Research from the University of Otago has found that short bursts of light activity before bedtime can improve sleep, despite long-held advice against intense exercise before bed.

The world's first study, published in the journal BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine and funded by the Health Research Council, involved two evening sessions of four hours each: one with prolonged sitting and the other with interruptions every half hour for three minutes of activity.

After the intervention with active breaks, participants slept 30 minutes longer.

Author Jennifer Gale
Doctoral student in the Department of Human Nutrition, Jennifer Gale, emphasizes that prolonged sitting is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and mortality.

"For many of us, the longest periods of uninterrupted sitting occur at home in the evening. In our previous studies, we found that standing up and exercising for two to three minutes every 30 minutes reduces the amount of sugar and fat in the blood after meals.

"However, many sleep guidelines suggest that we should not engage in long or intense exercises just before bedtime, so we wanted to find out what happens if you do very short, light exercises in the evening," says Gale.

Lead Investigator Dr. Meredith Peddie
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Human Nutrition, Dr. Meredith Peddie, explains that the intervention included three exercises – chair squats, calf raises, and knee lifts with straight legs and hip raises.

"These simple bodyweight exercises were chosen because they do not require equipment or much space, and you can do them without interrupting the TV program you are watching.

"From what we know from other studies, you can achieve a similar effect by walking around the house, marching in place, or even dancing in the living room – the most important thing is to regularly get up from the chair and move," says Peddie.

It is important to note that this exercise resulted in longer sleep because lack of sleep can negatively impact nutrition and is associated with heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

"We know that higher levels of physical activity during the day promote better sleep, but current sleep guidelines discourage high-intensity exercises before bed as they can increase body temperature and heart rate, resulting in poor sleep quality.

"It may be time to reconsider these guidelines because our study showed that regularly interrupting long periods of sitting could be a promising health intervention," concludes Dr. Peddie.

Source: University of Otago