Working out before bed might seem like a no-brainer.
Clear your head, expend extra energy — and collapse, feeling accomplished, for a good night’s sleep.
But Dr. Shelby Harris, a licensed clinical psychologist and behavioral sleep medicine specialist at BetterSleep, says it’s not that simple: Certain workout habits could “have a big impact” on your rest and seriously get in the way of your sleep.
Mistake #1: Going too hard
Later-in-the-day exercise can help or hurt quality sleep — the key is how vigorous the workout is.
A study from last year that looked at four million nights of sleep found that the more strenuous the workout, the later the person fell sleep, the less they slept overall, and the more their sleep quality was disrupted.
“Vigorous exercise can disrupt sleep close to bedtime because it temporarily puts the body into a more alert state,” Harris told The Post. “A demanding workout shortly before bed can make it harder for the body to wind down.”
This could be a workout like high intensity interval training, hard running and intense cycling.
These all keep your body from naturally cooling down and slowing heart rate during sleep, which delays sleep overall but also disrupts the deepest stages.
Cardio isn’t the enemy, Harris points out. “Intensity is what matters. An easy jog or relaxed bike ride may affect sleep very differently than sprint intervals or an all-out class.”
If you’re still breathing heavily, your heart’s racing and you feel energized 30 to 60 minutes after the workout, you may have pushed too hard she said. Those are signs the exercise was too stimulating, and in the future you should consider moving it earlier in your day.
Mistake #2: Working out too close to bedtime
If there’s not enough time between breaking a sweat and hitting the hay, you may regret it while you’re trying to drift off into dreamland.
Harris recommends at least two hours between finishing a vigorous workout and going to bed to give your body a chance to recover.
Mistake #3: Supplementing wrong
Do you take supplements when you workout? You may want to reconsider.
Avoiding caffeine before bed may seem obvious, but it’s lurking in a lot of pre-workout products — and can stay in your system for hours.
There are other ingredients that can stimulate the body as well, like “synephrine, yohimbine or large doses of green tea extract, which may increase alertness and interfere with sleep,” Harris added. “Even ingredients marketed as ‘natural energy boosters’ can have stimulating effects.”
She recommends reading labels carefully if you’re working out later in the day.
The flip side: When exercise can improve sleep
By exercising moderation, you can not only avoid getting wired but actually help your sleep with a workout.
The best choice before bed is low-intensity movement like restorative yoga, stretching, light Pilates or an easy walk, Harris said.
These can “help reduce muscle tension, calm the nervous system, and signal to your body that it’s time to transition toward sleep,” she said.
“These forms of movement also encourage slower breathing and relaxation, which can make it easier to fall asleep.”
Even moderate aerobic exercise, like brisk walking, cycling, swimming or jogging, is consistently associated with improved sleep quality and can help people fall asleep more easily and spend more time in restorative deep sleep, she added.
Rather than thinking about getting your heart pumping, focus more on helping “young body unwind after a busy day,” she recommended.
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