{"id":520231,"date":"2026-04-08T21:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/520231\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T21:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:06:07","slug":"to-exercise-perhaps-to-dream-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/520231\/","title":{"rendered":"To Exercise, Perhaps to Dream (Better?)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sleep issues are a major scourge for anyone who suffers from them. Whether it\u2019s falling asleep or staying asleep once in bed, insomnia<\/a> can create not only daytime weariness, but also a host of other psychological symptoms, from anxiety<\/a> to depression<\/a>. Once the cycle of sleepiness plus insomnia sets in, it may seem almost impossible to break.<\/p>\n

Impossible, that is, unless one decides to seek treatment through sleep medications. These can indeed keep insomnia at bay, but their side effects and potential dangerousness when combined with other medications make them a less-than-desirable course of action.<\/p>\n

A Possible Role of Exercise in Sleep, Depression, and Anxiety<\/p>\n

Lillian finds herself in this exact situation. She developed a minor sleep disturbance after problems at work started to keep her up at night. Before long, she dreaded going to bed because she feared the inevitable hours of tossing and turning without much respite. Her physician prescribed a sleep medication<\/a> that was intended to be temporary; unfortunately, a year has gone by, and she is decidedly dependent on it. The nights she tries to wean herself off, she not only continues to experience insomnia but also feels sad and agitated. Needless to say, the insomnia cycle kicks in again.<\/p>\n

According to Universidade Federal de Jata\u00ed (Brazil)\u2019s Daniela Pantale\u00e3o Ferreira and colleagues (2026), insomnia is linked to a high prevalence of anxiety and depressed mood; sleep deprivation, in turn, can experimentally induce these symptoms. Potentially counteracting the effects of insomnia, the authors suggest, could be aerobic exercise.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s well known that exercise can ameliorate symptoms of anxiety and depression. Exercise is also beneficial in improving sleep quality and reducing insomnia (unless conducted shortly before bedtime). To date, however, these possible linkages remain uninvestigated. The purpose of the U. de Jata\u00ed study was to investigate the exercise-insomnia-anxiety\/depression relationships. Perhaps people like Lillian could throw away their medications and substitute the healthier (and less addictive) alternative of exercise.<\/p>\n

Sifting Through the Sleep Data<\/p>\n

The authors began their quest by scraping the available databases using search terms for studies covering anxiety, mood, exercise, and insomnia. The most important criterion they used was that the studies had to follow strict experimental procedures, namely randomized controlled trials (RCTs). This meant that there needed to be a control group for comparison with the exercise intervention group. The forms of exercise ranged from aerobic training to weight lifting, yoga, and tai chi. Other safeguards were put in place as well to ensure that the findings of exercise\u2019s benefits could not be attributed to bias<\/a> or extraneous factors.<\/p>\n

Somewhat sadly, the authors began with a vast database of over 4,000 studies but after applying selection criteria, were left with only seven; these represented a total of 336 participants. Nevertheless, this total sample size was large enough to estimate with a high degree of confidence<\/a> exercise\u2019s impact. Putting all the data through a rigorous statistical estimation showed consistently favorable effects of exercise on mood, anxiety, insomnia, and overall sleep quality.<\/p>\n

In case you\u2019re wondering how much exercise was needed to achieve these desirable outcomes, it was not an unreasonable amount. The seven studies ranged from 12 weeks to four months in duration, and averaged two to three times a week in frequency. The exercises were also very doable, including treadmill and walking, resistance weight training, yoga, and tai chi. Clearly, people didn\u2019t have to be gym rats to show exercise\u2019s benefits.<\/p>\n

The size of exercise\u2019s effect in statistical terms was not overly large (though statistically significant) but, importantly, were roughly equivalent to the effect of cognitive-behavioral<\/a> therapy<\/a> (CBT), a method of treatment known to be highly efficacious. There is no reason, as the authors point out, that CBT could not be combined with exercise. Either way, such an intervention has clear benefits over sleep medications with their known addictive and side effects.<\/p>\n

Putting Exercise to Work for You<\/p>\n

From this small but well-controlled study, you can see that by adding exercise into your daily routines, you may be able to reap benefits beyond those of building physical strength and endurance. What\u2019s more, for people like Lillian, exercise can prove to be more sustainable over the long term than going on and off various medications.<\/p>\n

Ferreira et al. are appropriately judicious in their interpretation of the findings, noting that the final sample size became so small after data cleaning. What\u2019s more, although control groups did use such methods as teaching sleep hygiene, it\u2019s pretty impossible not to know whether you\u2019re in a treatment group or not if that treatment involves starting a new form of exercise. Yet, even knowing you\u2019re in the \u201ctreatment\u201d group might not automatically lead you to conclude that it\u2019s the cause of your improved psychological symptoms and sleep quality.<\/p>\n

Given that sleep medications are considered <\/a>to be over-prescribed in high-risk groups such as older adults or individuals with chronic disease, this study shows how exercise can form not just an acceptable, but a highly effective alternative. The individuals in the Ferreira et al. review included adults in their 60s, who would be prime targets for non-medication forms of insomnia treatment. Even better news, exercise can only help you maintain your physical health, especially if it includes a mix of aerobic, resistance, and flexibility\/balance training.<\/p>\n

To sum up, there is no reason not to try exercise if you\u2019re experiencing sleep problems and associated symptoms of depression and anxiety. Start by moving during the day, and your night can become that much more restful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sleep issues are a major scourge for anyone who suffers from them. Whether it\u2019s falling asleep or staying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":520232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-520231","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-greatbritain","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520231","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/520232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}