Good Day Guide
Fighting Fit
Why exercise?
We all know by now that exercise is important for general health and fitness, but it can also improve your mood and help you sleep better.
Exercise has multiple benefits for sleep, including weight loss, joint mobility, stress reduction and general health and fitness.
Exercise for fitness
If you exercise regularly then your general health and fitness will be improved. This will, in turn, increase your chances of getting a good night's sleep. And exercise also has the added benefit of tiring you out so that you are ready for sleep.
Exercise for mood
As well as improving physical health, regular exercise affects mood and mental health. Anxiety can affect the ability to sleep well and so, as it can help to alleviate these symptoms, exercise is also good for sleep for this reason.
Exercise for weight loss
There are lots of factors involved in weight loss and obesity and the best thing is to have an all-round healthy lifestyle. Sleep can form an important part of a healthy lifestyle however and there are strong links between poor sleep and obesity.
A bit like the old chicken and egg question we don't know for sure whether obesity can lead to poor sleep or if poor sleep is a factor in causing obesity, but it is likely to be a bit of both.
What is clear is that people with a healthy body weight tend to have less sleep-related problems than those who are overweight, and exercise is a great way to maintain a healthy weight. When you take into account all the other benefits - relating to mood, fitness, relaxation and more - it's certainly worth giving regular exercise a go.
What kind of exercise
The best kind of exercise to choose if you want to see the most sleep-related benefits is probably a combination of aerobic exercise and stretching.
Aerobic exercise is basically any activity of your large muscle groups that makes your heart and lungs work harder for an extended period of time (30 minutes per day is ideal). Regular aerobic exercise is good for general health and fitness, weight loss, strong joints and muscles and for tiring you out.
You could try swimming, jogging, cycling or fitness classes, all of which are aerobic exercises, as well as some stretching to relax your muscles.
When to exercise
If you're going to do any kind of aerobic exercise then it's best to try and do it as early in the day as possible. Although your body will be relaxed after exercise, your mind will be extra active and this might not help you sleep well in the short term.
Take exercise in the morning and you can overcome the problem of your mind being too alert at night, and you'll also get an energy boost which will help get you through the day if you've slept badly the night before.
It's not always easy to fit exercise into a busy lifestyle, but it's worth trying to squeeze in at least 20-30 minutes of exercise that gets your heart pumping each day. If you have a desk job, you could make sure you get out at lunch and have a wander instead of eating at your desk.
If you keep it up, you should soon see the benefits in terms of fitness, mood and better sleep!