Sleep, wellbeing, and exercise

In this two-minute article, I’ll explore some evidence-based ideas for getting better sleep, why exercise is so essential and the resources available to help you better sleep.

Not sleeping beauty

Over the last twelve months, I’ve done a lot of sleep well webinars for teams.??But part of me feels a bit of a fraud.??During the pandemic, I’ve experienced many restless nights, and many of the evidence-based ideas I talk about just don’t seem to work for me.

When it comes to sleep, I think self-compassion is essential. Non-sleep is part of the human condition. Poor sleep often comes because we care. We care for each other, the planet, our colleagues, and our family and friends.?

Given the state of the environment, the separation from loved ones caused by the pandemic, loss of old routines and job insecurity, it’s hardly surprising that many of us lie awake at night.

The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself - don't over think sleep

The leading sleep researchers, such as Matthew Walker, point to the adverse impact of not getting enough good quality sleep; increased incidences of cancer, cardiovascular disease, dementia, obesity, diabetes, and premature death.??

If you read a book like, “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker, you might get so stressed that the fear of not sleeping might worsen your sleep.?

It’s important to listen to the sleep experts and also keep a balanced perspective on sleep. It’s normal human behaviour to experience poor sleep sometimes. There are so many reasons why poor sleep is normal - for new parents or when we are on big projects at work or being a carer or ill.

What helps people sleep better?

There are so many important takeaways from sleep research; such as cutting way back on caffeine and alcohol, increasing exercise, keeping the temperature of the room down low, avoiding bright lights in the evening, not eating for two hours before bed, practising mindfulness in the evening and reducing screentime in the hour before bed.

Try changing some of your routines for a week. Then, keep a record of your sleep quality, either in a journal or using an app.

Exercise and sleep

In a recent piece of research Emmanuel Stamatakis from Sydney University explored the relationship between sleep and exercise. Surprisingly few studies have examined how sleep and physical activity interact and impact our health.?

Poor quality sleep is linked with inflammation in the body and brain, impaired glucose metabolism (blood sugar). It reduces the number of calories burned, increasing the risk of obesity and increasing heart disease risk.

Exercise has a positive impact on each of the above. The researchers wanted to know whether poor-quality sleep was partly mitigated for people who exercised.?

I’ve been interested in whether lifestyle habits counteract the adverse impacts of sleep.??For example, do parents who lose a night’s sleep partially rest and restore when they get cuddles and enjoy elevated levels of oxytocin? Does running, meditation, swimming or getting massages help us rest and restore the brain??

When we sleep, we flush away amyloids (toxins that build up during the day). However, when sleep researchers observe brain functioning in people who experience poor sleep, they rarely explore whether the damage caused by poor sleep can be mitigated.

Exercise may help mitigate poor quality sleep

Emmanuel Stamatakis analysed the information provided by 380,055 middle-aged adults in the UK Biobank study, recruited between 2006 and 2010.??They split the participants into three categories of sleep quality:

• Healthy sleepers
• ?Intermediate sleep quality
• Poor sleep quality participants

And divided the group depending on their level of exercise:

• Upper threshold of WHO guidelines – above 300 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity a week, or above 150 minutes of vigorous exercise, or a combination of both.?
• ?Lower limits of WHO guidelines - above 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise, or a combination.
• ?Little or no physical activity

The researchers followed up with the participants after 11 years. By 2020, 15,000 participants had died, of which 4,000 died from heart disease, and 9,000 died from cancer.

Compared to healthy sleepers, people with poor sleep had a 23% higher risk of premature death, a 39% higher risk of dying from heart disease, and a 13% higher risk of dying from cancer.

Comparing the poor-quality sleepers who exercised a lot or not at all

?The people who had the highest risk of dying from heart disease and cancer had??poor sleep and didn’t meet the WHO physical activity guidelines.?

Those who had poor sleep but did enough physical activity to meet the WHO guidelines didn’t have as high a risk of dying from heart disease or cancer as those who slept poorly and didn’t meet the physical activity guidelines.

The poor sleepers who took no physical activity had a 45% higher risk of dying from cancer than those who had a healthy sleep and exercised a lot.?

However, the poor sleepers who met the physical activity guidelines didn’t have a higher risk of dying from cancer.

A little bit of exercise goes a long way

The research found that even people who met at least the bottom threshold of the WHO guidelines could reduce or eliminate some of the health harms of poor sleep.?

Getting help with sleep

The sleep researchers who look at how poor sleep impacts our bodies and brains are right to warn us about the long term adverse impacts of poor sleep and the lifestyle changes which can help us get a solid 7.5 to 8.5 hours per night.

However, this extensive study suggests that exercise might be an important tool in equipping us with tools to handle the lack of sleep when we experience a significant life event (babies, workload, moving homes, pandemic, bereavement etc).?

And exercise also helps us regulate our circadian rhythms and other sleep patterns. We have evolved to be outside, moving under the sky.??Exercise and good quality sleep go hand in hand.

If you want more information about our sleep well programs, contact us today.