Can exercise help cure Insomnia?

I have a co-worker (someday I’ll be a professional blogger!) who claims she gets between 1-3 hours of sleep each night. I’m not sure if that is physically possible?   Maybe she’s just trying to get a little attention; but I’d like to address the topic all the same considering 1 in 3 adults suffer from some form of Insomnia.

So…I’ll start this post by urging two of my blogging colleagues, both running personal fitness blogs, to give us their opinions on this matter.

Stephen and Jason: Can you give us a more educated point of view on this topic? Also, Samm (organic conscious mother & blogger)…what do you think?

Here’s a little background on my experience with Insomnia and exercise.  In my personal life, if I:

1. exercise in the morning, I sleep like a baby at night
2. exercise after work, in the evening, I find it a little harder to sleep; unless I give myself around 3-5 hours to “wind down”
3. don’t exercise at all, I have much more trouble sleeping.

So the question I pose is this: can exercise help cure Insomnia?  Please comment with your educated perspective, personal experience, or simply your point-of-view.

Here’s a summary of what I’ve read:

By David S. Sobel, M.D.

Findings from a recent Stanford University Medical School study may come as no surprise: older and middle-age people reported sleeping better when they added regular exercise to their routine. After 16 weeks in a moderate intensity exercise program, subjects were able to fall asleep about 15 minutes earlier and sleep about 45 minutes longer at night.

Participants exercised at least four times a week. Twice a week they participated in an organized aerobics class, which included 30 minutes of endurance training. The other two times they exercised on their own, doing 40 minutes of brisk walking or stationary bike riding.

To assess impact on sleep, researchers looked at factors such as how long it takes to fall asleep, total hours of sleep per night, how often one wakes up, how one feels when waking up, and daytime function.

The link between aerobic exercise and sleep may seem obvious, but until this study, there has been very little controlled research to support this “conventional wisdom.” Though they are only 20% of the population, older Americans receive almost half the medications prescribed to aid sleep.

The potential side effects of these drugs-confusion, falls, extended drowsiness, agitation, and interactions with other medications-can be especially problematic for this age group. Until this study, there have been very few attempts to identify effective non-drug approaches to treating mild sleep disorders.

The study also provides further evidence of the interactions of mind and body. In this case improving physical health shows a positive impact on the mind.

RX: Self-Care Tips

Try exercise to help your sleep. Here are some tips.

A drop in body temperature aids sound sleep. So time your exercise five to six hours before bedtime.

Make your exercise vigorous enough to make you sweat a little. Previous studies have shown that non-aerobic stretching and concentration exercises alone did not impart sleep. Stick with it! Participants in this study did not report improved sleep until they had been exercising for 16 weeks.”

- Article Reference -

Here are some random tips I found:

• Establish regular, healthy sleep patterns
• Treat yourself to relaxing pre-sleep rituals, like taking a soothing warm bath or light reading before bedtime.
• Avoid caffeine six hours before bedtime. Caffeine is a stimulant that can interfere with sleep.
• Avoid alcohol and smoking one to two hours before bedtime.
• Designate another time to worry. If you are a bedtime worrier, set aside another time, maybe 30 minutes after dinner, to writing down problems and possible solutions.
• Go to bed only when you are tired.
• Don’t nap in place of bedtime sleep.
• Use your bed for sleep, not as an office or a place to watch television.
• Get up at the same time every day, no matter what time you went to sleep.
• Get active! Regular exercise improves sleep, but don’t work out within three hours of bedtime.
• Trust an over-the-counter sleep aid, like Sominex, when short-term insomnia is troubling you.

- Original source -

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