Like to to unwind with a nice jog after your job is done?
Okay, maybe it’s not for everyone.
But, winter aside, I love it. They say movement is medicine, and I definitely need a generous dose of the stuff after work. It’s a nice way to get back into my body after my brain’s been in overload mode all day. But many an expert on all things rest will tell you that’s a cardinal sin if you wanna surf them delta waves later. Late afternoon workouts disrupt rest, they say. But is it true? Does working out before bed mess up your sleep? And, if so, why does an evening jog in the woods actually act like a night cap for people like me? Am I an anomaly?
Not necessarily.
I mean, I’m not negating it 100%. There is a science to why it can. Your core temperature alters. Your adrenaline might be higher. Those facets all remain. However, what a lot of blanket statements fail to take into account is the obvious: not all of us are built exactly the same. Also, neither are all kinds of exercise. Take, for example, the study done in 2011 observing subjects who snoozed just as peacefully post workout as their control group counterparts who hit the mattress sans hitting the gym first.
And, as mentioned above, I find this to be true on a personal level, as well. I’ve slept like an infant after working out more often than not. However, there is a caveat. As someone who works out at all hours in all kinds of conditions, doing all kinds of workouts, I will say this: doing an afternoon or evening jog in the forest – at a moderate level – is not the same as doing some intense MMA training, departing the dojo at 8 or 9, and trying to go home and go straight to sleep. You might as well have had intravenous Starbucks for an hour or two instead. As someone who enjoys “two a days”, I often use this to my advantage. My morning workout is HIIT, which wakes me up. And, if I do an evening workout, it’s best kept at a peaceful-but-still-burning-more-than-I would-on-my-sofa jog on the trail. In sum, it’s not night workouts that are bad. It’s the type of night workouts that can stymie sleep. But the fix is simple.
Save intensity for the A.M. and make the P.M. seshes a bit less sweaty and a bit more zen.
(Remember, not all workouts are created equal)
That way you can lose weight without losing sleep.