> Exercise strain was quantified using summated-heart-rate-zones scores (SHRZS).
Aerobic exercises at maximal level are not every day thing and by themselves do require up to 72 hours of recovery. Even for elite athletes it would be maximum once or trice per week, depending on the mesocycle.
> The present study had limitations that should be considered. [...] The summated-heart-rate-zones score (SHRZS) method for quantifying exercise strain may underestimate the relative metabolic strain of strength training that involves very brief durations of high-effort movements. Future research could examine the effects of different types of evening strength training (e.g., Olympic lifting).
For weightlifting volume (number of sets) and intensity (weight attempted) of the exercise combined with maximum HR would be a better measure.
> We were unable to control for potential confounds known to impact sleep, such as bright light exposure.
In my experience, at the end of preparatory phase (at the maximum stress) any light leaking into bedroom will make it difficult to fall asleep.
So I got a 35 lb kettlebell and a TRX system and do those things as well as VR workouts (some Beat Saber, might get back into Supernatural when I've exhausted the free trials of everyone else) around 8-9pm many nights, I usually got to bed around 10-11pm and sleep well. I think going for a hike is fine even as late as 9pm but I wouldn't want to be doing cardio or HIIT that late. Now that I think about it I oughta add some active isolated stretching with the bands.
https://mastodon.social/@UP8/114389122128299887
So far as my fox is concerned [1] I know it puts a lot of stress on my hindquarters (wants to be pronograde?) and to express itself wants to use a range of postures and motion wider than I find comfortable. If I have to explain it to people who might be skeptical I just lie and say I am preparing for character acting in community theater.
If you go to bed at 2 am anyway, exercising at 8pm is no problem :)
Specifically 1.5mg of melatonin and 25mg of hydroxyzine an hour before bed, knocks me out every time.
Do you have a specialized wrestling gym or something like that near you? I've never heard of such in my area so I'm intrigued.
I don't run that often anymore, maybe twice a month, but I can only do it in the afternoon or evening. If I go in the morning, I feel very tired so I really have to force myself to keep going, and then after 15-20 minutes, my heart rate settles at close to 190bpm (compared to ~175 in the evening) which to my understanding is way too high for someone in their early 40s.
Personally I need 10-20 hours of real sport a week to function really well, which seems to put me in some very high percentiles on HN. I need so much sport that I barely have time to do anything besides work and exercise, which means I don't do many non-athletic hobbies anymore.
Fwiw, I used to believe that it would be entirely impossible for me to work out in the mornings, but I have managed to make it work, despite generally having had a preference for waking up later. It is doable with some effort, don't get discouraged.
Going to sleep early (9pm), and setting my alarm across the room has been the key for me. It can be done!
Actual RCT findings (e.g. [1]) find that exercise does induce beneficial changes in sleep, compared against not exercising at all.
[1] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10....
As a matter of fact, if I do exercise (cardio) that late, I can guarantee that I will not be able to fall asleep before 1-3 am. Even if I do it consistently for a few weeks.
Obviously just an observation of my own body. But it's the reason why I will no longer even attempt to do anything remotely like cardio post 4pm
I find myself walking down from my middle floor level to the first floor, then to the top, and then the bottom, and the top again, often enough, after a meal.
My body contains 4.5 liters of blood and I sometimes imagine pumping it a few times through my system to help the rest of my body process the meal.
This is especially true if the meal was carby/sugary. Instead of lying there motionless and making my insulin do all the work of bringing my blood sugar back to normal, I imagine myself "pumping" the sugary blood through something that is happy enough to do something with the sugar (your/my muscles, as walking up 12 flights of stairs obviously accomplishes).
I am on the margins "athletic", but some days find myself at the end of a pretty sedentary day.
I _always_ am thrilled to have a single airpod in and listen to a book while meandering 12 flights of stairs, even if it's late, like, midnight. I've 100% done that a few times, and i find it helps me sleep well. Maybe the lack of exercise + insulin spike + no muscle activity usage of blood sugar would disrupt my sleep more than having pumped the sugary blood through muscles a few times.
I quite like this for me. I've lived in this building longer than I've made use of the convenience of walking up these flights of stairs. Some days I do 40+ flights of stairs!!! Even I am impressed. But doing them simply a few times a day, two or three trips. 12-18 flights at a time. Adds up quickly, obviously.
High strain exercise includes activities that lead to sustained increases in breathing rate, core body temperature, heart rate and mental alertness.
Examples include HIIT workouts (high-intensity interval training), football and rugby games or a long run.
My wife wants to know what kind of "strenuous workouts closer to bedtime" exactly are alluded to here?
I have a similar problem with eating big meals before bed, it keeps me from sleeping the same way. Only 2h for that one though.
What gets me sometimes though is the "unexpected" exercise. A few months ago, while on vacation, I decided to climb the 10 flights of stairs up to my room, not wanting to deal with the slow and crowded elevator. 4 hours later, it's 2:00 AM and my mind is racing and it's like "why can't I sleep, that was a long day!". The next morning I remembered my trek upstairs and reminded myself that anything which elevates the heart rate is best avoided before sleep.
If someone is hustling up a staircase, the output can be quite high, even at the level of the 3rd floor. I notice myself, sometimes, forgetting something and moving quickly in and out of my 3rd floor apartment by stairs, and I'll notice myself breathing hard after just the 3rd floor.
And sometimes I hike the building (6 floors) twice or three times, because it feels nice, and everything is timing. One can get easily get a high-intensity, short-interval fairly-involved full-body effort out of ten flights of stairs.
I note a part of me that wants to be defensive wants to say "or perhaps someone else does not know how to try hard enough to make ten flights a good workout?"
Something about your comment feels dismissive, and this random passer-by didn't like it, but I could certainly be projecting, etc etc.
I also can sometimes endure a day that I detect fatigue in myself. I don't necessarily love it, but I'll note it easy to go to sleep early the second day if I am tired the day before, and if something happens that causes my sleep to feel shorter than i'd like, I don't really worry about it at all.
Same reason I don't really concern myself if I detect notes of hunger in my system. Meh. Sometimes I've fasted a long time, usually I don't fast at all, but I really don't concern myself with "oh my gosh i have not eaten in {recent hours} I am STARVING" energy.
Anyway, I suggest this article to most people I find myself discussing sleep with, and enough people have said it was worth their time to read it, so I continue to share it:
[1] Matthew Walker's "Why We Sleep" Is Riddled with Scientific and Factual Errors
[1] https://guzey.com/books/why-we-sleep/
The animal-ish part of a human existence is always interesting to me. Elsewhere in the comments I've seen sorta uncomfortable references to pressuring someone for sexual intimacy before bedtime based on this paper. Meh. Something that IS really nice before sleep is emotionally connected sexual intimacy, and I hope no one would want emotionally _dis_connected sexual intimacy from/for a partner, and I, personally, would make some big steps back if I thought a partner wanted something like... disattuned sex out of me.
This last paragraph might be best left off the comment, happy if a mod wants to not have it go that way. I do stand by the link to Guzey's "Why we sleep"!
reedf1•4h ago
ducttapecrown•4h ago
WarOnPrivacy•3h ago
Same. Son and I walk 3-5mi at night. Upper 80s and 90% humidity is preferable to daytime. Many fewer opportunities to be mowed down is a plus.
FWIW: I had insomnia for years before eve exercising. Sleep is improved, some.
moosedev•3h ago
WarOnPrivacy•1h ago
I don't disagree with this but even walking 4mph @ 87°dewpoint = ⅔ soaked, which feels not gentle. Actual intense exercise in that mug might kill us however.
>A moderate-to-intense run in the evening does affect my sleep, though.
Oddly, I've used short strenuous workouts to combat severe insomnia. More pain is better. It helps when panic is the driver but not for sleep=broken events.
the_clarence•3h ago
If you can't take that 2H lunch break consider if you're being treated like a slave.
jll29•3h ago
readthenotes1•3h ago
I think your values are a little off...
Etheryte•3h ago
mannykannot•2h ago
m463•1h ago