Health
Improve your sleep with this specific exercise, new study says
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Exercise has proven benefits in all areas of physical and mental health, and that includes sleep quality.
One specific type of exercise — strength training — has been linked to insomnia prevention in older adults, according to a new study.
Researchers analyzed data from 25 randomized trials that measured the effects of physical exercise on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), which is a questionnaire that assesses respondents’ sleep quality over a one-month period.
The studies included 2,170 people who were 60 or older.
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Strength training — “exercises that increase muscle strength by making muscles work against a weight or force and using anaerobic metabolism, such as lifting weights, arm curls, wall push-ups and resistance” — were found to have the biggest positive effect on sleep, raising sleep scores by 5.75 points.
One specific type of exercise — strength training — has been linked to insomnia prevention in older adults, according to a new study. (iStock)
In comparison, aerobic (cardio) — such as running, jogging, cycling, dancing, hiking, swimming, gardening and brisk walking — improved sleep scores by 3.76 points.
Combination exercise (a mix of aerobic, strengthening, balance and flexibility exercises) only boosted scores by 2.54 points.
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“Exercise that strengthens muscles, rather than aerobic or combination exercises, is the most effective way to enhance sleep quality,” the researchers concluded.
Sleep quality has been shown to decline with age, the study noted.
Between 30% and 48% of seniors complain of sleepiness, while 12% to 20% suffer from insomnia.
“Exercise that strengthens muscles, rather than aerobic or combination exercises, is the most effective way to enhance sleep quality.”
Lorna Kleidman, a certified personal trainer and founder of LornaFit in New York, agrees that strength training can improve sleep.
“I’ve seen it firsthand with my midlife female clients, who previously had trouble sleeping because of hormonal changes,” Kleidman, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
The physical exertion helps the body naturally wind down, leading to deeper, more restorative sleep, one expert said. (iStock)
“Resistance training improves insomnia because it helps regulate the circadian rhythm, the sleep/wake cycle,” she went on. “Sleep quality is enhanced by reducing stress hormones and promoting the release of fatigue-inducing adenosine.”
The physical exertion also helps the body naturally wind down, leading to deeper, more restorative sleep, Kleidman added.
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Certified personal trainer Regis Pagett, the founder and owner of R Personal Fitness in New York City, agreed that a 30-minute moderate-intensity strength training workout can show an improvement in sleep that same night.
“Strength training on a regular basis requires your body to need higher quality rest in order to recover,” the expert, who also was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
Between 30% and 48% of seniors complain of sleepiness, while 12% to 20% suffer from insomnia. (iStock)
“It helps you to regulate your body temperature, have a better resting heart rate, and to fall into a deeper sleep, faster.”
Improved sleep quality, reduced daytime sleepiness and lower severity of sleep apnea are all benefits, according to Pagett.
Strength training recommendations
The American Heart Association recommends that adults strive for a minimum of two strength training sessions per week.
“In order to maximize the benefits, I personally recommend that people look to incorporate strength training three to four times a week,” Pagett advised.
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Kleidman recommends completing squats, deadlifts, lunges, pressing, pulling and rotation, with two to three sets of all movements.
“Add a few minutes of HIIT (high-intensity interval training) and you’ve got a thorough session for strength, bone health and fat-burning,” she said.
The American Heart Association recommends that adults strive for a minimum of two strength training sessions per week. (iStock)
Strength training becomes more important with age, both experts agreed.
“Resistance training is the first thing women should think of when they plan their workout sessions,” said Kleidman.
“It’s imperative to maintain the muscle we lose because of declining estrogen, along with maintaining bone mass and keeping our metabolism stoked.”
Men also need to maintain muscle that can be lost with declining testosterone, Kleidman added.
“I also recommend eating plenty of protein-focused meals throughout the day, with the biggest intakes coming at breakfast and directly after exercise,” one expert said. (iStock)
Pagett pointed to previous studies that show around 30% of adults over 70 have trouble walking, getting out of a chair or climbing steps.
“These trends in physical limitation are directly linked to higher rates of falls, chronic disease, nursing home admission and mortality,” he said.
“Resistance training improves insomnia because it helps regulate the circadian rhythm.”
The timing of exercise matters as well, Pagett noted.
“For one to two hours after exercise, your body releases endorphins that give you a kick of adrenaline that can elevate your energy levels, so I recommend trying to exercise at least three hours before you intend to sleep,” he advised.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep each night. (iStock )
“I also recommend eating plenty of protein-focused meals throughout the day, with the biggest intakes coming at breakfast and directly after exercise,” Pagett said.
“This helps to minimize soreness and will help aid in your recovery.”
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The National Sleep Foundation recommends that adults get between seven and nine hours of sleep each night.
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Nearsightedness (myopia) is skyrocketing globally, with nearly half of the world’s population expected to be myopic by 2050, according to the World Health Organization.
Heavy use of smartphones and other devices is associated with an 80% higher risk of myopia when combined with excessive computer use, but a new study suggests that dim indoor lighting could also be a factor.
For years, scientists have been puzzled by the different ways myopia is triggered. In lab settings, it can be induced by blurring vision or using different lenses. Conversely, it can be slowed by something as simple as spending time outdoors, research suggests.
Nearsightedness occurs when the eyeball grows too long from front to back, according to the American Optometric Association (AOA). This physical elongation causes light to focus in front of the retina rather than directly on it, making distant objects appear blurry.
The study suggests that myopia isn’t caused by the digital devices themselves, but by the low-light environments where they are typically used. (iStock)
Researchers at the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Optometry identified a potential specific trigger for this growth. When someone looks at a phone or a book up close, the pupil naturally constricts.
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“In bright outdoor light, the pupil constricts to protect the eye while still allowing ample light to reach the retina,” Urusha Maharjan, a SUNY Optometry doctoral student who conducted the study, said in a press release.
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“When people focus on close objects indoors, such as phones, tablets or books, the pupil can also constrict — not because of brightness, but to sharpen the image,” she went on. “In dim lighting, this combination may significantly reduce retinal illumination.”
High-intensity natural light prevents myopia because it provides enough retinal stimulation to override the “stop growing” signal, even when pupils are constricted. (iStock)
The hypothesis suggests that when the retina is deprived of light during extended close-up work, it sends a signal for the eye to grow.
In a dim environment, the narrowed pupil allows so little light through that the retinal activity isn’t strong enough to signal the eye to stop growing, the researchers found.
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In contrast, being outdoors provides light levels much brighter than indoors. This ensures that even when the pupil narrows to focus on a nearby object, the retina still receives a strong signal, maintaining healthy eye development.
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The team noted some limitations of the study, including the small subject group and the inability to directly measure internal lens changes, as the bright backgrounds used to mimic the outdoors made pupils too small for standard equipment.
Researchers believe that increasing indoor brightness during close-up work could be a simple, testable way to slow the global nearsightedness epidemic. (iStock)
“This is not a final answer,” Jose-Manuel Alonso, MD, PhD, SUNY distinguished professor and senior author of the study, said in the release.
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“But the study offers a testable hypothesis that reframes how visual habits, lighting and eye focusing interact.”
The study was published in the journal Cell Reports.
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Older adults classified as “SuperAgers” generate at least twice as many neurons in the hippocampus than their typical aging peers, a new study has revealed.
These findings, released on Wednesday by the University of Illinois Chicago and Northwestern University, could help explain why SuperAgers have exceptional memory and cognitive resilience even well past 80 years old.
Northwestern has been studying SuperAgers for decades, defining them as “extraordinary individuals aged 80 and above whose memory performance rivals that of people three decades younger.” The researchers use special memory recall tests to make this determination.
In this study, they analyzed post-mortem brain tissue — nearly 356,000 individual cell nuclei — with a focus on the hippocampus, which is essential for forming new memories and supporting learning and spatial navigation.
They compared tissue from SuperAgers, typical older adults, older adults with early dementia/Alzheimer’s and younger healthy adults.
SuperAger Ralph Rehbock sits with his wife in his home. New findings from the University of Illinois Chicago and Northwestern University could help explain why SuperAgers have exceptional memory and cognitive resilience well past 80 years old. (Shane Collins, Northwestern University)
The researchers found that SuperAgers produced at least twice as many new neurons compared to “cognitively normal” older adults and those with Alzheimer’s pathology.
They also found that changes in certain brain support cells (astrocytes) and key memory cells (CA1 neurons) are linked to preserved cognitive ability, helping to keep the brain sharp with age.
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The SuperAgers also had different genetic activity patterns in their brains compared to those in Alzheimer’s disease.
“SuperAgers have more immature neurons and neuroblasts in the hippocampus, which is an indication of stronger neurogenesis when compared with other groups,” study co-author Changiz Geula, research professor of cell and developmental biology and neuroscience at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, told Fox News Digital.
Northwestern University study co-author Ivan Ayala examines a SuperAger brain sample on a slide. (Shane Collins, Northwestern University)
“The study also showed that specific cells in the hippocampus show unique gene expression profiles that relate to neuronal function and transmission and are associated with superior cognitive function.”
The findings were published in the journal Nature.
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“We’ve always said that SuperAgers show that the aging brain can be biologically active, adaptable and flexible, but we didn’t know why,” said co-author Tamar Gefen, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a neuropsychologist at Northwestern’s Mesulam Institute for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease, in the release.
“This is biological proof that their brains are more plastic, and a real discovery that shows that neurogenesis of young neurons in the hippocampus may be a contributing factor.”
Dr. Tamar Gefen examines a slide of a SuperAger brain. (Shane Collins, Northwestern University)
Dr. Marc Siegel, Fox News senior medical analyst, commented that the study discovered signs of plasticity and regeneration in SuperAgers.
“It confirmed not only preservation of brain tissue in the hippocampus, which is crucial for memory and cognition, but also regeneration and increased development of brain cells in that area,” Siegel, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.
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“This is an important study because it may lead to certain cell gene treatments that could lead to more SuperAgers,” the doctor said. “It may also lead to more advanced testing to determine who will be a SuperAger and guide clinical treatment and management.”
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The study did have some limitations, primarily that the research relied on tissue samples taken at one specific point, instead of tracking changes over time.
Brain samples are fixed in blocks of wax so they can be stored and examined. (Shane Collins, Northwestern University)
Geula noted that studies using human brain tissue typically involve fewer cases than animal research, which can be a limitation. However, he emphasized that each case in this study was analyzed thoroughly.
“While these findings are not directly translatable to changes in everyday life and activities, they suggest that cognitive resilience is associated with greater integrity of many brain systems,” he told Fox News Digital. “This implies that attending to brain health is crucial for maintaining cognitive function in old age.”
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“Thus, maintaining good overall health by keeping systemic diseases in check, maintaining a healthy diet and exercise, and ensuring the elderly remain mentally active assume more importance.”
The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.
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