Tag Archives: exercise

How many Calories do I burn While Running?

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We talked recently about what calories are and how many calories we need a day to sustain life.  But how about the number of calories a day we burn when we work out?

In theory, smart watches and calorie trackers such as My Fitness Pal (I’m not sponsored by them, but if underarmor wanted to sponsor me, I’ll take that deal!!!) can make it easy to keep track of calorie burn, but do they take into account all factors such as age, weight, and intensity of the activity? Maybe not so much.  Research from Stanford University and the Swedish School of Sport and Health Science found that the calorie feedback from fitness trackers are usually off by about 27%, which is actually a huge amount if you really stop to think about it.

So what’s the best way to calculate calorie burn when running?  Today, let’s look into some options for tracking the calories you burn running.

How many calories does running burn?

treadThe generalized rule of thumb for calories burned running is that the average person burns 100 calories per mile of running.  However, it’s easy to spot how this can be inaccurate.  This doesn’t take into consideration weight, speed, or how seasoned of a runner you are.  After all, let’s be fair, no 2 runners are created equal.  If that was true, I’d always be able to keep pace with my friend who usually is at least 2 minutes ahead of me!

According to livestrong, a more accurate way to calculate your run is to multiply your weight in pounds by 0.75.  therefore, a 200 pound person will burn 150 calories per mile. By that average, I’ll burn around 93 calories per mile.

Again, this doesn’t take into account the speed you run and the intensity of your work out.

Online calculators will ask you your weight, the length of you workout, how far you went, and sometimes how fast you went.  These calculators will give you more accurate feedback on how many calories your run burned off.

To put the numbers into perspective, I’ll use me as an example.  This is what each option says I burn off doing a 10 minute mile.

General rule: 100 Calories

My Fitness Pal:  90 calories

Livestrong: 93 calories

An Online calculator:  96 calories

Other things to Consider

These calculators don’t take into consideration your basil metabolic rate, the calories you burn while at rest.  Of course, if you are closely monitoring your caloric intake and burn, you should be considering your BMR when considering your daily calorie needs.

You should also keep in mind that no 2 athletes are equal, and everyone is different.  This means that energy expenditure is different for everyone.  In fact, according to the journal of athletic training, different body masses, respiratory quotients, and fast twitch muscle fibers all play a role in energy expenditure.  So although these things aren’t calorie focused, they do play a part in how our bodies us up our energy storages. 

What’s the take away?

calorieThere’s no 100% perfect method to calculate how many calories a person burns when running.  A lot of things go into the calculations.  Running watches and apps can give you generalized ideas of your calorie burn, as can online calculators, but those can also have a level of error.

Basically, take it all with a grain of salt.  Calories are important for giving us energy for day to day functions, but they shouldn’t be our sole focus in life.  The way our bodies and minds feel after a workout is the most important aspect to focus on.  Numbers are just numbers.

How do you calculate and track your runs?  Let me know what methods you use in the comments below!

Until next time,

Kat

Is it okay to Sleep Right After a Workout?

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If you are anything like me you basically survive off of naps and try to sneak them in whenever you can.  But if you are also like me, you also like your gym time.  So that leaves the ever lingering question of: is it okay to take a nap after a workout?  Is it okay to go to sleep directly after working out?  You might be feeling especially tired after a long work out or after a long day of work on top of that, so the temptation to take snooze after you get out of the shower is tempting, but is it doing more harm than good?

Today let’s look into whether or not you should hit the pillow after you work out!

Different Types of Workouts

runFirst, let’s talk about the three different types of workouts you might be doing.

Aerobic Exercise uses oxygen and is most commonly known as cardio exercise.  This includes activities such as running, swimming, or kick boxing among many others.  This type of exercise uses large muscles and increases heart rate.

Anaerobic exercise focuses on non cardio types of work outs that help build strength and resistance.  This includes lifting, sit ups, and pull ups.

Finally, flexibility exercise focuses on stretching and lengthening the muscles.  This includes stretching and yoga exercise.

Every person is different and our bodies react different ways to exercise.  Similarly, every work out is different as well.  Believe it or not there are no definitive studies out there that tell you whether or not you should sleep after you exercise or give yourself time.  Instead, all I can offer you is the theories researchers have regarding exercise and sleep.

The Pros of Sleep after Exercise

sleepAlthough not greatly studied, there may be some pros to sleeping after exercise.  The most important being that sleep allows the body time to repair and grow muscle tissue.  This is true whether you are strength training, working on flexibility, or doing cardio.  Your muscles always need time to repair after a workout.  Exercise in general can also make you feel tired which helps promote sleep.

This is especially true with marathon and long distance runners.  These runners tend to be extra tired when training and after their marathon runs?  Why?  Again, there is no definitive answer to this question.  It may just be from the strain they put on their body over an extended period of time, but it may also be from the increase of hormones affected the immune system (making it work harder due to the strain) that promotes sleepiness.

Whatever the reason, sometimes athletes just need to listen to their bodies and sleep after a workout or else they’ll hit a point of exhaustion later on.

The cons of sleep after exercise

Just like there are benefits, there are also cons to sleeping immediately after working out.

Although there is no study that states whether sleeping after working out affects your metabolism, some people actually believe that taking a nap or going to bed after a workout causes you to burn fewer calories.   Some people back this up saying that it’s because you stop moving around and your body doesn’t have time to gain all the benefits from working out. However, some other research backs up that you still burn plenty of calories while you sleep.  So that jury is kind of out on that one.

The other big con to sleeping after exercise is that it might just mess with your sleep schedule in general. Napping isn’t always the best idea if you have problems falling asleep at night. And working out right before bedtime might affect the way you fall asleep at night.  This isn’t just because you feel energized after a workout, its because exercise increases the stress hormone cortisol (which we’ve discussed here before).  This can actually prevent you from feeling sleepy!

So what should you do?

I think it all depends on what you feel your body needs.  If you are an extreme athlete and feel your body needs a nap after a big work out go ahead and take that nap!  Just make sure to rehydrate and stretch your muscles before lying down. You don’t want to get woken up from leg cramps and Charlie horses.

If you are looking to lose weight, you might want to schedule your workouts after work but a few hours before bed that way you aren’t feeling too tired for work but that way you have plenty of time to still move around and feel all the benefits of your work out!

If you are an insomnia sufferer like me, sleep specialists suggested mild exercise five to six hours before bedtime.  This is because the core body temperature increases while you are working out.  When that core temperature lowers a few hours later, it triggers the body to be sleepy.  I personally find that if I work out too late at night (usually after 7:30pm), it takes me a lot longer to fall asleep than it does if I work out earlier.  Between 3 and 5 is usually my magical work out time. It seems to do me really well.

The important take away message from this is to listen to your own body and feel out what you think you need for yourself.  Only you can decide what your body needs.

When do you like to time your work outs with your sleep schedule? Do you nap before or after working out? Let me know in the comments below.

Until next time,

Kat

 

Sources and further reading:

Kolata, Gina. (2007).  Sleep After Hard Workouts? You Must Be Dreaming.  The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/health/nutrition/13Best.html

Thompson, Jill. (2018). Sleeping (Or Taking a Nap) After Working Out—Should I do it?  The Sleep Advisor.  https://www.sleepadvisor.org/sleep-after-workout/

 

 

Is it Better to Work Out on an Empty Stomach?

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I was recently discussing work out practices with a friend and we got on the subject of fasted work outs vs. non fasted work outs.  He swears by fasting before his hockey practices and games because in his words “it burns more fat that way”.  Meanwhile, I don’t fast more than a couple of hours before my typical gym work out, but because of my cramps, I don’t dare to eat any food the morning before I have a 5k race.  That being said, I’ve still managed to trim down about 10-15 pounds over the course of my training (over the past few years) without a problem, so is there actually any truth to this fasting burning more fat thing?

Today, I want to dive into that a little bit and see if we should all be working out on empty stomachs.

The Benefit of Fasted Work Outs

strenghtIf your main goal is to lose weight opposed to building muscles or stamina train, fasted workouts can really benefit you.

Some research studies actually suggested that fasted work outs can actually burn more fat.  A study done of 64 individuals done in 2013 (Bhutani et al. 2013) found that obese individuals who intermittently fasted (25% of their typical daily calories) and participated in aerobic exercise, lost more weight than those who dieted or just exercised alone.

The science behind this is that first thing in the morning, your body is low on carbs and sugars.  Therefore, when you work out first thing in the morning, or later in the day without eating, your body turns fats into the energy it needs to function.  Sounds great in theory, and that makes it seem like an absolute no brainer, but it’s a sort of gray area in fat burning research.  There are even some studies out there that show that fasted burning doesn’t even really work or have any benefits.  Why? Because if you miss the window for fat burning, you end up in the window for muscle burning instead.

The Downfall of Exercising on an Empty Stomach:

Yup that’s right.  Your body can actually end up burning muscle instead of gaining muscle if you work out when your body doesn’t have enough energy.  Yikes.

runPlus, if you do plan to exercise on an empty stomach, you may have a harder time with working out.  This is because your blood sugar is lower without any food in your system so you might have a harder time with an intense work out.  You might feel signs such as becoming light headed or becoming weakness while working out.  So a light amount of food before a workout will help you to maintain the energy you need for exercising without crashing.  This is especially important if you plan to run a long distance or if you plan to be working out for a long period of time.  

Age plays a big part

If you’re young, there isn’t that much risk to fasted work outs, especially if you are already in good physical shape and don’t have any health concerns.

However, if you are above the age of 50, fasted work outs are not recommended. Light meals before work outs will give your body the benefits it needs to perform well and to recover easily.  When the body is fasted before a workout it operates on a break down state that can lead to muscle loss, especially in older individuals.  Plus, with the protein requirements older individuals need, its best to spread that out over the day.   So fasted work outs just don’t benefit older individuals like it may (or may not) with younger athletes.

No two bodies are the same

It’s important to note that no two people are exactly the same, so the way each person’s body reacts to certain situations are all different.  Fasting work outs may work really well for Jimmy, but not for Todd.

etap

Prime example, I am terrified to eat the morning I have a 5k because I am already so prone to pushing myself more during a race and having my Exercise Related Transient Abdominal Pain rear it’s ugly head that I don’t want to put anything in my system that might trigger other types of cramps.  Plus, all the research I read on ETAP suggested that I should wait a few hours after eating ANYTHING before running.  So I stick true to that.

However, that doesn’t mean that that is going to work for everyone.  Working out regularly is a great time to get to know your body and what your body is capable of.  Take a few weeks to try different things out and see what works best for you.  And if you have any concerns and questions ask your doctor to refer you to a nutritionist who can help you come up with the perfect diet plan to assist your work outs!

Do you fast before you work out or do you eat before you hit the gym? Let me know in the comments below!  Let me know how it works for you!

Until next time,

Kat

 

Sources and Further Reading

Bhutani S. Klempel M, Kroegar C, Trepanowski J.F., Varady K. (2013). Alternate day fasting and endurance exercise combine to reduce body weight and favorably alter plasma lipids in obese humans.  https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/oby.20353

Dr Axe.  Working Out on an Empty Stomach: Does it Burn the Most Fat? https://draxe.com/working-out-on-an-empty-stomach/

Heid, Markham (2017). You Asked: Is It Bad to Exercise on an Empty Stomach? Time. http://time.com/4986422/working-out-fasted-cardio-benefits/

 

How I’ve learned to cope with my Exercise-Related Transient Abdominal Pain

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About a year ago I was “diagnosed” with Exercise-Related Transient Abdominal Pain, which basically means that when I run long distance I feel a side stitch like pain in my lower abdomen.   It sucks a lot which is why last year I actually went to the doctor and had a check up to figure out exactly why I was experiencing this pain.

Long story short, and if you want the long story you can check out this blog post here, but it’s just a stabbing pain in the abdomen caused by physical activity. There’s not a lot of research on what causes it or what to do about it which makes it a really frustrating diagnosis.

That being said, it’s been about a year now and I’ve finally started to figure out how to handle it for myself. And although I haven’t yet mastered running without any pain, I do experience more good runs than I do bad runs. So today, I want to share with you how I have learned to combat my ETAP incase you’re having trouble figuring it out yourself.

Fiber

fiber3After doing a lot of research outside of what the doctor gave to me regarding ETAP, it seemed like a lot of people seemed to think that their symptoms were linked with irritable bowel or constipation.  It seemed to make a lot of sense to me and tracking my own running history, it seemed like a logical explanation.

So I decided to add some extra fiber into my diet to make me more regular.  Not only do I think it’s helped with my running (and making sure I’m cleared before I run), but I really think it’s helped with how I feel overall.  My new doctor (I also changed doctors) told me she thinks everyone could benefit from some more fiber in their lives.

I haven’t added too much, just 6 extra grams of fiber in a chewable tablet.  I take 3g in the morning and 3 grams in the evening.  The days leading up to a race I take 7.5g of extra fiber.  This seems to work really well for me, though everyone’s system and diet is a little different!

Back to Basics

One of the biggest things I did to help combat my ETAP symptoms was to kick it back to where I started with running.  When I first started running, I learned slowly on a treadmill and overtime worked on my stamina.  So when my doctor told me that I may never be a long distance or a fast paced runner, I really questioned if I couldn’t just start to slowly retrain myself to get to a place where I was going longer or going faster.

So I hit the treadmill back up. I started again doing a mile at a time with taking breaks in between until I was consistently reaching 5k without pain and then I started to slowly work on increasing my speed.  I haven’t had any cases on the treadmill recently where I have been in pain so that’s one step for me.  At least I know that I still can work out and exercise without being in excruciating pain.

I do still experience pain sometimes when I am outside running.  I know when I’m outside I’m not always keeping a steady pace and I tend to push myself more.  Hopefully with more training I’ll be able to work out those pains just like I did while on the treadmill.

runsBreathing

Along with retraining on the treadmill, I worked on retraining my breathing technique.  I used to only breath out of my mouth when I was running.  Not only was that a terrible way to get air into my body while running, it also made me able to focus more on how tired I was and pay more attention to the length of the run instead of the quality of the run.  Instead now, I focus on controlling my breathing while I run so that way I am distracted by making sure I am following the right breathing instead of other things.

Although I know the technique for running is breath in for 3 steps, exhale for 2 steps, I’ve found myself doing more of a long inhale through the nose with 2 short breaths out of the mouth.  It seems to help me a lot with my running, although as I worked more towards my goals, I might try to learn more about breathing techniques.

Running with water

My doctor suggested that I run with water available at all times and take a few small sips throughout my run in order to keep hydration in my body.  I definitely tend to get really overheated during summer runs and having the option to rehydrate or event to dump water on my head helps me with my runs so much.   It hasn’t magically taken the stitches away, but it definitely helps.

And it’s helped me to shave a solid thirty seconds of my running time since I don’t feel the need to slow down for water stops!

Compression

compresionI started wearing a compression belt around my abdominal almost immediately after my doctor explained ETAP to me.  It was one of the most highly recommended things to help combat the symptoms.  Not only does it compress the abdomen to help alleviate the cramping, but it also helps to fix posture!

I started with wearing it all the time to help out, but now I only need it when I do outdoor runs.

It has it’s downsides.  It’s very hot and not very breathable, and I definitely need to invest in a tighter one now.  But overall, I am pretty happy with having the option for compression while I run!  They even make compression shirts and pants now that help with the same issues!

The pain is temporary

The biggest thing that has gotten me through ETAP is knowing that after I finish running and I sit down for a few minutes, the pain is going to go completely away.  There are no lingering side effects , I’m not in pain for hours or days, and it’s not going to affect me in the long run.  I just have to push through it and I’ll be fine.

This helps me so much during races because even though I want to stop and I want to give up sometimes, I know the finish line is coming closer and if I just run a little bit longer I’ll get there.

This thinking had me crossing the finish line at my last race with my best time ever and I couldn’t be prouder.

Despite all the pain from ETAP, I wouldn’t give up running for the world.  I love doing it. I love participating in 5k races, and I love the feeling of accomplishment after a race.  ETAP is just an annoying little hurtle I have to work to get over.  It pushes me to work hard and overcome my obstacles.  I know without it I would be a force to be reckoned with, I just have to work to get to that point.

I have 5 more races scheduled for this summer (but I may participate in more depending on how the summer goes) and I want to be crossing the finish line at 29minutes by my last one.  Follow Kat Classics on instagram to keep up with how my races are going!

Are you participating in any races this summer?  What’s your goal time?  Let me know in the comments below.  And let me know if you ever experience ETAP and what you do about it!  I love to hear from you guys!

Until next time,

Kat

 

Why do my muscles ache more 2 days after I exercise?

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workI love working out.  Honestly though, when I first started my running regimen, I absolutely hated it.  I didn’t look forward to running and I had to force myself to go to the gym.  Fast forward to now, I haven’t had as much time to get to the track to run and I’ve come to realize that I miss it.  I don’t feel as well when I’m not running and it makes a big difference to my day.

But the one thing I absolutely never got used to was the fact that I was always sore after running.  But I wasn’t usually too sore the day after my long runs.  It was the day after that, two days after the run, that I was always extra sore.  It seems that this is actually pretty common for all sorts of people.  But why do we feel more sore two days after a workout?  What causes this sensation and what can we do to help minimize pain?

What is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness?

Believe it or not, there’s actually a name for feeling sore two days after your workout session opposed to feeling sore right after.  That name is Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, also known as DOMS.

Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, is a soreness that occurs between one and three days after an intense workout or after working out when you haven’t been previously working out.  The pain can range from small aches, mistaken as knots, or can be very intense and mistaken as strains.  Although thankfully, the pain is neither, in fact, it’s completely normal.  This soreness is triggered by intense strain on your body, either by a rigorous workout or by a workout unfamiliar to your body.

What causes Onset Muscle Soreness?

Although there isn’t an exact science behind what causes onset muscle soreness, some doctors believe it is your body’s natural response to recovery after a workout.  After a workout, your body takes four to five days to recover.

muscless

On the first day, your body releases a hormone called cytokines which direct cells to heal your muscles, which are inflamed from exercise.  While this is happening, prostaglandins, which are hormones that affect how cells respond to injury, trigger a message for blood to flow to the inflamed area for healing.  This process begins slowly in the 24 hours after your workout.

On the second day, the muscle recovery hits its peak.  Many doctors believe that during this peak your muscles will be at their sorest as they are recovering (Oerman, 2014).

This soreness is most associated with a type of exercise called “eccentric muscle contractions” which is when the muscle is contracting at the same time it is lengthening.  This is common in techniques like curls and quads, and running downhill (Klein, 2014).

But why does my body need to recover?

So what exactly is causing your muscles to need to recover?  Why does it have to be so painful?  Well, when you workout, your muscles tear very slightly.  As a response your body repairs it to help build more muscles.  This rebuilding process takes time and that’s why rest days between intense workouts are extremely necessary.

Just because you’re sore doesn’t mean that you’re building more muscle than the day you weren’t sore.  Most of it has to do instead with the type of workout you did and the recovery time it takes to feel better.

What can I do to minimize this pain?

stretchThe most important part of working out is to make sure you are stretching and warming up before working out and cooling down and once again stretching after.  This is important to aid in your muscle recovery.

As far as relief once you’ve experienced DOMS, there are a few things you can do to help out.  Sadly, as much as you think getting a massage or taking a hot bath will help alleviate this pain, truth be told, it’s difficult to actually rub out those pains. (Although I’m not going to tell you that you can’t go get a massage anyway).  If you’re looking for instant relief though, you might just want to try an anti inflammatory medication and let your body go through its healing process.

When you’re in this kind of pain, you probably think it’s a good idea to take a few days away from the gym.  As much as you would like to take a week to let your body recover, studies say that the best way to overcome DOMS is to continue working out.  Work through the pain and help those muscles build.  If you’re feeling too sore to move, taking a break is okay, but don’t stay away from the gym too long.  Your muscles will get more used to the exercise as you do it and you’ll find it becomes less and less painful.

DOMS is normal and a lot of athletes experience it at some point or another. It’s all part of building muscles and becoming fit.  As long as the pain eventually goes away, you have nothing to worry about, but if it persists for more than a week, you should definitely go seek out a doctor and see if you might have torn something or strained your muscles in some way.

Have you ever had DOMS?  Has it kept you from hitting the gym again?  Let me know about how you fight through DOMS in the comments below!

Until next time,

Kat

 

Sources and further reading:

Klein, S. (2014). Ask Healthy Living: Why Do Sore Muscles Feel Worse on the Second Day.  The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/29/second-day-muscle-soreness_n_4324296.html

Oerman, A. (2014). Why you’re More sore Two Days after You Exercise.  Women’s Health. http://www.womenshealthmag.com/fitness/delayed-onset-muscle-soreness

Does Sleep affect Exercise and Weight Loss?

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Last week we talked about how exercise can affect how well you sleep and the quality of sleep you receive at night.  But what about the other side of that?  Does sleep affect the way that you exercise?  Does getting a full night’s sleep really make a difference in how you perform the next day while you’re running?  And what about with weight loss?  Does sleep really make that big of a difference if you’re trying to lose weight?  The answers may seem pretty obvious, but let’s look at a little science behind it just to check.

How does sleep affect exercise?

sleepThis might seem simple and obvious enough.  The less sleep you have, the more tired you are, and the less likely you’ll have a good work out.  But does the research actually support this hypothesis?  Actually, you probably won’t be too surprised to find out that it does.  In fact, there have been a large number of studies trying to find the correlation between sleeping habits and exercise.

A study of the Stanford Tennis Team showed that compared to a normal amount of sleep, when athletes slept 10 hours a night their performance increased.  Not only did they feel more awake and alert, but their sprinting times, hitting accuracy, and hitting depth all increased.  Although there are other possible explanations for these increases, researchers believe that there is in fact a correlation between sleep length and quality and increased effectiveness of the athletes’ workouts (Parker-Pope, 2009).

What about the other way around?  How does lack of sleep affect exercise?  A study looking at how sleep deprivation affects workout performance found some rather interesting results.  Through this study, researchers found that although little to no affect on body response to activity is observed (cardiovascular and respiratory responses) when subjects were sleep deprived, the time it took for them to become exhausted decreased significantly.  Therefore, subjects were finding themselves getting tired from the work out sooner than if they had significant amounts of sleep.  This means that they were not able to get a full, beneficial work out (VanHelder et al, 1989).

Not only does sleep help you feel awake and alert and keep you from tiring out, but sleep also helps your body to restore and rejuvenate for the next day.  This allows your muscle to recuperate from a previous work out and your body to be ready for the next day and the next work out.

Why does the body tire out more easily when exhausted?

When our bodies are overly exhausted, they compensate by increasing insulin resistance and decreasing glucose tolerance.

insulinInsulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that lets the body use and process sugar from carbohydrates which is then used for energy.  When your body has an insulin resistance, you are not making as much of the hormone and your body is using what you have for energy, running out, and not storing any excess.  This is why you tire out sooner.

Glucose tolerance helps your body to regulate how sugar is broken down and used.  Decreased glucose tolerance, or impaired glucose tolerance, can actually cause diabetes and other health issues.

So what does all of this mean for weight loss?

Sleep is actually highly connected to weight changes for multiple reasons.  Many studies show that sleep helps you to lose weight because your body is recovering from the previous day and your chemistry is resetting.

When you are losing sleep, this interrupts the resetting of your chemistry and causes a number of imbalances and problems.  For example, sleep loss is connected with alterations in hormone levels that are responsible for regulating your appetite (Weichel, 2013).   In fact, lack of sleep produces the stress hormone cortisol which actually increases appetite (Breus, 2011). This means you are going to be hungrier during the day, eat more, and take in more calories.  It also doesn’t help that when you sleep less your glucose metabolism changes and causes calories to be stored as fat instead of being used for energy.  A study actually showed that although there wasn’t a significant in weight loses between good sleepers and poor sleepers, good sleepers lost more fat through the nights (Breus, 2011).

Also, when you sleep well, you are going into more and longer REM sleep cycles as the night goes on.  During the REM sleep, you are actually burning the most calories of all your sleep.  When you cut this short, lose REM sleep cycles, or don’t sleep at all, you are depriving your body the time and ability to burn those calories (Breus, 2011).  So sleeping a full, restful night is actually helping you burn off calories.  Even more reason to get sleep!  It’s like a workout without even trying.

Have you ever noticed a difference in your workouts if you didn’t sleep well?  Have you noticed you don’t drop pounds as well when you’re not sleeping well?  Let me know your thoughts about this topic in the comments below!

Until next time,

Kat

Sources:

Breus, M.J. (2011). How Sleep Affects Weight Loss. Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michael-j-breus/sleep-weight-loss_b_881186.html

Parker-Pope, T. (2009). To Improve Fitness, Try Sleep.  New York Times. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/for-a-better-workout-try-sleep/comment-page-2/?apage=2&_r=0

VanHelder, T, Radomski, MW. (1989). Sleep deprivation and the effect on exercise performance. Sports Meds.

Weichel, T. (2013). How Sleep Affects Exercise and Weight Loss. NIFS. http://www.nifs.org/blog-0/bid/234929/How-Sleep-Affects-Exercise-and-Weight-Loss

Does Exercise Affect the Way You Sleep?

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exerciseWe’ve spent a good amount of time on this blog discussing many different aspects of fitness and how it affects health. We’ve also talked about how sleep can affect your health.  So, it shouldn’t come to much surprise that fitness, especially exercise, has something to do with sleep.  But what exactly is that?

Maybe you’ve noticed a difference in the way you sleep after you’ve gone through a spell of working out.  Or maybe you haven’t noticed a difference.  But did you know that there are dozens upon dozens of studies out there showing that there is a correlation between exercise and how you sleep at night?  So what are those correlations and how do they affect you?  Let’s find out.

What is the correlation between exercise and sleep?

If you’ve ever had sleep problems, you’ve probably tried a number of things to increase the effectiveness of your sleep at night.  One of those tricks might have been to keep a regular exercise schedule.  But do you know why you were supposed to do that?

There have been many studies conducted on how exercise affects the way we sleep at night.  In fact, many studies have found that keep a regular exercise schedule can help with how well you sleep at night.

Some studies suggest that acute exercise, walking or biking, shows a slight improvement in sleep among those who don’t have much trouble sleeping (Youngstedet et al, 2005).  This is great for those who are fit and don’t have much trouble sleeping at night.  It just means that they’re going to get a higher quality of sleep overall.  Good for them, but what about those of us who aren’t considered to be “good sleepers,” as the study Youngstedet was speaking of called them.

Sleep-Exercise-Study

Photo Credit: National Sleep Foundation Exercise helps to increase the amount and quality of sleep in individuals. The longer and harder the duration, the stronger the affects.

Well, good news for those of us who aren’t the greatest at sleeping and staying asleep.  According to the National Sleep Foundation, a few cited studies looking at exercise and insomnia found that adults who suffer from insomnia can sleep better with exercise.  According to these sources, after 2-24 weeks of exercise adults suffering from insomnia found themselves falling asleep more quickly and sleeping longer and at a better overall quality. (National Sleep Foundation).  This doesn’t mean that exercise is the insomnia fix for everyone suffering from the sleep disturber (after all, correlation does not mean causation), but it might be worth a try if you’re constantly finding it hard to sleep at night.

So what other interesting things did these studies find?  Well for one, a study found that acute exercise elicits a slight improvement in sleep and that the effects of this are increased with longer exercise duration.  Studies also found that there isn’t a big difference in the effect exercise has on sleep between fit and unfit people (Youngstedt et al, 2005).  So even if you haven’t been working out regularly before, you should still be able to benefit from the sleep aid of working out.  So really, there isn’t an excuse not to be working out regularly.  There are so many benefits to bask in!

But it matters what time of day I work out, right?

We’ve all heard somewhere or another that it’s better to work out in the morning than it is at night, or that it’s better to work out between 2 and 5 pm—some kind of advice on the correct time to work out.  But is there actually an ideal time to work out?

Honestly, according to a handful of studies, all those suggestions are just myths.  According to the compilation of studies from Youngstedt, time of day has basically no influence on how exercise affects sleep, and if it does, it’s pretty minuscule (Youngstedt et al, 2005).

That being said, you might notice that there’s a certain time of day that matters the most to your body.  Maybe you notice that if you wait to work out at 5 pm, you’re not exactly tired enough by your 10pm bed time.  Or maybe you notice that if you get up at 6 am and hit the gym you feel more awake throughout your work day.  Whatever seems like the most ideal time for your body and your sleep habits to exercise, that’s when you should be scheduling your workouts.

So exercise is good for sleep, but why?

The exact mechanisms explaining why exercise is so beneficial to sleep is still pretty much a mystery to researchers.  And despite the extensive amount of research that has been done on the topic, there is still a lot of work to be done.  But, there have been some attempts to explain why this correlation does exist.

sleepyogi

Remember what we’ve learned about how light sleep, deep sleep and REM sleep cycles work. Decreasing REM cycles can mean you spend more time during the night in the other cycles and may mean you sleep better.

According to Dr. Hirshkowitz and an article written for the National Sleep Foundation, a group of scientists complied research from 38 different studies and found consistent findings suggesting that exercise increased total sleep time, increased sleep wave time, decreased REM sleep time, and prolonged latency of REM sleep (Hirshkowitz, 2013).  I’ll link you back to my post on sleep if you want to sit through and analyze what that means for yourself.  But basically, in the simplest form, the studies suggest that exercise helps to reset the sleep-wake cycle.  Again, the exact mechanism that causes this is unknown, but many researchers believe that it has to do with exercise raising your body temperature and then allowing it to drop throughout the next few hours and triggering sleepiness (National Sleep Foundation).

Exercise is also said to decrease arousal, anxiety, and depression symptoms, all factors in troubled sleeping.  This lack of stress helps for you to calm down and tires you out helping your over all sleep (National Sleep Foundation).

There’s still a lot of research to be done to tell us more about the affect exercise has on sleep, but for now it’s helpful to know that exercise can help you sleep at night.  Use this as that extra little push you needed to get yourself working out again, get yourself working out harder, or to keep you doing exactly what you’re doing.  Good sleep benefits your health in a lot of ways, mentally, physically, and emotionally, so make sure you’re doing all you can to help yourself get quality sleep.

Did you know about this correlation before reading this?  Did this change your outlook on how you work out?  Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

Until next time,

Kat

Sources:

Hirshkowitz, M PhD (2013). How does Exercise Affect Sleep Duration and Quality? National Sleep Foundation. http://sleepfoundation.org/ask-the-expert/how-does-exercise-affect-sleep-duration-and-quality

National Sleep Foundation (2015). A good workout can help you get great shut-eye. https://sleep.org/articles/exercise-affects-sleep/

National Sleep Foundation (2015). How does exercise help those with chronic insomnia? http://sleepfoundation.org/ask-the-expert/how-does-exercise-help-those-chronic-insomnia/page/0/1

Youngstedt, S.D., Freelove-Charton, J.D. (2005). Sleep and Exercise. Exercise, Health, and Mental Health- emerging relationships.