Walking: Here Is How This Aerobic Exercise Affects Your Sleep

'Walk more to sleep better' can be the new mantra in life for fitness. Taking more steps during the day is directly associated with a good night’s sleep, according to a study. The research suggested that the more you walk, the better you can sleep at night.

The study that was published in the medical journal Sleep Health last month looked into the link among physical activity levels, duration and sleep patterns. The research suggested that physically active people can sleep better.

It is worth noting that there are thousands of people worldwide who do not get enough sleep at night. Of them, many are middle-aged and older adults. The sleeping patterns of these individuals have always been the focus of research and past studies have produced conflicting results.

While some studies suggested that people with sleep problems can improve it by being physically active during the day, few others indicated that intense exercise can lead to disturbed sleep, reported The New York Times.

The current study was a randomized, controlled and embedded trial that was designed to increase the physical activity levels of the participants within a four-week period. The research mainly focused on people who were worried about not getting enough time to exercise.

For the study, the research team analyzed 59 healthy adults from the greater Boston area. Of them, 72 percent were females of 49 years old in average. These individuals were enrolled in a walking intervention for a period of four weeks on a rolling basis.

The research was aimed at examining the relationship between monthly and daily physical activity levels and sleep. Researchers asked the participants to increase their steps on a daily basis.

The research team then used a Fitbit Zip to measure the activity levels and step counts of each of the participants. They also assessed the self-reported duration and quality of sleep on a daily basis, including before and after the intervention.

At the end of the study, researchers found that "averaged across the month, daily active minutes were positively related to sleep quality but not duration." Researchers also found that the results varied depending on the participants' sex.

"Women who took more steps and were more active reported sleeping better than those less active," the study team noted. "Within persons, on days that participants were more active than average, they reported better sleep quality and duration in both sexes."

The study concluded that low-impact physical activity is positively related to sleep, more so in women than men. Findings also showed that physical activity plays a greater role in predicting sleep quality than duration.