Eight Great Sleep-Enhancing Activities

It is generally established that physical activity associates with restful sleep, and a study by University of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania, USA) team elaborates on specific types of activities that help to improve sleep quality.  Michael Grandner and colleagues analyzed data on sleep and physical activities of 429,110 adults enrolled in the 2013 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, measuring whether each of 10 types of activities was associated with typical amount of sleep, relative to both no activity and to walking. Subjects were asked what type of physical activity they spent the most time doing in the past month, and also asked how much sleep they got in a typical 24-hour period.  All types of activity except for household/childcare were associated with a lower likelihood of insufficient sleep, as compared to those who reported that they did not get physical activity in the past month.  Specifically, walking, aerobics/calisthenics, biking, gardening, golf, running, weight-lifting and yoga/Pilates were each associated with fewer cases of insufficient sleep, and household chores and childcare were associated with higher cases of insufficient sleep.  The study authors submit that: “Not only does this study show that those who get exercise simply by walking are more likely to have better sleep habits, but these effects are even stronger for more purposeful activities, such as running and yoga, and even gardening and golf.  These results are consistent with the growing scientific literature on the role of sleep in human performance.”