Tired after a restless night where you couldn’t sleep? One of the most useful things you can do is to exercise, according to a new study, cited by CNN
“Physically active people have a lower risk of insomnia symptoms and extreme sleep duration, both long and short,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. Erla Björnsdóttir, sleep expert and professor and part-time researcher at Reykjavik University.
The study, published Tuesday in the journal BMJ Open, analyzed data from more than 4,300 people aged 39 to 67 over 10 years.
Björnsdóttir is affiliated with an app that monitors sleep and offers tips and resources for better sleep. The company did not fund this study, and the authors report no competing interests.
Participants from nine European countries were asked about the frequency, intensity, and duration of physical activity, as well as insomnia symptoms, amount of sleep each night, and feeling sleepy during the day.
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Those who were persistently active were 55% more likely to sleep naturally – those who sleep between 6 and 9 hours a night – and those who became active during the time period were 21 percent more likely to sleep normally — after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI) and smoking history, the study found.
The results are relevant in their own right but are also supported by the literature, said Dr. David Neubauer, associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He was not involved in the research.
“Our results are consistent with previous studies showing a beneficial effect of physical activity on insomnia symptoms, but the current study further shows the importance of exercise consistency over time,” Björnsdóttir said in an email. “Therefore, it is important to be physically active throughout life to reduce the risk of insomnia and short sleep duration.”
