Rise and Exercise

Many people hear that exercise promotes a better quality of sleep, but how many people are actually taking advantage of this? Come on, people. All you have to do is take 30 minutes out of your day and get in a little exercise. Even if you just woke up in the morning and went outside on a walk, you would increase your quality of sleep tremendously. First of all, because you are actually getting in some exercise, but secondly exposure to natural light will reinforce your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle. The best time of the day to exercise is in the morning, for many reasons.

A great way to increase your quality of sleep is through exercise, but it is critical of what time of the day you choose to exercise. Many people may go on a night run, or go to the gym hours before they fall asleep, but this may actually decrease your quality of sleep. This is why so many people have a hard time believing that exercise will help you sleep! They are just choosing the wrong time to exercise. When you exercise before bed, you actually stimulate your brain, muscles, and heart, which makes it harder to fall asleep. The last thing you want is exercise screwing up your sleep patterns. The best way to achieve a good night’s sleep is to exercise in the morning or mid day.

Start Now!

You can begin your new workout routine now! Start exercising today and see if your quality of sleep increases tonight, I bet it will. If you enjoy listening to music, go on a walk or run and listen to your iPod. This website offers some great running tips. If you don’t enjoy running, try something spontaneous, such as yoga, rock climbing, biking, etc. There are many activities that are recreational that can still benefit your night’s sleep.

If you want to feel more productive throughout your day, and sleep more soundly at night, then you should really think about exercising in the morning. If you are not a morning person, I would suggest working out at least 3 hours before you go to sleep, so you do not disrupt sleep patterns. I’ve found a really great article that offers 10 Ways to Get Motivated for a Morning Workout. I would suggest reading that and take exercise one step at a time. Start slowly and workout for maybe 10-20 minutes a day, and then start increasing that time as you improve. You will feel a complete change in your mind and body, and most of all in your sleep patterns!