We all know how difficult it can be to function after a night of poor sleep. But as we age, getting a solid amount of shuteye each night becomes even more important for our overall health. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon to suffer from insomnia after age 60, with many people turning to supplements such as melatonin. But now, new research suggests that working a simple fitness routine into your daily routine can greatly improve your sleep while boosting your physical health.
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Could resistance training help with insomnia?
The latest findings come from a meta-analysis published on March 3 in the journal BMJ Family Medicine and Community Health. In it, a team of researchers looked at data from 24 different studies that included over 2,000 participants aged 60 or older, all of whom had been medically diagnosed with insomnia.
The researchers analyzed data from participants’ cardio and resistance workouts, which were found to be “mild to moderate or moderate” at an average of about 50 minutes per session 3 times per week.
Results of the study showed that participants saw their Global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (GPSQI) score increase across all types of exercise. However, those who did strength and resistance training saw it increase the most at 5.75 points, followed by aerobic exercise at 3.76 points and combination workouts at 2.54.
Why are these workouts so beneficial for sleep?
In their conclusion, the researchers added that sleep education also had a positive effect on GPSQI—albeit still less than resistance training. So why do workouts like weight training and bodyweight exercises help us get rest?
“Sleep is essentially recovery for wear and tear on the body that has occurred during the day,” Jade Wu, PhD, a sleep psychologist and founder of Thrive Sleep Clinic in North Carolina who wasn’t involved in the latest research, told CNN. “Resistance training puts literal wear and tear on muscles, so sleep is needed to repair and grow those muscles.”
“Learning new movements also builds new pathways in the brain and encourages sleep, because we rehearse new things we learn during certain stages of sleep. In short, resistance training very effectively ‘earns’ sleep,” Wu explained.
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These types of workouts are also age-appropriate.
While it might be more difficult to keep up some of the more aggressive workouts as we age, scientists point out that resistance training is actually well-suited to seniors. According to Rachel Salas, a sleep neurologist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Sleep and Wellness in Maryland who was not involved in the study, part of this has to do with the ability to keep it as a consistent part of your daily schedule.
“Resistance training may be a good option for many people because it’s not intense. There’s not a risk of falling,” she told CNN. “There are caveats that we think about in older adults.”
The takeaway:
According to new research, adding resistance training to your regimen could help improve sleep quality if you’re over 60. A meta-analysis found that activities like weight lifting and bodyweight training improved participants’ quality of sleep scores better than aerobic or combination exercises.
“Exercise, particularly strengthening exercise and aerobic exercise, is beneficial for enhancing subjective sleep quality at a clinically significant level compared with normal activities,” the researchers wrote in their conclusion.
Content shared from bestlifeonline.com.