What is the best for sleep and energy?

For many people, it can be difficult to exercise during the day – leaving in the morning or evening as the only option. But is it better for sleep and energy levels? Experts intervene.

It is generally believed that morning exercise promotes an important aspect of a good sleep: falling asleep faster, According to the neuroscientist of sleep Arsenio Paez, PHD, executive director of the Canadian Sleep Company.

Morning training, especially if carried out outside, can help stimulate the release of melatonin hormone, which regulates the internal clock of the body by reporting that it is time to relax when it is black.

Not only can a faster falling asleep lead to a larger overall rest (and, by extension, to better energy levels), but the exercise in general helps to increase energy in several ways, in particular by increasing blood flow and promoting mitochondrial activity in muscle cells. In addition, the exercise frees endorphins that could give you a natural mental boost to start the day.

However, it should be noted that Waking up too early to do a training session could turn against you, Especially if it harms your sleep and you are unable to make up for these hours lost at night, said Scott Kutscher, MD, sleeping medicine professor at the University of Stanford. Health.

And even if the morning exercise can help you fall asleep more easily, this does not necessarily mean that you will sleep better overall: Research is mixed as to whether morning activity improves the quality of sleep or the total duration of sleep.

Sweet evening training sessions also have their advantages, said Mark Riederer, MD, an associate professor of orthopedics and specialist in sports medicine at the University of Utah.

Doing light exercise at night can help reduce repressed stress or anxiety, Creating a “state of calm just before going to bed,” he said Health. It could also help you sleep more deeply by reducing the frequency you wake up during the night, Pasez added.

But the vigorous training too close to bedtime, more precisely in the hour, are “probably not the best”. Riederer noted. An intense exercise can increase the central body temperature and stimulate the nervous system, making relaxation more difficult.

However, the question of whether the intense evening training disrupts overall sleep remains a subject of debate: some studies suggest that they do not only interfere with rest, but that they can improve the subjective quality of sleep or increase the total duration of sleep.

Of course, if an evening training session prevents you from sleeping at night, you might feel exhausted the next day. But the good news is that, as mentioned above, the exercise triggers a chain of biological effects that can help increase your energy over time.

The way in which training in the morning or evening affects sleep and energy depends on the type of training, your usual sleep and food habits, as well as other individual factors. There is also little research directly comparing both.

In studies that examine how the timing of the exercise specifically affects sleep, the differences seem minimal. “There are no major statistical differences in [sleep] Quality between morning exercise and evening exercise, ”said Kutscher.

Nevertheless, Pase said that it might be useful to consider your specific sleep problems first when you decide when doing the exercise: If you have trouble falling asleep, a morning training session can help you fall asleep faster. But if you tend to wake up overnight, a light training session in the evening could help you stay asleep longer.

On the other hand, a vigorous evening exercise could prevent you from sleeping if it is practiced too close to bedtime.

In the end, the experts claim that the most crucial factor – for sleep, energy and overall benefits of the exercise – is not the moment when you do the exercise, but the regularity of your activity.

“The most important thing is to try to do these 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise throughout the week, as recommended to all Americans for a healthy lifestyle,” said Riederer.