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Comment by proee | Hacker News Reader

Running improved my sleep quality dramatically. Now the problem is, that if I take a day off running, my sleeping suffers. Curious if people that do weight lifting (which I'm considering) get great sleeps? Maybe I can alternate between cardio and weight lifting each day?

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I tried weight lifting/strength training for about a year and never really noticed an improvement in sleep quality. However, it was still a net positive in the strength/overall daily energy department.

I used to bike a lot, stopped after a leg/back injury (not from biking), but I picked up an eBike about 3 years ago and absolutely love it. The pedal assist takes enough stress off my leg that I can keep it on the lowest setting and ride for hours, which feels really, really good and does actually help with sleep that night. This, of course, is weather/season dependent but I relish the times when I can just hop on after work and go somewhere.

I play hockey frequently and have the same issue. When we go on vacation, I sleep worse, need to sleep later and longer to feel better. I know that even moderate cardio regulates circadian rhythm and helps with body temperature regulation. Your body's temperature increases during exercise, when you stop and your body temp comes back down, neurologically it tells the body you're now ready for sleep. Exercise also helps regulate melatonin production which affects your sleeping cycles.

When I play in really hard, grueling sessions, taking CBD also helps reduce the inflammation in my body and helps me sleep deeper. I also stretch for at least 30-40 mins when I get done which also helps.

So it makes sense, once you stop or change your body's cycle, it can affect a lot of other areas of your day-to-day schedule.

I will add creatine as a supplement to improve sleep in the face of hard exercise.

Walking. Walk 3 miles a day. It gives you a drastically different set of benefits from running, and you can walk all day without worry of overtraining.

Running is great too. But be careful of doing it too much. Overtraining can break down your immune system and make you more susceptible to disease.

I wonder if it only works for a dedicated walking time (e.g. walk for 3 miles nonstop) or also for bursts of short walking during the day. I consistently get 3-5 miles of walking per day due to chasing kids around, taking short breaks during work, and doing chores, but rarely actually have a 30+ min sustained walk.

Benefits to both I think.

A sustained walk maximizes digestion and subconscious problem-solving benefits. Short bursts, especially w/ kids involved, maximizes spiritual fulfillment.

Both are probably great for metabolic health.

I walk over six kilometres (almost) every day and don't sleep well.

How's your sleeping environment? Do you have black out shades? Keep your room cool?

I have a toddler kicking me in the head.

(Even before that, I didn't sleep particularly well. Yes, when I visit a friend in the countryside, where it's really dark and quiet, I sleep better. Perhaps I should look into blackout shades!)

Any physically tiring activity makes me sleep better. From lifting to running to walking long distances.

You should alternate cardio and weight lifting for general health, not just for sleep. The weight training helps with muscle/bone loss as you age

I used to run long distance. I'd have to go for 15+km in a single session to get any noticeable impact on sleep and it wasn't huge.

Weightlifting on the other hand... a solid hour of going heavy will put me out like a baby every time.

I'm very curious why. Am I just built for long distance running and NOT for building muscle?

Definitely - anything that physically tires me out enough helps a lot. I would say weight lifting actually might help more for personal insomnia.

I mostly do distance running though - shorter interval training or sprints kills me and probably also is better for sleep. Or I'm just less used to it

I bodybuild, and when I'm lifting hard -- especially peaking volume at the end of a mesocycle -- my body CRAVES sleep. I'll fall asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow and sleep 8 to 9 hours basically straight through.

For me it really depends on when - if i go run after 8PM i definitely sleep worse.

yes, I alternate and it works fine. in my experience running/heavy cardio sleep > yoga sleep > weight lifting sleep >> no exercise sleep. if that makes sense

Anecdotally, I get dramatically better sleep after good cardio. Weightlifting doesn’t seem to have much of an effect.

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