Fitness
The worst time to exercise for a good night’s sleep
Need a good night’s sleep? Cut back on exercising in the evening.
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If you’d like to sleep well tonight, you should probably avoid exercising this evening, especially if your workout will be intense.
That’s the takeaway from a new study of almost 15,000 active men and women. It found that exercising within about four hours of bedtime makes it harder to fall asleep and reduces how long you spend slumbering by as much as 43 minutes.
The effects were most pronounced when workouts were long, intense or both, but almost any evening exercise influenced how well people slept.
“I do my best now to avoid exercising late in the evening,” said Josh Leota, a researcher at Monash University in Australia, who led the new study.
But there may be ways to minimize the effects if evening happens to be the only time you can — or care to — work out.
The link between exercise and sleep
For decades, researchers have been puzzled by the relationship between sleep and exercise. According to most past research, active people sleep better than the sedentary, but not always. Some studies suggest morning workouts improve sleep, while later workouts don’t, but others seem to show any movement, at any time, helps people nod off earlier.
Most of these studies have been quite small, though, often involving fewer than 20 volunteers, and relied on people’s memories of when and how they worked out and snoozed.
So for the new study, published in April in Nature Communications, researchers at Monash teamed up with the activity-tracker maker Whoop to parse anonymized data from 14,689 men and women aged 18 to 87 who’d worn a Whoop tracker for at least a year. (Whoop provided access to the data but “did not have any input into the analysis or results,” Leota said.)
The records included extensive details about when and how intensely people exercised every day, based on their heart rates, and also how well they’d slept that night, including when they’d nodded off, how long they’d remained asleep and the overall quality of their slumber.
36 extra minutes to fall asleep
The researchers were interested in how late-day exercise changes sleep — since previous studies had so often disagreed with one another. They first categorized people’s workouts as light, moderate, hard or maximal, corresponding, in broad terms, to a brisk walk, easy jog, long run or prolonged high-intensity interval training. They also took note of when people worked out and mapped their sleep.
Then they cross-checked. Did people sleep better or worse after they worked out close to bedtime? What if the exercise was gentle? What if they pushed themselves?
The answers consistently showed that “later exercise timing and higher exercise strain” were each strongly linked to worse sleep, the scientists wrote in the study. Even relatively modest evening workouts, such as light weight training or a gentle gym class, could somewhat disrupt sleep.
But the impacts intensified along with the intensity. If people ran an after-hours half-marathon or played a rousing late-night soccer, hockey or basketball game within about two hours of their usual bedtime, they needed an average of 36 extra minutes to fall asleep.
Finish that same strenuous exercise even later at night, after someone’s usual bedtime by an hour or two, and he or she would need an extra 80 minutes to doze off.
People also slept less, in total, after hard, evening exercise, and the quality of their sleep declined, with frequent waking, tossing and turning.
How to wind down after a late workout
The researchers didn’t look at why this happens, but they suspect people were too wound up, physiologically. Participants’ tracker data showed their heart rates were still elevated hours after strenuous evening exercise, while, at the same time, their heart rate variability, which should be somewhat high, remained stubbornly low.
In essence, Leota, said, people got too pumped up by vigorous, late-night workouts to easily drift off or stay asleep. “A basic rule of thumb,” he said, “is the harder you work out, the more time you need to give yourself to recover before going to sleep.”
If you do need to exercise late in the evening, you might want to try meditation, gentle yoga or other relaxation techniques afterward to calm your revved-up body, Leota said.
Even better, “if you can exercise earlier in the day, that would be preferable,” he said.
But if the evening is your best option, stick with it. “We are definitely not discouraging exercise,” Leota said. “For the vast majority of people, any exercise is better than no exercise. We would just recommend trying to finish as early as possible or opting for lighter workouts.”
Fitness
At 55, Zoe Ball relies on NEAT exercise to stay fit without the gym – here’s how to make it work
If the thought of gruelling gym sessions leaves you cold, you’re in good company. Almost eight years on from her Sport Relief cycling challenge, where she cycled over 350 miles from Blackpool to Brighton, beloved radio broadcaster Zoe Ball has turned to a more sustainable, low-intensity form of movement: NEAT exercise.
Standing for Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, NEAT exercise refers to any movement you do that isn’t planned exercise, like walking or doing chores. For Zoe, it means gardening. ‘We cannot underestimate the power of gardening and how good it is for your health,’ she said on a recent episode of Dig It, the podcast she co-hosts alongside radio presenter Jo Whiley. ‘What I love about it the most is it doesn’t matter if I’m out there for two, three minutes, half an hour. The world is quite overwhelming at the moment, and when the kids drive me mad or anything like that I just get out there – whether that’s to tidy up, sweep up or just sit on a bench with a cup of coffee and watch the birds and all the insects.’
Back in lockdown, she even referred to gardening as ‘life-changing’ in an interview with the Radio Times, explaining that 15 minutes every evening had provided some much-needed solace.
While Zoe waxes lyrical about the mental benefits, the physical pros are unparalleled. Non-intentional exercise makes up significantly more of your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure – how many calories you burn across each day), compared to the time you spend exercising in a gym or doing a planned workout. NEAT makes up around 50%, while a planned workout typically counts for roughly 10%. The more you fit movement into your day, the more energy you expend.
‘NEAT exercise is a great way to control and maintain a healthy weight,’ explains GP and trainer Dr Folusha Oluwajana. ‘Increasing your NEAT increases your metabolic rate as you will burn more calories throughout the day. People with higher NEAT levels are often more successful at achieving and maintaining weight loss.’
As for gardening in particular, research published in the Journal of Physical Activity and Health found that tasks such as digging, raking and weeding meet the criteria for moderate-intensity exercise and count toward weekly physical activity recommendations. Other research has linked regular gardening to lower BMI, improved wellbeing, and reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.
Need some inspo? Check out Zoe’s recent garden transformation.
Examples of NEAT
- Washing the car
- Using a standing desk
- Walking upstairs over using the lift or escalator
- Dog walking
- Carrying grocery shopping
- Playing with children or pets
- Walking instead of taking public or private transport
As Women’s Health UK’s fitness director and a qualified Pilates and yoga instructor, Bridie Wilkins has been passionately reporting on exercise, health and nutrition since the start of her decade-long career in journalism.
After earning a first-class degree in journalism and NCTJ accreditation, she secured her first role at Look Magazine, where she launched the magazine’s health and fitness column, Look Fit, before going on to become Health and Fitness writer at HELLO!
Since, she has written for Stylist, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Elle, The Metro, Runner’s World and Red. Today, she oversees all fitness content across Women’s Health online and in print, spearheading leading cross-platform franchises, such as ‘Fit At Any Age’, which showcases the women proving that age is no barrier to exercise.
She has also represented the brand on BBC Radio London, plus various podcasts and Substacks – all with the aim to encourage more women to exercise and show them how. Outside of work, find her trying the latest Pilates studio, testing her VO2 max for fun (TY, Oura), or posting workouts on Instagram.
Fitness
Scientists Say Most Adults Need 4 Times More Exercise Than Recommended for Major Heart Benefits
Substantial heart health benefits may require 560-610 minutes of weekly exercise, with lower fitness individuals needing even more activity to achieve similar protection.
Adults may need far more exercise than current public health guidelines recommend to significantly lower their risk of heart attack and stroke, according to an observational study published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
Researchers found that adults needed between 560 and 610 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity each week for a substantial reduction in cardiovascular risk. That is roughly 3 to 4 times higher than the current recommendation of at least 150 minutes weekly of activities such as brisk walking, running, or cycling.
The findings also suggest that people with lower fitness levels need slightly more exercise than highly fit individuals to achieve the same cardiovascular benefits.
Researchers said current exercise recommendations may need to move away from a one-size-fits-all approach and instead provide personalized goals based on a person’s fitness level.
VO2 Max and Cardiovascular Fitness Explained
Cardiorespiratory fitness differs widely between individuals and is considered a strong indicator of heart health. Researchers noted that low cardiorespiratory fitness is closely linked to a higher risk of heart attacks, strokes, and early death.
One common way to measure fitness is through VO2 max, which reflects the maximum amount of oxygen the body can use during intense exercise. The measurement shows how efficiently the heart, lungs, and muscles work together to deliver and use oxygen.
Researchers from Macao Polytechnic University in China investigated how physical activity levels and cardiorespiratory fitness, measured through VO2 max, influenced cardiovascular disease risk.
UK Biobank Study Tracks Exercise and Heart Events
The study analyzed data from 17,088 participants in the UK Biobank study collected between 2013 and 2015. Participants had an average age of 57, while 56% were women and 96% were white.
Participants wore wrist devices for seven consecutive days to track their normal exercise levels. They also completed a cycling test to estimate VO2 max.
The researchers included additional information such as smoking habits, alcohol use, self reported health and diet, body mass index, resting heart rate, and blood pressure.
Over an average follow-up period of 7.8 years, researchers recorded 1,233 cardiovascular events. These included 874 cases of atrial fibrillation, 156 heart attacks, 111 cases of heart failure, and 92 strokes.
560–610 Minutes Weekly Linked to Stronger Risk Reduction
Adults who met the current guideline of 150 minutes of exercise per week saw a modest 8% to 9% reduction in cardiovascular risk, regardless of fitness level.
However, achieving a more substantial reduction of greater than 30% required between 560 and 610 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise weekly. Only 12% of participants reached that level of activity.
Lower Fitness Levels Require More Physical Activity
The analysis showed that participants with the lowest fitness levels needed about 30 to 50 additional minutes of exercise each week compared with highly fit individuals to gain similar benefits.
For example, a person with low fitness needed about 370 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise each week to reduce cardiovascular risk by 20%, compared with 340 minutes for someone with high fitness.
The researchers say, “This finding highlights the steeper challenge faced by deconditioned populations.”
Researchers Call for Personalized Exercise Guidelines
Because the study was observational, the researchers said it cannot prove cause and effect. They also acknowledged that participants may have been healthier and fitter than the general population. Additional limitations included estimating cardiorespiratory fitness rather than directly measuring it and not tracking sedentary behavior or lighter physical activity.
The team said the findings support current exercise guidelines as an effective minimum target for cardiovascular protection. However, they added that more personalized recommendations could help motivated individuals further reduce their heart disease risk.
“Future guidelines may need to differentiate between the minimal moderate to vigorous exercise volume required for a basic safety margin and the substantially higher volumes necessary for optimal cardiovascular risk reduction,” they conclude.
Reference: “Joint non-linear dose–response associations of device-measured physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness with cardiovascular disease: a cohort and Mendelian randomisation study” by Zhide Liang, Senyao Du, Shiao Zhao, Xianfei Wang, Qiang Yan, Baichao Xu, Sanfan Ng and Ziheng Ning, 19 May 2026, British Journal of Sports Medicine.
DOI: 10.1136/bjsports-2025-111351
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