Four types of exercise may be the best ways to improve sleep quality and avoid insomnia: yoga, Tai Chi, walking, and jogging.
A new meta-study — a study of other studies — found that for people seeking better sleep, yoga, tai chi, walking, and jogging rivaled cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-i) in effectiveness.
While authoritative statistics on insomnia worldwide are elusive, the latest research suggests that 16.2% of the global population suffers from the condition, and 7.9% have severe insomnia. In the U.S., according to a survey study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 14.5% of adultsTrusted Source had trouble falling or staying asleep within a 30-day period.
Getting sufficient sleep is important for good health. Seven to nine hoursTrusted Source is the recommended amount of sleep each night for adults.
While CBT-i is the current “gold standard” for treating sleeplessness. It typically involves a series of one-on-one sessions with a sleep therapist.
However, exercise may be more readily accessible to some, can be easily integrated into one’s life on a long-term basis, and can serve as a complement to CBT-i.
As such, the meta-study’s findings will be of interest to many:
- Practicing yoga may increase sleep time by just under two hours a night and boost sleep efficiency by 15%. It may also shorten the amount of time it takes to fall asleep and wake up after having been asleep.
- Tai Chi may improve sleep quality scores by over four points, increase total sleep time by nearly an hour, reduce wake after sleep onset, and shorten sleep onset latency. The analysis also found the beneficial effects of Tai Chi were especially long-lasting: as long as two years.
- Walking or jogging may result in an almost 10-point reduction in insomnia severity scores.
