Experts reveal the one workout class proven to make you sleep better – and it doesn’t involve ANY cardio

Doctors consistently recommend exercise as a tool to improve sleep.

But certain types of exercise can help you nap more than others, experts say.

Resistance training — using weights, body weight or resistance bands — is the best way to improve your sleep, according to Dr. Nerina Ramlakhan, a physiologist who specializes in sleep therapy.

This includes movements such as squats, lunges and push-ups, as well as lifting hand weights or using machines.

The sleep-enhancing benefits of resistance exercise lie in the fact that your muscles produce more of a hormone that makes you sleepy called adenosine, compared to cardio like running and HIIT. Dr. Ramlakhan told Stylist.

Sleep is crucial for health. Those who don’t get enough sleep tend to have a poorer quality of life and an increased risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer and death, the study said. National Council on Aging.

So if you are one of the 30 percent of Americans If you suffer from insomnia, combining push-ups, deadlifts, or cable pulls into your routine can make a big difference.

Ramlakhan’s revelation is based on a 2022 study of 386 Americans by the American Heart Association.

According to the study, people who did resistance training slept 40 minutes longer per night than people who didn’t exercise at all and 17 minutes longer than people who only did cardio.

They also had better sleep quality and reported feeling more rested when they woke up.

Lifting weights can cause your body to release more of a chemical that makes you sleepy, to boost recovery, Dr. Ramlakhan said.

It is thought that our body repairs damage at night due to the stress it has experienced during the day, professor Angelique Brellenthin, study author and assistant professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa told CNN.

When muscles are more tired, they may release more chemicals, such as adenosine, Dr. Ramlakhan said. These chemicals tell your body to sleep longer and deeper, so your body has more time to repair muscle tissue.

‘Physical exercise can help us produce the chemical adenosine, which promotes sleepiness and enables melatonin. [sleep regulation hormone] to work more effectively,” explained Dr. Ramlakhan out to Stylist.

‘The build-up of adenosine levels is the catalyst to stop adrenaline and other stimulating hormones. This initiates the biochemical changes necessary for sleep.’

Dr. Ramlakhan says just an hour of mild resistance exercise per day is enough to reap sleep benefits.

Resistance band workouts can be used for an upper body, leg, or core workout, depending on where you place the bands.

Some experts believe that strength training boosts testosterone and growth hormones, both of which have been linked to “better, deeper sleep”, said Professor Brellenthin.

The authors of the American Heart Association study caution against giving up cardio completely, as it has been shown to support health. heart health and overall well-being.

But if you’re particularly concerned about your sleep, combining a few resistance workouts a week can make a world of difference.

“Although both aerobic and resistance exercise are important for overall health, our results suggest that resistance exercise may be superior when it comes to getting better ZZZs at night,” Brellenthin said.