A lack of exercise predisposes to sleep difficulties. A sedentary lifestyle tends to increase the frequency of napping, hence less sleep is required at night.

Exercise helps promote a better quality of sleep, but the exact reasoning behind this is still up for debate.

Forms of exercise

In order to increase the body's ability to have a satisfactory night's sleep, it is useful to partake of 30 minutes' physical activity each day, e.g. gardening, walking, swimming, dancing, or weight training.

The British Sleep Foundation recommend that regular exercise should be at least 3 hours before sleep, to enable the body to unwind and to allow the effects of the release of adrenaline after activity to wear off.  Research has shown exercising during the day or early evening, due primarily to the longer exposure to natural light, promotes better sleep quality.

Relaxation exercise

Yoga and Tai-chi are ideal forms of exercise which help relaxation.  Yoga is an ancient practice used to enhance breathing control to increase stamina and relaxation.  By developing proper breathing techniques, you can provide optimal oxygen levels to all tissues of the body, including the brain, easing tension and relaxing the mind before sleep.

Tai-chi is a moving form of yoga and meditation combined.  The movements reflect the natural movements of animals and birds designed to focus the mind and breathing.  The continual fluidic movement has a sedative effect on the central nervous system which is calming, and relaxes the mind.

Why does exercise help?

The traditional hypothesis of how exercise, such as brisk walks and cycling, can help promote quality sleep is that the body recognises it needs to conserve energy and restore itself after the day's activities.

It cannot be said categorically that exercise will benefit the quality of everyone's sleep.  All individuals differ greatly, and what works for one person may not be suitable for another.

Exericse has many other health benefits that could in-turn help with the treatment of insomnia - for example, weight control, anxiety and depression.

A major rationale is that exercise does help the regulation of the internal body clock and studies have discovered that exercise increases total sleep time and slow wave sleep.  The reason for this has not yet been established.

Exercise is just one aspect of self-help for insomnia sufferers that is continuously being researched.

02/06/2009