Is it okay to exercise before bed? Workout before bed - the secrets of health

Despite the fact that most of us are busy with family, work, affairs, problems, many people want to set aside time for themselves and take care of their health. And, as a rule, sports are chosen for these purposes. But in order to completely surrender to your favorite business and not get the opposite effect in the form of a decrease in physical activity, fatigue, and, you should choose the right time for classes. It's not just that many beginners begin to doubt whether it is possible to play sports before going to bed.

Why you should not pay attention to sports before going to bed?

There are several reasons for this.

Increased physical activity signals the body not to prepare for sleep, but to start waking up.

Excessive exercise before bedtime will affect your well-being at night and the next day.

“You can redo all the affairs in a day, and move sports to sleep. That is, work out - and immediately sleep like a dead dream, ”many people think so. But therein lies a significant error.

Of course, everything can be reduced to workload or to a personal daily routine, but the biological rhythms of all people are similar.

What do you need to know?

You should start training in the morning, after fully waking up and after you have had breakfast, you feel a surge of energy and a desire to go for a run outside or go to the gym.

Is it okay to exercise in the evening before bed? Yes, but only three hours before going to bed, since the physical activity of muscles and joints does not stop immediately. After a workout, the body goes through a stage of excitement for several more hours. And that has nothing to do with deep sleep. On the contrary, as a result of the substitution of concepts, the next day the body will make itself felt, experiencing an unprecedented decline in performance. Sports before going to bed are not useful, there is no question of any healthy lifestyle in this case.

Active workouts should change good rest so that the body naturally replenishes strength and to maintain tone. So exercising before bed is bad for everyone. Our body is so cleverly arranged that it remains only to correctly interpret its signs.

People often wonder if it's okay to exercise before bed. It depends on several important nuances. However, you should immediately decide that classes in the late hours, just before going to bed, do not bring much benefit to the body.

Arguments for"

The benefits of playing sports, including in the evening, are obvious:

The body becomes more vigorous.
The slow phase of sleep increases, during which a person has time to restore strength.
Over time, awakening becomes easy.
During evening classes, the body "dumps" the negative energy associated with stress, psycho-emotional disorders.

That is, training before going to bed provides a pleasant relaxation: the body gets tired, so at night a person goes to sleep faster, and in the morning he feels cheerful. However, this rule only works if you practice 3-4 hours before falling asleep, and not a few minutes.

Arguments against"

If you exercise before bed, this has its negative sides:

By evening, a person is tired after a working day, his physical and emotional strength is already running out. Strong loads, intense workouts will be inappropriate. As a result, a person immediately after training wants to sleep, which can lead to a violation of the natural biological rhythm.
Disturbance of the internal clock leads to the fact that the practitioner can fall asleep after class, and also often wants to sleep during the day.
In the evening and at night, metabolic processes begin to decline, and if you play sports, they, on the contrary, become more active.
As a result, the corresponding hormones begin to be produced in a person, which cause the effect of wakefulness, as if it were morning. Therefore, falling asleep after intense exercise in the evening, even 3 hours before going to bed, is problematic. Poor sleep after exercise is observed especially often in people who are accustomed to falling asleep and waking up early, the so-called "larks".
Another argument against - the features of building muscle mass. If you play sports in the morning, then the processes of muscle growth are faster. By evening, they have time to rest, which ensures recovery.

If you have developed the habit of exercising in the evening, and there are no problems with sleep, you can continue to go to the gym at a convenient time. However, in case of fatigue, sleep disorders, you can not continue classes in the same mode: strength exercises transferred in the morning to be able to sleep normally.

Optimal time for sports activities

Regarding the choice of the optimal time for physical education, fitness and professional sports, a lot has been and is being done scientific research. They showed that the approach should take into account three factors at once:

load intensity;
individual characteristics of the organism;
the purpose of the lessons.

For each person, the norms of physical activity and the duration of sleep are individual. Some do it in the morning, which allows you to feel more cheerful, others - in the evening. However, in any case, you need to understand:

In the evening, it is harmful to engage in weightlifting and other sports that heavily burden the body.
Since it is undesirable to train before going to bed, after evening classes, a set of relaxing exercises should be carried out: walking, yoga, light running, stretching, free swimming in the pool, etc.
Doing in the morning useful exercises, which allow you to well cheer up the body. Therefore, doing gymnastics after waking up is normal, but without heavy loads.

Running and athletics

Running exercises in the morning, exercises and other exercises that do not overload the body have an invigorating effect. A light jog combined with warm-up movements, pull-ups on the horizontal bar is allowed both in the morning and in the evening. It is appropriate to pump the press, do push-ups and do other similar exercises. In this case, it is useful to pay attention to the following tips:

It is harmful to run immediately after waking up, because. the body should tune in within 30-40 minutes.
in the morning, the time is from 6 to 7 and from 11 to 12 hours. The main task of running is to awaken and charge the body.
In the evening they run from 19 to 20 hours. Classes allow you to relieve stress, tension from the day and burn calories.

At the same time, it is not recommended to engage in cross-country sports too late (after 20 hours), because due to the increase in load, the body does not have time to fully relax and tune in to sleep.

One more important topic related to whether it is possible to train at night. There are several different, including opposite answers. However, it is important to understand that during the night hours, a person's natural biorhythm prepares the body for sleep. Therefore, constantly exercising at night is a bad decision.

The situation looks similar with strength training (this is weightlifting, bodybuilding, etc.). Since such sports involve a strong load on the body, exercising in the evening, or even more so before bedtime, has a harmful effect in terms of falling asleep.

Another negative point of evening workouts is that at this time fat is burned ineffectively, and weight loss will be minimal. The reason is that during lunch food comes in and sugar is burned only after 4-5 hours. Therefore, the body first spends it, and then extracts energy from its own fat reserves.

Yoga

Doing gentle exercise before bed is helpful because the body has time to relax and get tired, making falling asleep easier. Light forward bends, twists, longitudinal bends and other types of movements help relieve fatigue from the spine and muscles of the body. It is best to take them an hour before going to bed.

Cardio training involves intense aerobic exercise that strengthens the heart muscle and activates metabolic processes. Relevant chemical reactions start about 40-50 minutes after the start of the workout, so cardio takes an hour or more. During classes, they especially carefully monitor the pulse, according to the value of which they are guided to determine the calories burned.

The best time for classes is the morning hours (from 6 to 11). The body burns fat because the new food has not yet had time to arrive in large quantities (before lunch). The heart muscle is also strengthened (thanks to moderate load). If you go in for sports in the evening, and even more so before bedtime (after 20-21 hours), there is an influx of vivacity, and it becomes difficult to fall asleep.

The beneficial effect of training is leveled if a person does not eat properly. Here are 5 simple tips that are better remembered by those involved in sports:

It is allowed to eat foods high in protein - dietary meat boiled chicken, turkey, veal, as well as seafood.
Strengthen bones and muscles dairy products - fat-free kefir, cottage cheese, yogurt and cheeses.
Among drinks, weak herbal teas (preferably green ones) are suitable.
It is undesirable to use any sweets and any fatty foods.
Among the drinks, coffee, black tea, cocoa, alcohol are prohibited.

At the same time, one should remember about general rule: 4 hours before going to bed, eating is undesirable. The digestive system must have time to assimilate the incoming food, otherwise the stomach and intestines will not be able to fully recover at night.

Relaxing physical exercises can become part of a kind of ritual before bedtime. To engage in pleasure, they develop their own complex, taking into account possible contraindications. You can take the following types of exercises as a basis (they are performed on the floor, on the rug):

Lie on your back, bend your knees at a right angle and bring them so as to touch the chest closely. Hands reach for the toes to feel a pleasant relaxation.
Continuing to lie on their back, they become feet firmly on the floor; hands lie along the body. The pelvis is gradually raised above the surface, pulled up as much as possible, lingered in this position and returned.
They sit in the lotus position, on a small pillow. The knees diverge as wide as possible. right hand put on the floor, bend to the right, and left hand taken as high as possible. Then repeat on the other side.
Continuing to sit in the lotus position, make turns to the left and right. The movements are slow, as if a person wants to see an object behind.
They stand on the mat, slightly bend their knees and group, pressing the chest to the legs as much as possible. Hands hug each other. In this case, do not strain the muscles of the press or chest.

Thus, the question of whether it is possible to exercise before bed has a negative answer in the sense that intense, hard, high-load activities do more harm than good. A light jog, yoga classes, help to relax and fall asleep easily. Since each organism has its own biorhythm, one should be guided by both general rules and one's own feelings.

In the morning or in the evening - it occupies many. The reality is that every minute is precious to a person hurrying to the office, and the opportunity to study is only in the early morning or late evening. Of course, you can try to find time for training in the morning, but not everyone is inspired by the idea of a morning run at seven in the morning in February. Recent trends in fitness show that more and more people prefer to work out in the evening.

Today, many fitness clubs, focusing on the needs of visitors, work in. However, even at night gym there are enough people who decide to go in for sports. In addition, renting a gym at night is cheaper than during the day, so financial considerations can also play an important role for avid sports fans.

Fitness at night is also attractive for those who, tired of constant communication and flickering of human faces, just want to pedal alone, without thinking about how it will look.

But what do experts say about training at night? Do they really benefit the body or, on the contrary, create an unnecessary additional burden after a working day? at night time?

Doctors' opinion

Of course, no one canceled the biological clock, and the benefits of a night's sleep are undeniable. However, it has been proven that speed and strength training, as well as endurance training, are best done in the afternoon. A similar strength training in the morning, on the contrary, will reduce the body's performance. Doctors have calculated that after working in the morning with heavy weights, even after 6 hours, the body's performance will be 30% lower than usual. The same applies to long morning workouts - unfortunately, they will not add strength. And even persistent habit formation will not change the situation: all the same, heavy morning loads will be stressful for the body. In the morning, leave a light load or warm-up, which will ensure the release of endorphins and, as a result, a good mood.

If you plan to work with heavy weights, barbells or dumbbells, evening hours for training will come in handy.

Coaches' opinion

Professional trainers also agree with doctors. So, the personal trainer of the network of clubs "Zebra" says that healthy person at night, in principle, you can do any kind of fitness, there would be a desire. Of course, it is important not to overdo it: if you come to the gym after a very early rise, a busy day at work, and try to spend strength training, then most likely, overload the muscles and encounter a phenomenon such as. Remember that a good rest is necessary for every person, regardless of what time he considers it optimal to train. It is important that every day you have at least 8 hours of healthy sleep, then training will be a joy. Otherwise, an overly intense schedule will lead to a permanent and eventually nervous breakdown.

Athletes' opinion

The body of each person is individual. Someone belongs to the pronounced “larks”, for whom the end at 22-00 is the norm, and for the “owls” this time is ideal for group classes in your favorite fitness club with the same like-minded people.

The main criterion is your own comfort and convenience. Training through strength will definitely not bring any benefit, and the desire to return to classes can quickly fade away if you have to “step over yourself” every time.

Try a simple test. Listen to yourself - when you experience increased sexual desire: in the morning or in the evening. It is this time that will be ideal for your personal training. It's all about the release of the hormone testosterone, which is responsible for libido and at the same time for physical activity. In this simple way, you can develop your own training schedule that is optimal for you personally.

Happy training!

"Fatigue is the best pillow" ... This phrase belongs to Benjamin Franklin. Despite his political career, he did not shy away from physical work and, in general, apparently, he never knew peace. Well, how did a diplomat, an explorer of sea currents and an inventor of a rocking chair combine in one person? Apparently, because of such an active lifestyle, he knew more than anyone else what fatigue means and how it affects sleep. True, he did not indulge himself in sleep either, saying: "I will sleep in the next world."

Hopefully, you are much more sympathetic to the need to give your body and mind a rest, so sleep as much as you need. What if you're having trouble sleeping? Then back to where we started: maybe you're just not tired enough.

Now, professions related not to physical, but to intellectual labor are becoming more and more in demand. As a result, more and more people work without physical fatigue. This is reflected in the state of health (contributes to the development of diseases of the heart, blood vessels, musculoskeletal system) and leads to sleep disorders. Many people who lead an inactive lifestyle complain of difficulty falling asleep, light sleep at night and drowsiness during daylight hours. Similar complaints are made by about 40% of the inhabitants of the United States - one of the least athletic nations in the world.

Exercising is one of the best ways to improve the quality of your night's rest and is an essential part of your sleep hygiene. They have a multifaceted beneficial effect on the quality of night rest. So sport and sleep are phenomena that are inextricably linked. Is it possible to exercise before bed, how to do it, and what will be the effects of physical activity?

First, about the effect of sports on sleep.

High activity lengthens the slow phase of sleep, during which the body's physical resources are restored. With regular sports training, sleep becomes more complete and refreshing.
Sports - The best way stress relief; it helps to achieve a calm emotional state and allows you to fall asleep faster.
There is an expression: "The more you sleep, the more you want." This phrase can be considered relevant not only for patients with African trypanosomiasis (“sleeping sickness”, which is not found in our area), but also for people who have long forgotten the way to the gym. When a person exercises regularly and moderately, his need for long sleep decreases, and his desire to nap for an hour or two after dinner disappears.
Classes contribute to weight loss, and this helps in getting rid of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.
And finally, about long-term prospects. An active lifestyle is a guarantee of health for many years and the prevention of many diseases that often cause insomnia in middle and old age. American researchers have shown that in people over 50, an hour of exercise prolongs active life for a day. If you pay due attention to sports, you will always sleep well, no matter how old you are.

So, sports improve the quality of sleep, moreover, you can do sports before bedtime or at another convenient time. But this connection is not one-way: healthy sleep also has a beneficial effect on sports achivments. In what way?

Let's hope you already have a desire to buy a subscription to the pool or find your sneakers, which have long been gathering dust somewhere in the bowels of the closet. However, remember that "not all yogurts are created equal". In other words, not all sports improve sleep. To sleep well, you need to train in compliance with certain rules.

Sport and sleep have a beneficial effect on each other. Train! Even if you already have a package of sleeping pills in store in case of insomnia. Regular exercise is comparable in its calming effect to modern sleeping pills and tranquilizers. Exercise even if you don't have any sleep problems. Sports before bed or at other times is the surest way to gain a healthy body, a clear mind and beauty.

Everyone knows that the right sports loads help improve sleep, but people who are used to living according to the "work - food - rest" scheme prefer to look for excuses about the lack of free time than to change their lives. In fact, if you really want it, allocating half an hour 4-6 times a week will not be difficult. As the saying goes, "who wants - will find a thousand opportunities, who does not want - a thousand reasons." I hope you are among the first.

What to do if it is impossible to allocate time for sports during the day? Engage in the evening. But is it possible to play sports in the evening if there is a night ahead and you need to go to bed soon to rest for the next working day?

Pros and cons

Experts say that you can play sports in the evenings. However, among amateur athletes there are opponents of evening classes. And there are a lot of arguments for ignoring evening workouts: from “then it’s very hard to fall asleep after a workout” to “it’s bad for the heart and nerves.”

Perhaps such fears are not without common sense. If you do a heavy athletic training at 7-8 pm, then it definitely will not positively affect the nerves and the cardiovascular system. But negative effects can be eliminated if certain recommendations are followed and certain conditions are observed. These measures will not only not be harmful, but will also positively affect sleep and well-being in the morning.

In some cases, exercising before bed is even beneficial. For example, in the case of weight loss, evening fitness classes contribute to a more active breakdown of fat cells. And in this case just better fitness than aerobic exercise.

Is it possible to do heavy sports in the evening?

Heavy sports, namely: athletics, weightlifting, boxing, wrestling - do not have the best effect on falling asleep if the training takes place in the evening. And for extremely sensitive individuals in this regard, any sports are not very favorable.

Any physical activity tires the central nervous system. During training, the heart, lungs and blood vessels work as much as possible.

All these factors not only do not contribute to sleep, but can also be harmful to health. If, as mentioned above, certain measures are not taken and the necessary conditions are not observed.

What to do before evening workout

First, don't drink invigorating drinks before sports activities. Even at normal times, energy drinks, coffee and tea overly excite our nervous system and harm it. If at the same time doing exercise, then you can cause irreparable harm to the body.
Secondly, after training, try to find time for a leisurely walk before going to bed. A measured step and a calm environment will put the psyche and nerves in order, and the muscles will rest from stress and will not hurt.
Thirdly, after an evening workout, you do not need to drink green tea and other sedative drinks. Why? Everything is simple. Green tea is not at all a calming drink, as many believe. It contains theine, a substance with an effect very similar to caffeine. Only the effect of theine is felt not immediately, but after a while. That is why those who fall asleep immediately after a cup green tea, sometimes wake up in the middle of the night with a feeling of slight arousal.
Fourth, you need to take care of total absence stress factors. After an evening workout, you need to go home calm and balanced. The solution of any problems must be postponed until tomorrow, in the morning. Otherwise, you can not even dream of good sleep. It must be remembered that stress nervous system cannot normally rest and recover if the brain is occupied with negative information.