In this era of 24/7 gyms, you can squeeze in your workout any time of day—even at midnight, if that's what your schedule allows. This is a good thing if you're crazy-busy (and really, who isn't?)—but you've probably wondered if your fitness routine is throwing off your sleep schedule. Good news: Only the most intense workouts will negatively affect your shuteye, according to a new study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology.
The researchers clocked how long it took people to doze off—then measured their quality of sleep—after sitting down, running on a treadmill at moderate intensity (60 percent of their heart-rate max), or running at high intensity (80 percent of their heart-rate max) from 9:20 p.m. until 10 p.m. The study participants then went to bed at 11 p.m.
How'd the late-night workouts affect their time between the sheets? After moderate-intensity activity, people's quality of sleep was no different than when they were sedentary. But they did experience some negative effects after engaging in high-intensity exercise right before bed: They took about 14 minutes longer to fall asleep, compared to when they were inactive—and their sleep was less efficient (i.e., they spent more time just staring into space, instead of snoozing, while in bed).
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Pushing it at the gym wasn't entirely a bad thing, though: After exercising at any intensity, people felt a greater sense of "emotional comfort" before bed, compared to when they only relaxed before hitting the sack.
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This indicates that the intense exercisers' difficulty dozing off wasn't related to psychological stress, but physiological stress, the researchers say. A crazy-hard workout induces cardiac stress (primarily by raising your heart rate)—and in this study, the effect on heart rate was found to be "remarkably large." As a result, the exercisers may not have had time to recover fully before trying to fall asleep.
How can you gauge whether your nighttime workout may interfere with your shuteye? Try measuring your heart rate right before bed, after you've hit the gym: If your heart rate is still 20 beats per minute above normal, you may struggle to doze off, the researchers speculate. If you suspect your exercise is disrupting your sleep, consider saving your toughest workouts for the a.m. or afternoon (and feel free to keep doing moderate sweat sessions in the evening).
MORE: 4 Reasons Why It's Totally OK to Work Out at Night
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