind is busy, you won’t get to sleep. If you do get to sleep but your mind is still busy, you will wake up during the night. Trust me, I have tried tons of supplements, devices, glasses and more. None of them stand a chance against my ever-chattering monkey mind.
The things that helps me quiet my mind the most are breathing, meditation and some to-do list techniques that alleviate the monkey mind’s midnight panic.
Many people wake in the middle of the night and worry about the undefined laundry list they must accomplish the next day. So, having a robust to-do list system can help alleviate that feeling, by clearly laying out what must get done and knowing how long it is likely to take you. Having that information on hand is a quick and easy way to shut down that feeling of impending doom and allow you to drift back to sleep.
When it comes to breathing practices, the pattern that works best for me before bed and in the middle of the night is not the same pattern that I use in the middle of the day when I need to focus and be alert. The day time pattern is what is called Box Breathing and my night time pattern is the 4-7-8 technique. It goes like this:
- Inhale: 4 heartbeats
- Hold: 7 heartbeats
- Exhale: 8 heartbeats
You’ll notice that I use my heartbeat as a metronome. By laying my hands across my chest (coffin style) I can easily feel my heartbeat and count those beats. There’s an added bonus to using your heartbeat rather than a ticking clock or a song in your head. As you calm down, your heart rate slows and, in response, so does your breathing. This is a type of biofeedback that can be very effective. For an extra special added bonus, you can say the word “relax” as you exhale, either out loud or in your head.
This step is very important: when you start this breathing pattern, make a commitment to yourself that you will not stop until you fall asleep. If you skip that step, you run the risk of stopping before the technique has a chance to work. Instead, you’ll decide it isn’t working and switch back to thinking, Well, I may as well lie here worrying again.
If you live in a big, loud city like I do, investing in some good ear plugs, a decent pillow, and good heavy curtains is helpful. But don’t get carried away! Even the darkest, quietest room is no match for a loud and bright mind, so make mental adjustments before you make environmental ones.
Get Better Sleep With a Bedtime Routine
Having a bedtime routine is also key to sleeping better. For starters, get into the habit of winding down before bed instead of winding up.
- Spend time gearing down an hour (or two)
- Turn off devices and avoid checking email after you’re done for the day
- Avoid reading books that are about your job
Then add doing some breathing, stretching and meditation. You will set yourself up for success.
If you set aside an area or space for your before-bed stretching practice, you can outfit it with things like candles, incense, pillows, music, and other things that help you (and I do mean you, in particular) feel more relaxed and at ease. Your nighttime sleep props might be anything from a statue of a yogi, a certain piece of music, or simply a favorite t-shirt that you have owned so long it is now more hole than shirt. Gather the things that are personal to you and make you feel relaxed
Having a bedtime relaxation practice can help release the tension you built up all day. When you go to bed feeling relaxed and at ease, you’ll have a much better sleep than the nights where you carry your frustration and stress to bed with you. Plus, the 15-20 minutes that you are spending focusing on yourself is also 15-20 minutes that you are not focussing on the TV, email, social media, or your smartphone or tablet. These devices, and bright light in general, have been shown to disrupt your sleep and even impair your body’s ability to secrete the sleep hormone melatonin.
Bedtime routines give our mind and body cues that the day is over and it is time to shut down for the night.
Sleep and Exercise Work Together
When it comes to fitness and sleep, the two complement one another quite nicely, and a good exercise routine can definitely help you sleep better.
Exercise to sleep, sleep to exercise, and be consistent.
A study published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine revealed that exercise can indeed not only help you sleep better, but can also improve your overall mood and vitality. This probably won’t come as a surprise to you. I’ve explained the many benefits of living an active lifestyle more than a few times.
What may surprise you is that:
- The effects are not immediate. Getting more active is not a “get fixed quick” scheme. This is especially true if you have a history of insomnia. After implementing an exercise program, it could take up to 16 weeks before you notice significant long-term improvements.
- Consistency is key. Make a plan and stick to it. Instead of crushing random, killer workouts thrown into your schedule willy-nilly, you will get much better sleep enhancing results (not to mention better fitness results) from 30 minutes of movement several times each week, or preferably, every day.
Exercise to sleep, sleep to exercise, and be consistent. This is the recipe for a happy, healthy and fit you.
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About the Author
Brock Armstrong was the host of the Get-Fit Guy podcast between 2017 and 2021. He is a certified AFLCA Group Fitness Leader with a designation in Portable Equipment, NCCP and CAC Triathlon Coach, and a TnT certified run coach. He is also on the board of advisors for the Primal Health Coach Institute and a guest faculty member of the Human Potential Institute.
