Exercise tips if you aren’t sleeping well

Welcome back to this week’s edition of 2-Minute Tuesdays where we are talking about one exercise topic for two minutes and giving you three reasons why you should follow our advice.  Now this week, we are talking to those of you who are having a little bit of difficulty sleeping. How can you exercise safely and efficiently despite not sleeping so well?

1) Don’t Forget About Resistance Training

Tip number one – don’t forget about resistance training.  Resistance training is so important, no matter your age or what you are going through in life right now.  Make sure you are still resistance training to keep all of your muscles strong. Our tip is to keep your resistance training workouts at a light to medium intensity to make sure you don’t overdo it during this time of minimal sleep.

Action Step:  Schedule at least two days of 30 minutes of resistance training each week.  Look to incorporate exercises for your entire body, and make sure to give yourself enough rest between exercises.  Keep your intensity at a 7 or lower out of 10, as pushing yourself too hard with your workouts while you are not sleeping well could lead to your body becoming overtrained or injured.

Related:  Sleeping poorly? Take these tips into consideration with your workouts.

2) Keep In Mind The Time Of Day

Tip number two – keep in mind the time of day when you are exercising.  Leave at least two hours, if not upwards of four hours, between the end of your workout and when you are going to hit the hay.  The biggest thing with the timing is to make sure to leave enough time between your workout and your bedtime to allow your body to calm down.  This way, your body is not disrupted when it is trying to go to sleep.

Action Step:  Try to workout earlier in the day rather than later.  Exercising right before you go to sleep can be disruptive to your sleep, as your sympathetic nervous system may be activated from your workout when you really need to be calming down and relaxing.

Related: Do you exercise at night? Make sure you are doing this.

3) Establish A Workout Routine

Tip number three – establish a workout routine.  Often times, getting into routines and patterns can help your sleep as your body will learn when it is time to start calming down.  Although exercise will probably not solve all of your sleeping issues, making sure you get into a routine and create some consistency with your exercise can really help your body normalize.

Action Step:  Finding a consistent time of day to exercise can do wonders for helping your body start to calm down at the right time before you go to sleep.  Look at your schedule for the next week and see if there is a time consistent time when you can get a workout in throughout most of the week.