The Norwegian University of Science and Technology has found that regular exercise could help people sleep better. This study comes when cases of insomnia have increased due to the stresses of the pandemic. As a result, there are countless ‘experts’ claiming to have the solution to better sleep. These include multiple techniques, such as over-the-counter or prescription drugs.
How researchers conducted the study
The study found that people who exercise regularly will unlikely require sleep medication from their doctors. To come to this conclusion, researchers evaluated more than 30,000 adults.
According to the lead study author and associate professor at the university’s Public Health and Nursing Department, Linda Ernstsen, the researchers found that physically fit individuals were less likely to use sleeping pills as they slept better.
The researchers used data that the Trøndelag Health Survey from Norway had collected since 1984. The group had done four survey rounds since the beginning of the study. Researchers working on the new research compared this data with other information from a prescription database since 2018.
Men were more likely to have improved sleep due to exercise
Professor Ernstsen stated that 5800 study participants began using prescription sleeping pills for the first time during the study period. The physically fit respondents were fortunate as they slept better and thus didn’t require sleeping pills. Furthermore, healthy men were more likely to benefit from exercise than women. They had 15% less risk of using sleeping pills.
While the women derived much fewer sleep benefits from exercise, researchers believed that exercise could still help those with sleep issues. From this study, researchers concluded that there were other ways to deal with insomnia besides medication, as working out seemed to benefit those who worked out regularly. Therefore, they believed that doctors should recommend physical activity to help their patients sleep before prescribing medication or in addition to them.
The study is not the first to evaluate the benefits of exercise to sleep. While scientists are unsure of the involved mechanisms, they have found that moderate aerobic exercise increases the length of slow-wave sleep. Other studies have also considered the right time to exercise to improve sleep. This new study shows that sleep should be a tool to fight insomnia.
