People with insomnia may be inclined to reach for a pill, but science has another answer — exercise.
“There has been more and more research in the last decade showing exercise can reduce insomnia,” says Kelly Glazer Baron, clinical psychologist at Rush University in Chicago in a May 30 article on CNN.com. “In one study we did, for example, older women suffering from insomnia said their sleep improved from poor to good when they exercised. They had more energy and were less depressed.”
Sleep researcher Shawn Youngstedt at Arizona State University in Tempe concurred about the benefits of working out over pharmaceuticals. “It’s less expensive, healthier and just as easy to exercise,” he says. “And there’s an added bonus: Research suggests those who are physically active have a lower risk of developing insomnia in the first place.”
