It may be surprising that exercise before bed can improve your sleep cycle. A February 2019 sports medicine study found that strenuous physical activity before bed may interfere with falling asleep. However, moderate nighttime exercise does not interfere with sleep and can even improve sleep quality.
Now, depending on your lifestyle and fitness level, simple exercises, such as stretching, can assist in relieving tension, stress, and even anxiety.
To start you off, you can try these five exercises:
Planking: On an evening, performing a full-body plank is one of the better ways to work all your muscles. In the plank position, you must check out your breathing because this is crucial. Moreover, hold the position for a minimum of 30 seconds to a minute.
By using this workout, you will improve your core muscle strength. Nevertheless, you must not forget that if you have issues with your abdominal muscles, like a hernia, then this exercise is not the best for you.
Planking is a simple exercise you can do anywhere without equipment. It needs a little space only. Also, if good posture is maintained – your back straight and your glutes engaged – you can minimize lower back pain, and become more balanced and stable while walking or standing.
Glute Bridge: Another exercise you could try would be the glute bridge. This will activate your core and glutes. This can be done by lifting your hips off the floor. Pause for 1-2 seconds, then return to the starting position. We would suggest doing this at least 10-15 times.
Much like planking, the Glute Bridge does not need equipment and takes up very little space. There are different variations of this exercise, which includes:
Pointing your legs outward: This variation of the traditional glute bridge is a fantastic way to target the outside of your thighs and glutes.
- Start by laying flat on your back with your legs bent at a 90-degree angle and
feet placed flat and firm on the ground. - Ensure your toes are turned outward at a 45-degree angle and your
knees are facing in the same direction as your toes. - Drive down through your feet and push your hips up.
- Ensure you keep your knees over your toes throughout the entire
movement. Don’t let them move forward over the toes or you may create unwanted strain. - In a controlled motion, let your hips sink back toward the ground.
This completes 1 rep. - Perform 4 sets of 15 repetitions or 3 rounds of a 30-second hold and you are good to go.
One-legged glute bridge: Altering the glute bridge so that you’re only working one leg at a time is a great way to work on the strength of one leg at a time.
- Start flat on your back with your legs bent at a 90-degree angle and
feet placed flat on the ground. Raise 1 leg off the ground straight up in the
air. - Drive your weight downward through the leg on the floor.
- Work to keep your hips squared.
- In a controlled motion, let your hips sink back toward the ground.
This completes 1 repetition. - Perform 3 sets of 15 repetitions or 3 rounds of a 30-second hold and you should feel those muscles burning.
Now, if you are not into standard exercise, there are a few sports that you can play.
Backyard Football: Whether you have a small backyard or a decent-sized living room, you can create a makeshift goalpost. Additionally, you would need a football and friends to play with. It’s as simple as that.
Hula Hooping: Remember the days when hula hoops were just for kids? Well, hula hoops are actually a great way to work out, even at 2 am in the morning.
Hula hooping is known to reduce your waist size, increase abdominal muscles, and reduce cholesterol. Hula hooping can also increase abdominal and trunk strength and strengthen and tone the glutes and legs.
Table Tennis: Table tennis is essentially an indoor sport, but you don’t necessarily need to purchase fancy equipment. Depending on how large it is, you can turn any table into a table tennis table with the help of a roll-net that attaches to any table. Now, you may think you need a partner; however, if you don’t, you can play table tennis against the wall. Granted, you may never beat the wall, but it still provides hours of fun.
Indoor/Outdoor Basket Ball: With an indoor/outdoor hoop, you can spend hours during the evening playing basketball. Not only is this fun, but it also helps with coordination, flexibility, and endurance. To add to this, it also increases strength and speed.
Dancing: This is one of the easiest ways to exercise at 2 am in the morning. All you need to do is put on your favorite playlist and dance the night away. You can even look at online tutorial videos to learn how to do ballet, freestyle, ballroom, or even hip-hop. So, dancing may be for you if you are looking for a full-body workout.
Wrapping it all up:
For a long time, the issue of whether exercising before bed positively impacts sleep quality was argued. Although many studies indicate that intense physical activity impairs the ability to sleep, light to moderate exercise can really be beneficial to achieve a better quality of sleep. This is a nice way for people who work out just before sleep.
Basic exercises like stretching could be very useful, removing the burden of stress, tension, and anxiety. Planking is an activity that involves most muscle groups and is easy to do anywhere, even without equipment. At the same time, your core is strengthened, and posture is improved, which can lessen the pain in the lower back as well as boost balance.
Glute bridge is another good exercise that helps activate the core and glutes. For example, you can add a touch of variety by pointing your legs outwards or doing a one-leg bridge, which will keep your muscles guessing. They are simple to perform at home and require a small space that makes them perfect to do anytime.
If traditional exercise doesn’t appeal to you, there are many indoor and outdoor sports to choose from. You can play indoor/outdoor football, hula hooping, table tennis… or even shoot some hoops to lose some weight and get some great benefits like coordination, flexibility, and endurance. Dance is also an option that is fun and uses the entire body. You can dance to your favorite music too.
Top Tips to Turn your Side Hustle into a Success
At the end of the day, the secret to including workouts in your evening schedule is to find the exercises that you like the most and that you can do comfortably. Whether you go for regular exercise, sporting activities, or dancing, having some form of physical activity before bed can have a positive effect on your physical and mental well-being. Therefore, get those sneakers on, turn on some music, and start moving in order to cultivate better sleep and health… But most of all, we suggest that you have the most fun possible when exercising. Because if it becomes a chore, it may cause unwanted stress and anxiety. So, feel free to exercise when you feel most comfortable, as this will allow you to have more fun and reduce stress.
