Physical Exercise and Sleep
Overstimulated minds - understimulated bodies
Many people today spend far too much time sitting down and way too little time being active. We spend a full day at the office, drive to and from work, and relax in the evening in front of the television. In this way our minds become over stimulated while our bodies are left under stimulated. This is not a good recipie for good sleep. For us to remain healthy, a good balance between stimulation of the mind and the body must be present. Physical exercise is critical for good sleep.
Physical exercise impacts on the body on many levels and can greatly improve sleep. It clears out toxins that have been stored in our cells. It uses up fat deposits and speeds up metabolism. It creates muscle tears that stimulate the body to heal and grow stronger. When the body is stimulated in these ways it needs more time to rebuild and regenerate. This is what sleep time is for.
Physical exercise and sleep
Naturally, the body will show more signs of being tired, and we will find that we easier fall asleep when we have been physically active during the day. Physical exercise also has a tendency to calm our minds. It make us feel good and temporarily relieve stress and anxiety. You may have heard of such concepts as the ‘runner’s high’, which is a name for the good mood experienced after vigorous aerobic exercise. This is because the body increases the production of endorphines during exercise. Endorphines make a person feel good and happy.
Starting a successful exercise routine
The key to successfully starting an exercise routine is to recognize one’s own limitations and start off small. If you choose to start running for instance, realize that you won’t run a marathon within a couple of weeks. Instead, start out by going for a brisk walk. Next time you're out, start with walking, then run for about 100 meters, and then walk again. Increase the periods of running as you feel more and more comfortable, and soon enough you will find that it is not that hard to run the whole route you initially walked.
This method can be adapted to any type of exercise. What holds us back is often this idea we have in our minds that to be a runner one has to be able to sprint five kilometers, or to be a yoga practicioner one has to be able to bend backwards and touch the forehead to the ground.
Everyone has to start somewhere. Everyone has to start as a beginner. Even the greatest runner out there started as a beginner. Accepting the limitations of the beginner is very helpful to maintaining a good practice instead of giving up after only a few tries.
Different ways to get some exercise
There are lots of ways to get some physical exercise that will help you go to sleep at night. Work around the house can be one of them. Gardening, cleaning, renovations, painting, to name a few. Some people will find it more meaningful to combine exercise with some kind of practical purpose.
If it is hard to find time to fit exercise into your busy schedule there are many things we can do to add some exercise into our daily lives. For instance, you can take your bike to work instead of your car. If you use public transit and your work is too far away for biking, you can bike or walk to the transit stop. Pick a stop that is reasonably far away and bike or walk there. Later as your stamina increases, pick a stop that is a little bit further away, and so on.
Prioritize exercise
Often when we say to ourselves that we don't have any time for exercise, this usually means that we don't prioritize exercise. We think that it is more important to have a tidy house, to go shopping, to make more money, to watch the news on tv, to meet friends, than to exercise.
However, exercise is an investment in your health and it does promote good sleep. If you experience physical setbacks, being strong and fit will help you to better deal with these. It is also an investment in mental health. Suffering from physical ailments of different kinds can be really hard on the psyche.
Furthermore, the body needs to be active and move around or the mind will much easier succumb to depressive moods and negative thinking.
A little bit of exercise each day can be viewed as a great insurance for the future. An insurance that doesn't have to cost you anything, and that can also bring great enjoyment to your life. It has the added bonus of helping you sleep well at night.