The Impact of Evening Activity on Sleep and Performance
Recent study shows that short bursts of evening exercise can significantly increase sleep time without disrupting daily activities
Sleep is a cornerstone of wellness, impacting everything from recovery to mental clarity. The National Sleep Foundation reports that 35% of all adults in the U.S. sleep less than the recommended 7 hours per night. Now, a new study offers a simple yet effective strategy that personal trainers can use to help their clients enhance sleep duration: adding quick bursts of bodyweight strength moves before bedtime.
Published in BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, the study highlights the potential benefits of incorporating regular short bouts of bodyweight resistance exercises in the evening to improve sleep duration in healthy adults. Conducted by a team from the University of Otago, the research explored whether breaking up prolonged sitting in the evening with brief exercise sessions could positively impact sleep quantity and quality.
Sit or Move at Night?
To ensure the results were as accurate as possible, the study followed a standardized intervention protocol. Participants adhered to a strict diet on experimental days, consuming standardized meals before 2:00 PM. Fitted with ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometers, participants wore these devices on their non-dominant wrists from the morning of the intervention day until 48 hours after, allowing the researchers to continuously monitor physical activity and sleep patterns.
The study was designed as a randomized crossover trial and involved 28 participants, most of whom were women, with an average age of 25.6 years and a mean body mass index (BMI) of 29.5 kg/m². Each participant experienced two distinct 4-hour scenarios, both beginning at around 5:00 pm, on separate evenings.
In the first scenario, participants remained seated for the entire 4-hour period, mimicking a typical evening of prolonged sitting. In the second scenario, participants’ sitting was interrupted every 30 minutes with a 3-minute session of bodyweight resistance exercises, including chair squats, calf raises, and standing knee raises with straight leg hip extensions.
These exercises were performed in sequence, with each exercise lasting 20 seconds, repeated over three rounds, guided by a time-standardized video that ensured consistency and proper form.
Once these sessions concluded, participants returned to their normal routines. Their sleep was then tracked using the accelerometers and sleep diaries, providing valuable data on their sleep patterns and quality.
Impact on Sleep
The researchers focused on the secondary outcomes of the study, examining how the evening interventions influenced participants’ sleep and physical activity. They found that those who took regular breaks for bodyweight resistance exercises in the evening saw a modest yet statistically significant increase in their sleep duration. On average, these participants enjoyed an additional 29.3 minutes of total sleep time, with the actual time spent asleep increasing by about 27.7 minutes.
While sleep duration improved, other aspects of sleep quality—such as sleep efficiency, the time spent awake after initially falling asleep, and the number of times participants woke up during the night—remained largely unchanged compared to the nights of prolonged sitting.
Additionally, these brief evening exercises didn’t seem to significantly impact participants’ physical activity levels in the 24 to 48 hours following the intervention. The results suggested that these simple activity breaks could extend sleep time without disrupting the overall sleep experience or daily routines.
“Given the current sleep hygiene guidelines, we were surprised to see such a positive impact on sleep,” said lead study author Jennifer Gale, a doctoral student of human nutrition at the University of Otago.
These findings suggest that integrating brief resistance exercise sessions into clients’ evening routines could be a simple, effective strategy to enhance sleep duration without negatively impacting sleep quality. This approach could be particularly useful for individuals with sedentary lifestyles who may benefit from improved sleep as part of a holistic approach to health and wellness.
However, while the results are promising, several limitations should be considered. The research only examined the effects of a single evening intervention, leaving the long-term impact of regular evening exercise breaks on sleep unclear. Additionally, the relatively small sample size and specific demographic—predominantly young women—limit the generalizability of the findings to a broader population.
The study focused exclusively on bodyweight resistance exercises, suggesting that future research could explore the effects of different types of physical activity, such as aerobic or stretching exercises, on sleep outcomes. More research is needed to understand the long-term implications and to explore the potential benefits across different populations and exercise modalities.