When you exercise, you turn into a walking boiler.
"What does this have to do with how to fall asleep quickly?" you ask yourself, puzzled. "I don't need to read an article to know it's better to be tired to sleep." BUT. There are plenty of things to discover.
Because sleep thanks to exercise, yes: but not just anytime. To understand well, you have to start with what happens in your body during effort.
Why does it heat up?
During physical effort, your body heats up.
- First, because to move, your muscles need your nutrients to be transformed into energy they can use. This transformation is a chemical reaction that produces heat.
- Next, because when your muscles move, their mechanical energy naturally creates heat.
What is it for?
About 75% of the energy we burn turns into heat during exercise. This heat is a GOOD thing.
- It dilates blood vessels, which facilitates the irrigation of your muscles by the blood.
- It makes your muscles more flexible, allowing them to stretch without tearing.
At the same time, exercise releases lots of hormones in your body during effort, and they all play an essential role.
- Endorphin, the pain-relieving hormone, fights depression and anxiety while giving you a feeling of well-being and euphoria. It's the drug athletes become addicted to.
- Adrenaline and noradrenaline are the hormones of chronic stress. They tell your fat cells to let go so you have energy to burn - it's thanks to them that you lose weight.
- Dopamine, the pleasure hormone but also the hormone of alertness, keeps you awake and productive: it fights fatigue and gives you energy throughout the day.
- Finally, testosterone: a male hormone, but that doesn't mean you'll suddenly become Hulk or Mrs. Hulk. In fact, it mainly helps you better manage stress and fear.
If you read carefully, you should have noticed two things.
- During exercise, your body warms up, whereas when you fall asleep your body lowers its temperature.
- The hormones produced during sports wake you up, while you want to sleep.
- So, is exercise contraindicated for falling asleep, after all?
Actually, not at all...
A survey conducted in the United States by the National Sleep Foundation suggests that with equal amounts of sleep, people who practice sports at any time of the day are more likely to say they slept well (up to 67%) than couch potatoes (39%).
In particular, Michael Grandner, a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, suggests that even though the ideal would be to do physical activity at least an hour or two before sleeping, the chances of reaching an effort intensity likely to harm sleep quality are insignificant!
Not to mention that the benefits of sports are countless.
First, exercise reduces the risks of all kinds of diseases (cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, breast, colon, prostate cancers, osteoporosis, cerebrovascular diseases...) and more.
- It lengthens your life expectancy by reducing weaknesses and problems generally due to age: tendinitis, ankylosis, joint pain, loss of autonomy...
- Finally, it stabilizes blood pressure, fights hypertension, and balances your blood sugar levels.
- And all that while allowing you to become really hot.
Not bad, right?
On the same topic:
Falling asleep by changing your diet is possible!
To sleep well, start by having a positive attitude!
