Don’t resist this tip for better sleep (Roizon article)

Consider these facts: 60% of Americans don’t do any muscle-strengthening activities on a regular basis. Thirty-five percent of U.S. adults are sleep-deprived, and as many as 22% of U.S. adults contend with chronic insomnia.

What’s the relationship? Well, according to research out of Iowa State University, if you want to improve your sleep duration and quality, resistance exercise is more effective than aerobic exercise, the combo of aerobics and resistance exercises and, not surprisingly, no exercise at all.

In the study, the participants doing resistance exercises used machines you’d find at the gym: the leg press, chest press, lats pulldown, leg curl, leg extension, biceps curl, triceps pushdown, shoulder press, abdominal crunch, lower back extension, torso rotation and hip abduction. They performed three sets of eight to 16 repetitions at 50% to 80% of their one-rep maximum. The results? It turned out that folks doing resistance exercises slept more soundly and increased their nightly sleep by more than 40 minutes — reducing health risks from sleep deprivation, such as weight gain, diabetes, inflammation, stroke, cognitive problems and heart attack.

Tip: You can also do resistance exercises using stretchy bands or light hand weights. You can even use your own body weight for exercises like the plank, bent knee or regular pushups, arm circles, lunges, situps and wall sits. There are great examples at Greatist.com; search for “bodyweight workout.” For resistance band routines and muscle/strength-building exercises, go to health.clevelandclinic.org. However you do them, to avoid injury to joints or muscles, start low and go slow.