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Exercising is rightly regarded as one of the key ways to achieve wellbeing and maintain a healthy lifestyle, however its relationship with sleep is perhaps more complex than most people realise.

A common misconception with regards to exercising and sleep is that a late evening workout tires out the body and encourages a better quality sleep. While the endorphins and serotonin released during sustained exercise help contribute towards a ‘good’ feeling (sometimes called the “runner’s high”) that eventually leads to relaxation, the process also triggers some effects that simply aren’t compatible with sleep.

Exercise dramatically raises your temperature, and while the traditional ‘warm-down’ helps lessen the impact of rapid warming and cooling on your muscles, your overall body temperature takes much longer to become regulated to a comfortable level. Going to bed while the body is still in an overheated state leads to restlessness and makes it difficult to fall asleep quickly. Secondly, the heart rate rapidly increases during exercise, and in the same way that temperature can take a surprisingly long time to return to a regular level, the heart also takes time to slow back down.

Anything that impacts on sleep quality invariably causes tiredness the following day, and poorly timed exercise sessions certainly fall into this category. No matter how pleasurable and rewarding exercise can be, as far as the body is concerned it is ‘work’. Regularly training your body and mind for late evening exercising forms a preparatory anticipation of this ‘work’, which is the exact opposite of what’s required in the hours leading up to good quality sleep. Instead of allowing your body to go into a gradual relaxation at the end of the day, late exercise forces it to become suddenly alert and ready at an inopportune time, upsetting how the body reacts to the typical activity cycle of the day.

Attuning your exercise regime to good quality sleep isn’t difficult, it’s simply a case of timing and being aware that leaving it too late in the day won’t give your body the time it needs to prepare for sleep. Treating sleep as an activity in the same way as exercise – one that needs preparation and regularity - goes a long way to ensuring you’ll get an uninterrupted and good quality night’s sleep.

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