Regular three-minute bouts of resistance exercise at home spread over 4 hours is enough to improve sleep quantity and quality, researchers have found. Current recommendations discourage intense exercise before going to bed, on the grounds that it increases body temperature and heart rate, which can result in poorer sleep quality . While activity breaks can improve metabolism after a meal, it is not clear if they have any impact on sleep.
Poor sleep is associated with an increased risk of cardiometabolic disorders, such as coronary heart disease and type 2 diabetes . To explore this further, the researchers recruited 30 non-smokers, aged 18 to 40, to their study. All of them reported clocking up more than five hours of sedentary time during the day at work and two hours in the evening.
To capture habitual physical activity and sleep patterns, participants wore an activity tracker worn continuously on their non-dominant wrist for seven consecutive days. And they were asked to record the periods they did not wear it, the time they went to bed, and when they woke up. They were also asked to record any physical activity when not wearing the activity tracker, such as swimming or contact sport, and to record activities known to be inaccurately identified by the tracker, such as stationary cycling or yoga.
Each participant completed two four-hour sessions in a controlled laboratory environment on the same day of the week, starting at around about 5pm-5.30pm, and separated by a minimu.