The following report is from Study Finds:
Sleep has been especially hard to come by for countless people over the past two years, which is certainly understandable. Between an ongoing pandemic and seemingly unrelenting inflation, there’s no shortage of topics to keep us up at night lately. You’ve probably already heard that exercising can help improve sleep issues, but now research reports resistance-based exercises like push-ups and weight lifting may offer greater sleep benefits than aerobics.
It is increasingly recognized that getting enough sleep, particularly high-quality sleep, is important for health including cardiovascular health. Unfortunately, more than a third of Americans don’t get enough sleep on a regular basis. Aerobic activity is often recommended to improve sleep, yet very little is known about the effects of resistance exercise versus aerobic exercise on sleep. Our study is one of the largest and longest exercise trials in a general adult population to directly compare the effects of different types of exercise on multiple sleep parameters.
Says study author Angelique Brellenthin, Ph.D., assistant professor of kinesiology at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, in a media release.
We all know sleep is important. Pull a few all-nighters in a row and no amount of coffee is going to keep you feeling normal. Simply put, sleep is a necessity not a luxury. More specifically, however, this project focused on sleep’s benefits in reference to heart health in particular. Plenty of prior studies show that failing to attain enough adequate sleep on a regular basis increases the risk of hypertension considerably, as well as elevated cholesterol and atherosclerosis.
On a related note, lack of sleep is also linked to obesity, bodily inflammation, and diabetes – which all just so happen to be associated with cardiovascular disease. Sleeping too little, and even too much, increases one’s risk of stroke, heart attack, and death.
Connecting Resistance Exercise To Sleep
To study the relationship between various forms of exercise and sleep, researchers gathered 386 adults considered either obese or overweight (BMI: 25-40 kg/m²). All participants led largely inactive lifestyles, and showed elevated blood pressure, measuring between 120-139 mm Hg systolic (top number) and 80-89 mm Hg diastolic (bottom number).
All study subjects were separated randomly into various experiment groups. One group served as a control cohort (no exercise at all), while three additional groups (aerobic only, resistance only, or a mixture of aerobic and resistance exercises) were formed. All groups stuck to their prescribed routines for a full year. Across all three exercise groups participants engaged in supervised one hour sessions three times weekly. The combo group spent 30 minutes on cardio and another half hour on resistance exercises during each session.
Subjects assigned to the aerobics group could choose between using a treadmill, exercise bike, or elliptical. While subjects worked out, their heart rates were monitored to ensure they stayed within the prescribed heart rate range for a moderate-to-vigorous intensity exercise. Meanwhile, the resistance exercise group worked out on 12 resistance machines encompassing a variety of muscle groups: chest press, lat pulldown, leg curl, leg extension, biceps curl, triceps pushdown, shoulder press, abdominal crunch, lower back extension, leg press, and so on. Subjects were instructed to complete three sets of 8-16 repetitions at 50-80 percent of their one-rep maximum.
The cardio/resistance combination group, meanwhile, engaged in a half hour of moderate-to-vigorous aerobics followed by another 30 minutes of resistance workouts consisting of two sets of 8-16 repetitions on nine machines.
Both before and after the 12-month experimental exercising period, subjects completed a survey designed to measure sleep quality. Questions on sleep duration, sleep efficiency (time spent sleeping divided by total time in bed), and sleep disturbances (frequency of waking up due to any number of annoyances – temperature, snoring, coughing, pain, urge to use the bathroom) were all part of the surveys as well.
A lower score on the PSQI indicates better quality sleep (0 indicates near perfect slumber, while 21 indicates major insomnia issues). Generally, any score greater than five was deemed “poor quality sleep” by the research team.
‘Far Superior Exercise Option’
All in all, the study reports a number of noteworthy findings:
- To start, over a third (35%) of all participants met the criteria for poor sleep at the beginning of the study.
- A full 42 percent of subjects were failing to attain seven hours of sleep nightly to start. Among this group, by the end of the study, sleep duration increased by an average of 40 minutes among the resistance group. The combination exercise group saw an increase of 17 minutes, and the aerobics group displayed an uptick of 23 minutes. Even the control group ended up sleeping 15 minutes longer.
- Regarding sleep efficiency, only the resistance and combo groups saw improvements.
- Sleep latency dropped by three percent among the resistance exercisers, but no other latency improvements were seen in the other two cohorts.
- Both sleep quality and sleep disturbances improved across all four groups, even those who weren’t exercising at all.
All in all, study authors conclude resistance exercises appear to be a far superior exercise option when it comes to getting some better shuteye and improving overall health to boot.
While both aerobic and resistance exercise are important for overall health, our results suggest that resistance exercises may be superior when it comes to getting better ZZZs at night. Resistance exercise significantly improved sleep duration and sleep efficiency, which are critical indicators of sleep quality that reflects how well a person falls asleep and stays asleep throughout the night. Therefore, if your sleep has gotten noticeably worse over the past two stressful years, consider incorporating two or more resistance exercise training sessions into your regular exercise routine to improve your general muscle and bone health, as well as your sleep.
Dr. Brellenthin concludes.
Further work on this topic should utilize objective sleep monitoring instead of self-reported sleep questionnaires to rectify one of the few limitations in reference to this project.
This research was presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology, Prevention, Lifestyle & Cardiometabolic Health Conference 2022.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
3 John 2
It should go without saying that exercise is a necessity for health. You don’t have to be some gym rat nor overstress your body everyday, but getting exercise is needed for sleep, and this particular study demonstrates that resistance training will have increase. Of course, body fat loss is another story, however, as an overhaul to your dietary lifestyle will need to be fixed, much more so than exercise.
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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could you do an article on the northern lights? whats its purpose? what does it mean? any connection to God other than the obvious natural occurrence/reaction of his creation. or what do you make of it?
i would enjoy to hear your thoughts on it…
and secondly can you do an article contrasting the funny ‘evolutionist’ view of a caveman creation vs actual amazing skilled people of ancient past?
thanks and God bless you
I’ve been doing sauna and that also clears out a lot of toxins as well as fat and calories, it also improves sleep and your skin.
I’ve also been swimming and doing weights and cross fit type training with a trainer for an 8 week challenge at Golds Gym. This past week, I ate super rigidly strict and on Saturday, I fasted. So far, I’ve gone down from 176.8 to 155.3.
What are your thoughts on a gym challenge, Jacob?
Been following this information from the Mercola interaction. There’s a big push for artificial & competition, pantheistic guru & Talmudic/Catholic ‘obey the authority’, the ‘superiors’, the ubers, or highest Hindu castes, &, of course…the Dragon people …in all of it that is very vexing, & which can also be very subtle, drawing you in if you’re not careful.
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On this exercise thing, Dr. Shallenburg has found resistance & what they call ‘interval training’ …just 3 or 4 times per week was as, & often more effective, than the extreme stuff. Gyms are really hard on Christian family order, & maintaining that. And competition tends to get into pride & rivalries, subtle bondages, & Jesuit-type ‘disciplines’ of the gurus& shamans etc. But learning, planning & goal setting in the bounds of Proverbs & James, ‘if the Lord wills we will do such-and-such, go here or there’….helps me.
I believe that interval training is just like natural living, & that the ‘newest’ science on vitamin D, the B’s, & fats; fasting & time restricted eating is so in tune w/ God’s natural creation, & pre-industrial age agricultural living that it just makes sense it’s within the bounds of truth….at least thus far.
Dr. Stasha Gominak did work on sleep that found as people got their vitamin D levels up, complemented with the B’s, & especially B6, that many people with sleep issues began getting better. Deep sleep is regenerative sleep when the body goes into ‘repair’ mode, & she’s been amazed to see people’s chronic pain, melatonin imbalances, migraines & such just melt away as they gradually ‘catch up’. She also finds that once things are in balance, the gut works more functionally, which makes sense…D is a hormone & fat, & given good diet & right nutrients, the body manufactures most B vitamins in the gut, that it’s much easier for people to maintain that balance without a lot of expensive supplements. (Of course, that brings resistance from the techy types who make their living selling those supplements, or ‘coaching’ at the gym: beware of ‘life coaches’…that’s just glorified, scientized Craft. They feel threatened& not needed…& worry about paying for all that expensive education debt.)
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So harmonious with the word! & God’s mercy even in judgment. Finding it helpful, but vexing as they never give God the glory, & their ‘positive thinkee’ masks start to slip when you point things out & witness. Gominak turned out to be a pantheist’s pantheist type of humanist…but so’s Ice Age and so many others with otherwise solid work. Proves it’s spiritual, not intellectual at root, at heart. Backing off some of the study & attempts at online witnessing to put more application into our lives, food & cutting back supplements, more exercise, giving thought to keepers at home & help meet arts of food prep, regular gentle cycles of routine & labor…casting off more feminist baggage & conditioning (and they thought I was weird enough before! …lol…the rise they got was only possible because of pride: what the Lord thinks is what matters, why should I care what they think who know not the word, or handle it presumptuously, carelessly, hypocritically, even blasphemously?)
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The recent offgrid seminar Brother Bryan did helped me & gave me some guidance from the word & his & Catherine’s experience right where we are, & in less than perfect circumstances. My prep was of a different sort, & hindered by the old work smarter, not harder which can become a trap of technology, debt, worldliness & vexation. There’s enough of that as there is, & I can use some of that sunshine & ‘interval training’ style exercise. Lots of time to pray, consider, meditate out there doing that kind of labor, too.
Oh, & I do sauna. We have the cheapest full spectrum with emf shielding I could find, usually pretty decent sale during the ‘Thanksgiving/Christmas’ time of year. It’s a portable Therasage that I got early, shortly after the cancer diagnosis. I like it because your hands can be out, & your head, but it raises core temp well, & has the red-light panel. You can simulate some of that with hot-cold water changes in the shower, so far as lymph & immune response: Dr. Seuheult of medcram shared that & I’ve since heard these others saying the same.
One caution on using sauna. We picked up a bit of phlegmy cold from grandkids last week & I wasn’t as cautious as I should have been with extra hydration, considering both that & the water loss from sweat, which set me back a bit the next day. I hadn’t run into that before, but then, I don’t usually do it when I don’t feel well already because it is a stress, & can tire a body already taxed. Use it more regularly in up times & as preventative, & had just gotten back to it after that hard bout of covid or whatever it was we had back in late Jan/early Feb….was about my third session in a little over a week.
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Husband just tomorrow going back to work after his bout w/double pneumonia. He does not tolerate the sauna well at all, never has. Seems to be a person by person thing in many ways, & we’re praying things hold a tad bit longer as we make a few more preparations for different doing, & doing without. If not, well, consequence is a bear & the Lord has blessed far beyond anything deserved, those younger should take heed. Praying for all, in need of prayer. Hardly any Christian fellowship elsewhere.