Exercise before bed is linked with disrupted sleep

Note that the comparator here is &quot;exercise before bed compared with doing the same amount and intensity of exercise earlier in the day&quot; -- NOT &quot;exercise before bed compared with doing no exercise at all.&quot;<p>Actual RCT findings (e.g. [1]) find that exercise does induce beneficial changes in sleep, compared against not exercising at all.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.frontiersin.org&#x2F;journals&#x2F;psychiatry&#x2F;articles&#x2F;10.3389&#x2F;fpsyt.2021.664499&#x2F;full" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.frontiersin.org&#x2F;journals&#x2F;psychiatry&#x2F;articles&#x2F;10....</a>

This is sad to hear, &lt;= 4 hours before bed is the only window of my day for exercise. I can make an effort for the morning but I would need to radically rearrange my life.

From the diagrams it seems only the maximal level of exercise strain is significantly affecting sleep.<p>&gt; Exercise strain was quantified using summated-heart-rate-zones scores (SHRZS).<p>Aerobic exercises at maximal level are not every day thing and by themselves do require up to 72 hours of recovery. Even for elite athletes it would be maximum once or trice per week, depending on the mesocycle.<p>&gt; The present study had limitations that should be considered. [...] The summated-heart-rate-zones score (SHRZS) method for quantifying exercise strain may underestimate the relative metabolic strain of strength training that involves very brief durations of high-effort movements. Future research could examine the effects of different types of evening strength training (e.g., Olympic lifting).<p>For weightlifting volume (number of sets) and intensity (weight attempted) of the exercise combined with maximum HR would be a better measure.<p>&gt; We were unable to control for potential confounds known to impact sleep, such as bright light exposure.<p>In my experience, at the end of preparatory phase (at the maximum stress) any light leaking into bedroom will make it difficult to fall asleep.

I figured out in high school&#x2F;secondary school that doing strenuous exercise within a few hours of bed time would kill my chance at a decent sleep. I have always found it easy enough to do formal workouts in the late afternoon or early evening.<p>What gets me sometimes though is the &quot;unexpected&quot; exercise. A few months ago, while on vacation, I decided to climb the 10 flights of stairs up to my room, not wanting to deal with the slow and crowded elevator. 4 hours later, it&#x27;s 2:00 AM and my mind is racing and it&#x27;s like &quot;why can&#x27;t I sleep, that was a long day!&quot;. The next morning I remembered my trek upstairs and reminded myself that anything which elevates the heart rate is best avoided before sleep.

This became more of an issue when I got older. I used to run in the evenings and get away with it. Now in my 40s, I have to run in the morning. If I run at night, I wake up feeling tired and not well rested.

&gt; More strenuous workouts closer to bedtime coincided with greater disruptions to sleep and nighttime cardiac activity.<p>My wife wants to know what kind of &quot;strenuous workouts closer to bedtime&quot; exactly are alluded to here?

Prescient timing, went for a 10pm workout last night and was up until 2:30am wide eyed in bed unable to sleep. I feel like I need to try this every couple years to be reminded how it affects my sleep.

I believe it to be somewhat true.<p>Back when I trained hard on morning, nap then exercise again during the evening, I noticed my resting heart rate would be quite high after the exercise, something like 70 when it’s under 50 normally and stay like that for around 4 to 5 hours.<p>On the other hand, it never prevented me from napping. Quite the opposite, so I’m surprised it has such a dramatic impact on sleep quality.<p>ItIt could be linked to cortisol tho, increase cortisol high enough and even though you’re not fully rested you can’t sleep anymore and feel like shit.<p>So you sleep a little, recover barely enough but too stressed to recover 100%.

I don&#x27;t know, maybe it just me but I feel like I get some pretty good sleep after &quot;exercising&quot; with my boyfriend..

I&#x27;ve anecdotally experienced this as well.<p>Fwiw, I used to believe that it would be entirely impossible for me to work out in the mornings, but I have managed to make it work, despite generally having had a preference for waking up later. It is doable with some effort, don&#x27;t get discouraged.

Interestingly, I always sleep like a dead log after a weight lifting session before sleep.

Been there done that. Personally, my cutoff is 4h before bed -- anything later than that and I just won&#x27;t be able to sleep.<p>I have a similar problem with eating big meals before bed, it keeps me from sleeping the same way. Only 2h for that one though.

Yeah sorry, there is no other window. I&#x27;m a nightowl too, so the early morning is not an option. My sleep is definitely disrupted if I do it 2 hours before bed, but I haven&#x27;t noticed issues with 4.

I personally noticed that on running. I know #sample=1 but I even used this side effect of exercise to extend a few hours in the weekend nights. On weekdays I am close to the 3-4 hours of distance between exercise and sleep.

I, on the other hand get good sleep if I can do some pushups and sqats and get my body in order after a good early meal. I am otherwise dealing with disrupted sleep. So I would listen to my body.

I often do a spin class on the Peloton to end my day. Around 8pm I&#x27;ll do a 30-60min ride, then shower, then straight to bed... works well for me.

Depends on what kind of exercise. A few heavy sets of barbell squats or deadlifts will put you out pretty good. Especially the deadlifts.

Is this confounded by pre-workout &#x2F; caffeine use? I&#x27;ve never had a problem falling asleep after exercise.

Does anybody here use a sleep tracker? I&#x27;m curious if your findings are in line with the article.

I find many people in my life seem very precious about their sleep, in a way that I am not.<p>I also can sometimes endure a day that I detect fatigue in myself. I don&#x27;t necessarily love it, but I&#x27;ll note it easy to go to sleep early the second day if I am tired the day before, and if something happens that causes my sleep to feel shorter than i&#x27;d like, I don&#x27;t really worry about it at all.<p>Same reason I don&#x27;t really concern myself if I detect notes of hunger in my system. Meh. Sometimes I&#x27;ve fasted a long time, usually I don&#x27;t fast at all, but I really don&#x27;t concern myself with &quot;oh my gosh i have not eaten in {recent hours} I am STARVING&quot; energy.<p>Anyway, I suggest this article to most people I find myself discussing sleep with, and enough people have said it was worth their time to read it, so I continue to share it:<p>[1] Matthew Walker&#x27;s &quot;Why We Sleep&quot; Is Riddled with Scientific and Factual Errors<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;guzey.com&#x2F;books&#x2F;why-we-sleep&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;guzey.com&#x2F;books&#x2F;why-we-sleep&#x2F;</a><p>The animal-ish part of a human existence is always interesting to me. Elsewhere in the comments I&#x27;ve seen sorta uncomfortable references to pressuring someone for sexual intimacy before bedtime based on this paper. Meh. Something that IS really nice before sleep is emotionally connected sexual intimacy, and I hope no one would want emotionally _dis_connected sexual intimacy from&#x2F;for a partner, and I, personally, would make some big steps back if I thought a partner wanted something like... disattuned sex out of me.<p>This last paragraph might be best left off the comment, happy if a mod wants to not have it go that way. I do stand by the link to Guzey&#x27;s &quot;Why we sleep&quot;!

cannot confirm. i have more trouble falling asleep if i didn&#x27;t exercise at all compared to exercising e.g. 1-2 hours before sleep