three very specific physical exercises

Insomnia is much more than a simple night of bad dream. It is a prevalent disorder that affects between 3.9 and 22% of the population And that not only leaves us exhausted, but also increases the probability of having other pathologies. Now, A new and thorough meta -analysis Compare multiple types of exercises for the first time and reveal which are the most effective in improving sleep quality.

A disorder that can be medicated. Insomnia has traditionally tried to alleviate with pharmacological treatments such as It is the use of benzodiazepines. Something that in chronic way cannot be used by the multiple risks of suffering from dementia that present. In these cases, other therapies such as The use of high dose melatonin. A hormone that is produced by our own organism naturally, but whose secretion can be affected when doing A change in our schedules or expose ourselves to the blue light.

Now the next step is to find the ideal physical exercise to help reconcile sleep. Something where they wanted to influence a study published in BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

A study based on network meta -analysis. This methodology gives a great robustness to this investigation, since it analyzed the data of 22 random controlled trials with a total of 1,348 participants. The objective is clear: compare the effectiveness of different types of exercise to improve sleep and relieve the insomnia that can be suffered. And the results point to a podium with three clear winners.

There are three very effective exercises to be able to sleep. The study concludes that, although the exercise in general is an effective treatment for insomnia, there are three modalities that stand out above the others: Yoga, Tai Chi and walk or run gently (jogging).

Yoga is the king of sleep hours. For those whose main problem is sleeping a few hours, yoga seems to be the most powerful solution. According to the data of the sleep newspapers of the study participants, the yoga increased the total sleep time in about 110 minutes.

Being able to sleep two more hours can make a big difference between a deficit dream and one enough. In addition, he showed improve sleep efficiency, reduce the time he spent awake after having slept and shorten the latency of sleep (the time we take to sleep once we are in bed).

Walking is the remedy for daycare. If insomnia affects you mainly during the day, with fatigue, lack of concentration and bad mood, walking or running softly can be your best ally. Although before we will have to rule out a possible sleep apnea.

This activity proved to produce a great reduction in the scores of the Insomnia severity index (ISI), who measures precisely how bad dream impacts daily functioning

Tai Chi as quality and constancy champion. This martial art of slow and controlled movements not only improves the general quality of sleep, but also increases the total sleep time, as seen in subjective as objective. Its greatest advantage is that the benefits of Tai Chi persisted during long -term monitoring, demonstrating significant improvements even 1 or 2 years after the intervention.

They have a good scientific basis. Beyond what was seen in the results, researchers point to different neurobiological mechanisms that explain why these benefits. In the case, yoga could see an increase in neurotransmitter gaba reducing the hyperactivity of the tonsil and reducing anxiety levels. In the case of Tai Chi, being a rhythmic and slow mind-body practice, the parasympathetic tone increases and reduces physiological hyperactivation. In addition, in the long term it reduces pro-inflammatory cytokines.

In the case of walking or running, there is a direct relationship with the increase in energy expenditure, which leads to reduce levels of Cortisol (The so -called stress hormone), elevates melatonin secretion and favors a greater proportion of deep sleep.

A practical guide to choose your treatment. These findings are a powerful tool to customize the treatment of insomnia. This way, The recommendation ‘exercise’ falls shortand now we can be much more specific. If the goal is to sleep more hours, the best is yoga, but if you are looking for an improvement in sleep architecture, Tai Chi is the best option.

This study reinforces the idea that exercise should be considered a main treatment strategy for insomnia, especially taking into account its low cost, minimum side effects and high accessibility.

The study presents a ‘little’ problem. The authors themselves warn that, due to the nature of the interventions, most of the studies analyzed could not be blind (the participants knew what exercise they did), which introduces a possible bias.

A lot of research behind the dream. Sleep well It is vital for any human beingand that is why science has always tried to look for The keys to quickly reconcile sleep. And there are also many myths around. For example, Sleeping less than seven hours sometimes is not always negative or for example ‘sleep of a pull’ It is also a great myth of our society. That is why this type of investigations try to give us light on how to better face these night hours.

Images | Bruce Mars

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