A hard session at the gym will not help your insomnia, according to new research.
Exercise is often recommended for sleeping difficulties, and experts say that it does have a beneficial effect.
However, researchers found the impact is not immediate and can take up to four months to kick in.
Exercise is often recommended for sleeping difficulties, and experts say that it does have a beneficial effect
Study leader Dr Kelly Baron, of Northwestern University in the U.S., said: ‘If you have insomnia you won't exercise yourself into sleep right away.
‘It's a long-term relationship. You have to keep at it and not get discouraged.’
Most previous studies have been on the effects of daily exercise and have been carried out on healthy sleepers. This is the first research to look at aerobic exercise on those with insomnia.
Dr Baron decided to analyse the daily effect of exercise after hearing her patients with insomnia complain that the exercise she recommended didn't help them right away.
The impact of exercise on insomnia is not immediate and can take up to four months to kick in
She said: ‘They'd say, “I exercised so hard yesterday and didn't sleep at all”. The prevailing thought is that exercise improves sleep, but I thought it probably wasn't that simple for people with insomnia.’
She looked at data from older women - who are most likely to suffer the condition - over a 16 week period to make her findings.
The key message, she said, was persistence.
She said: ‘People have to realise that even if they don't want to exercise, that's the time they need to dig in their heels and get themselves out there.
‘Write a note on your mirror that says “Just Do It!” It will help in the long run.’
Dr Baron also warned that insomnia could also make people less inclined to exercise.
She said in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine: ‘Sleeping poorly doesn't change your aerobic capacity, but it changes people's perception of their exertion.
‘They feel more exhausted.’
Her colleague, Dr Phyllis Zee, added: ‘Patients with insomnia have a heightened level of brain activity and it takes time to re-establish a more normal level that can facilitate sleep.
‘Rather than medications, which can induce sleep quickly, exercise may be a healthier way to improve sleep because it could address the underlying problem.’
She added: ‘This new study shows exercise and sleep affect each other in both directions: regular long-term exercise is good for sleep but poor sleep can also lead to less exercise.
‘So in the end, sleep still trumps everything as far as health is concerned.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2394431/Think-exercise-help-sleep-It--itll-FOUR-months-effect.html#ixzz2c3UsbaGS
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