Exercise for better sleep; sleep for better exercise

By Lisa Zeigel

I hate to admit it, but I am not a morning person! My natural tendency is to go to bed late and to rise late, which is not a good habit if you are a personal trainer. Many of my clients liked to train early before going in to the office, so I would stumble into the gym and force myself to wake up and try to function. I don't have to do this in my current job, thankfully. However, I am realizing that I could really benefit from improving my sleep schedule, knowing that this would not only help my exercise performance, but may also help me avoid the aches and pains that sometimes come with activity.

I started incurring "sleep debt" early on after starting my exercise habit, when I found exercising after work was a big challenge. Around mid-afternoon it seemed impossible that I would be able to summon enough energy at the end of the day to get through a workout, although I was able to, (and I always felt energized afterward). However, every day I had to talk myself into it (most people drop out of exercising because they talk themselves out of going to the gym). So I then got the bright idea that going to the gym before work would be easier, and it was. I liked that I was able to get it out of the way and not have to worry about it. (It was also nice to beat the morning commuter traffic.) To allow enough time to work out, shower, get dressed, and have some breakfast before I was supposed to be at my desk, (luckily, there was a gym facility in the building) I needed to leave my house by five a.m. But did I get to bed each night in time to get eight hours of sleep? No way! It was more like five to six hours!

I carried on with this sort of routine for years until I noticed I wasn't getting the results I wanted from my exercising, and I started getting aches and pains that would not go away, along with a few minor injuries. I finally came to the realization that lack of sleep was the main contributor to these issues. Since then, I have learned much about the sleep/exercise connection.

One of the first things I hear from people when they begin a new exercise program is about how much better they sleep. This is partly due to enhanced favorable brain activity as well as a person's increased feelings of well-being, ability to handle stress, and more. Throughout each eight to nine-hour period of sleep, we go through four to six cycles of four distinct stages of non-REM in addition to another stage of REM slumber. Each full cycle lasts from 90 minutes to nearly two hours. During these cycles a lot is going on, including repair and growth of muscle and other tissue, metabolic activity, and maintenance and building of the immune system. So you can see that if you're not getting enough hours of sleep, you won't go through as many cycles of these important functions.

Over time, an accumulated "sleep debt" can lead to a variety of difficulties; in regards to exercise, these can include: delayed reaction time (critical in sports), impaired judgment, inability to concentrate, and depression (despite the mood-enhancing effects of exercise). And those are only the mental aspects. Physically, sleep-deprived people suffer from delayed repair of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and fascia, which can lead to ongoing pain and increased risk of injury. The immune system is also compromised, leading to increased incidence of illness. Taking time out from exercise to overcome a cold or the flu is something I often observe when working with clients, so I know this can create a huge setback for those who are trying to maintain an exercise program.

One of the biggest reasons people exercise is because of the metabolic boost, but this will be diminished with lack of sleep! One reason is due to the restraint of muscle and tissue repair, but in addition, levels of an appetite-suppressing hormone called leptin tend to increase along with an increase of an appetite-stimulating peptide called ghrelin.¹ So if you are eating more, you may be counter-acting the calorie-burning effects of exercise!

And the last thing I will mention is that when you incur a sleep deficit, you just will not have the energy to put in the effort you would like to exercise. Physical activity is normally an energy-booster, but this good effect will be canceled out if your brain's and your body's cells have not had the chance to re-generate. For someone who is trying to make exercise a habit, this could be a factor in whether they continue or drop out!

Lack of sleep and sleep disorders are under-reported problems in our fast-paced lifestyles. Much of this can be addressed by simple changes in our habits, such as:

• Developing a regular sleep schedule (going to bed and rising at the same hours, even on weekends).
• Creating a pre-sleep ritual geared toward relaxation instead of stimulation (e.g. take a warm bath and keep the bedroom dark, cool, and quiet).
• Make sleep a priority!

And although exercise really does help you sleep better, if the timing is wrong, it can also lead to over-stimulation that can have a negative effect, so try to avoid vigorous activity within three hours of your bedtime.

So now that you know more about the sleep/exercise connection, you can take some steps to ensure you get the rest you need to enhance the good effects of activity!

¹ http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/502825