Sleep and exercise positively affect each other—exercising helps you sleep better, but does working out late make it more difficult to fall asleep? Exercising too close to bedtime can make it harder to fall asleep, especially when it’s high-intensity exercises that raise your body temperature and increases your heart rate.
Higher body temperatures tell the body that it’s time to stay awake and it usually takes about 30-90 minutes after you exercise for your body temperature to fall back down and during this time you may feel sleepy. Also, while you exercise your body releases endorphins which keep you awake and give you energy.
But, late workouts don’t automatically cause sleep issues. You should give your body at least one hour between working out and heading to sleep to relax. Everyone is affected differently by exercise and some people may need a few hours to unwind, making working out in the evening not possible.
As mentioned, the type of workout you do impacts how your body reacts. Low-intensity workouts like walking, yoga, or jogging may help you fall asleep and high-intensity workouts may be better for during the daytime.
To figure out the ideal time to workout, pay attention to how you feel after a workout—if you feel tired, working out later in the day may be fine and if you feel energized, save your workouts for earlier in the day.
