When your alarm goes off in the middle of the night, it’s an age-old dilemma: Would you sacrifice an hour of rest to drag yourself through a bloody workout, or would you rather skip your jog and go to bed?
In an ideal world, you get both plenty of exercise and plenty of sleep, experts say. but, new research Exercise suggests that exercise may help counteract the health effects of not getting the right amount of sleep.
The new research big body It shows how important both sleep and fitness are to overall health.Various studies have shown that healthy amounts of each are associated with longer lifespans. at least one They suggested that sleep problems tended to increase subjects’ chances of dying during the follow-up period, but that regular exercise could help eliminate that risk.
Wanting to better understand the protective powers of exercise, a team of China-based researchers looked at data collected in the UK from over 92,000 adults aged 40 to 73. They measured how much they exercised and how much they slept, which the researchers used as indicators of their lifestyle.
Researchers then followed the participants’ health status years later. Not surprisingly, people who slept poorly, or slept too much (which in itself can be a problem) and exercised very little, are generally more susceptible to diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease. including the problem, they were more likely to die during that period. Even if she slept less than six hours each night, those who exercised more did not have an increased risk of death.
This study suggests that 150 minutes of moderate or vigorous physical activity per week may reverse some of the health effects associated with too much or too little sleep. said Jihui Zhang, director of the Center for Sleep and Circadian Medicine at Affiliated Brain Hospital. He is a professor at Guangzhou Medical University and a research author. “Doing something is better than doing nothing,” he said. For example, taking regular short walks or riding a stationary bike can pay off.
This study was observational and was not evidence that exercise reliably counteracts the toll of unhealthy sleep. There is a nature. But the findings present another interesting window into the health benefits of exercise.
Researchers in the new study say that working out may help fight inflammation or regulate metabolism and sympathetic nervous system activity, which could help balance the effects of unhealthy sleep. According to Virend Somers, M.D., a cardiologist who studies the effects of sleep deprivation at the Mayo Clinic, sleep deprivation contributes to the risk of heart disease by raising blood pressure and interfering with insulin resistance. It is also possible thatExercise may counteract this by regulating blood pressure and Increased insulin sensitivity.
She is an associate professor at McMaster University and is known as “Move the Body, Heal the Mind.” Acts as an agent: The more adenosine we produce throughout the day, the more restful and restorative our sleep is.
Still, that doesn’t mean people should sacrifice rest for exercise, says Tianyi Huang, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who studies sleep and heart health. People are less likely to have the energy to stay active during the day, especially if a busy work schedule is the cause of their sleep deprivation, he said. If so, it’s a good idea to talk to your doctor or sleep specialist.) Past research has also shown that working out in the morning can affect your body in a different way than working out in the evening. is shown.
Dr. Donald Lloyd Jones, former president of the American Heart Association and former president of the American Heart Association, said: Chief of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Also, not everyone needs sleep in the same way. This means that some people feel fully functioning and well-rested in less time. It is possible that some of the “short sleepers” who participated in this study could have added a workout without increasing their cardiovascular risk, rather than doing exercise that somehow compensated for their lack of rest.
Aric Prather, a psychologist and sleep expert at the University of California, San Francisco, says people who don’t get enough sleep may be more likely to injure themselves during a workout. The question isn’t whether to sacrifice sleep for exercise.
