In the end, I found that squatting was better than just doing a little squatting in the evening.
New research findings Taking the time to do some quick exercises before bedtime and breaking away from the couch lazing around can help you get about 30 minutes more sleep.
As the old saying goes, doing vigorous exercise before going to bed Increase your heart rate This causes your body temperature to rise and makes it harder to fall asleep, so researchers at the University of Otago in New Zealand looked into short bursts of light activity.
“These results add to a growing body of evidence showing that, contrary to current sleep recommendations, evening exercise does not impair sleep quality,” the study authors wrote in their findings published Tuesday. Published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine.
But here’s a caveat: Three minutes of circuit exercise (designed to provide a break from sitting) should be completed every 30 minutes over the course of four hours in the evening.
The study authors recruited 28 non-smoking adults up to the age of 40. Participants sat at work for more than five hours during the day and at least two hours in the evening.
Participants were asked to wear the fitness tracker for seven consecutive days and also recorded the time they went to bed, the time they woke up, and the time they took part in activities that may not be recorded by the tracker, such as using a stationary bike or doing yoga.
Each volunteer completed two 4-h overnight visits in a controlled laboratory environment.
In one session, participants remained seated from about 5pm onwards, and in the other, breaks were interrupted by three minutes of simple resistance exercise every 30 minutes for four hours.
During each three-minute “activity break,” participants performed three rounds of 20-second sets of chair squats, calf raises, standing knee raises, and leg and hip extensions.
“We chose these simple bodyweight exercises because they require no equipment, no large space, and can be done without interrupting the TV show you’re watching.” Study author Meredith Peddie said:Senior Lecturer in the Department of Human Nutrition.
“Based on what we know from other studies, simply walking around the house, marching in place or dancing in your living room probably has similar benefits. The most important thing is to get out of your chair and move around regularly,” she added.
The idea is that moving around reduces blood sugar and fat mass after eating.
Peddie’s team found that participants slept an average of 27 minutes more when they exercised than when they sat for four hours — an average of 7 hours and 12 minutes sleep compared to 6 hours and 45 minutes.
Participants did not change their bedtimes, but their average wake-up times did differ.
The time after the extended period of sitting was 7:35 AM, and the time after the activity break was 8:06 AM.
No significant differences were found regarding uninterrupted sleep between the two camps.
“This study appears to be the first to investigate the effects of an evening resistance exercise break on subsequent sleep quality and physical activity patterns in healthy adults,” the researchers wrote, while acknowledging that limitations of the study included the small number of participants and the fact that it was conducted in a laboratory setting.
“As with all laboratory studies, the highly controlled environment may not reflect real-world behavior,” the researchers wrote.
Experts recommend getting seven to nine hours of sleep a night to lower your risk of developing chronic diseases like obesity, heart disease and depression.
