For better sleep, resistance exercise may be better than aerobic exercise

Resistance exercise may be superior to aerobic exercise as a way to get better sleep, and sleep may have an effect on cardiovascular Health is important

"There is a growing recognition that getting enough sleep, especially high-quality sleep, is very important to health, including cardiovascular health

Previous research has confirmed that insufficient sleep (the recommended amount of sleep for adults is 7 to 8 hours per day) or poor sleep quality increases the risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol and atherosclerosis

For the study, researchers recruited 386 adults who met the criteria for being overweight or obese, i.

Various workouts include:

• Aerobic exercise participants can choose their cardio >

  
  

• The resistance training group completed their full set of workouts and repetitions on 12 resistance machines, working all major muscle groups in one set

  
  

• The combination group started with 30 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous cardio, followed by 8 to 16 repetitions of resistance exercise on 9 machines instead of 12 machines

  
  

Study participants completed a variety of assessments at the start and 12 months later, including self-reports from the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), which measures sleep quality

The study found:

• More than a third (35%) of study participants had poor sleep quality at the start of the study

  
  

• Of the participants who slept less than seven hours at the start of the study, 42 percent gained an average of 40 minutes of sleep over the 12-month period, compared with only about 23 minutes in the aerobic group

  
  

• Sleep efficiency improved in the resistance exercise and combined exercise group, but not in the aerobic and no exercise group

  
  

• In the resistance training-only group, sleep latency was slightly reduced by 3 minutes, while in the other participating groups, there was no significant change in sleep latency

  
  

• Sleep quality and sleep disturbance improved in all groups, including the group that didn't exercise

  
  

Based on these findings, interventions focused on resistance exercise may be a new way to promote better sleep and improve cardiovascular health

"While both aerobic and resistance exercise are important for overall health, our findings suggest that resistance exercise may have an advantage in achieving better sleep at night," Brunsin said

A limitation of the study is that the researchers used a self-reported sleep questionnaire to assess sleep rather than objectively monitor sleep