Strenuous exercise close to bedtime was linked to poorer subsequent sleep and altered nighttime autonomic measures.
Evidence
This one-year biometric-device cohort included 14,689 physically active people across 4,084,354 person-nights, comparing exercise timing and strain with objective sleep and heart-rate measures.
Caveat
The study is observational and limited to physically active device users, so it cannot prove that evening exercise caused the sleep changes.
Simplified
Public health guidelines recommend exercise as a key lifestyle intervention for promoting and maintaining healthy sleep function and reducing disease risk. However, strenuous evening exercise may disrupt sleep due to heightened sympathetic arousal. This study examines the association between strenuous evening exercise and objective sleep, using data from 14,689 physically active individuals who wore a biometric device during a one-year study interval (4,084,354 person-nights). Here we show later exercise timing and higher are associated with delayed sleep onset, shorter sleep duration, lower sleep quality, higher nocturnal resting heart rate, and lower . Regardless of strain, exercise bouts ending ≥4 hours before sleep onset are not associated with changes in sleep. Our results suggest evening exercise-particularly involving high exercise strain-may disrupt subsequent sleep and nocturnal autonomic function. Individuals aiming to improve sleep health may benefit from concluding exercise at least 4 hours before sleep onset or electing lighter strain exercises within this window.
Key numbers
5.4%
Increase in sleep duration
Compared to maximal strain exercises ending 2-h before sleep onset.
6.8%
Decrease in nocturnal resting heart rate (RHR)
Compared to maximal strain exercises ending 2-h before sleep onset.
36.0 minutes
Earlier sleep onset
Compared to maximal strain exercises ending 2-h before sleep onset.
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