Study: Yoga, Weight Training Improves Sleep Habits

Physical activities including yoga/Pilates, biking, walking, weight lifting, golfing, gardening, and running were linked to better sleep habits (at least 7-8 hours of sleep a night) compared to no activity at all, according to the results of a recent study. Physical activity that consisted primarily of childcare and household chores, however, was associated with poor sleep habits.

In the past, physical activity has been linked to healthy sleep, though researchers were not sure whether the source of physical activity was relevant.
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For their study, researchers evaluated sleep and physical activity data from 429,110 adults through the 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance.

Researchers assessed sleep duration by the total habitual sleep within 24 hours. Participants’ sleep was categorized as very short (≤ 4 hours), short (5-6 hours), normal (7-8 hours), and long (≥ 9 hours).

Participants were asked to list any non-occupational physical activity for the previous 30 days. Of the participants, 125,314 reported no non-occupational physical activity, 179,996 reported walking, 26,637 reported gardening/yard work, 23,153 reported running, 19,008 reported calisthenics/aerobics, 15,780 reported biking, 10,222 reported weight-lifting, 6,511 reported golfing, 5,001 report swimming, 3,370 reported yoga/Pilates, 3,270 reported jogging, and 2,691 reported household/childcare.

Researchers adjusted for sex, education, age, and BMI.

The study showed that walking was associated with decreased likelihood of very short (OR, 0.59), short (OR, 0.83) and long sleep (OR, 0.76) compared to no activity.

“Compared to walking, aerobics/calisthenics, biking, and running were associated with a greater decreased likelihood of very short, short, and long sleep,” noted the study’s authors.

“Weight lifting and yoga were also negatively associated with very short and short sleep, golf was negatively associated with very short sleep, gardening was negatively associated with long sleep, and household/childcare was positively associated with both very short and long sleep,” they said.

Further, biking, gardening, golfing, weight lifting, yoga/Pilates, running, and aerobics/calisthenics linked to a decreased chance of very short, short, and long sleep.

The complete study was presented June 6-10, 2015 at the Sleep 2015 meeting in Seattle, WA.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:

Chheda J, Barilla H, Gallagher R, Gradner MA. Physical activity and habitual sleep duration: does the specific type of activity matter.  Paper presented at: Sleep 2015 meetingJune 6-10, 2015; Seattle, WA.