A little physical activity in the evening could lengthen the night!

Contrary to many classic messages that advise against “moving” at the end of the day, a study shows that several short sessions of a few minutes of simple physical exercise allow you to sleep longer.

New perspectives are opening up for those who can’t manage to fit physical activity into their morning schedule. Géraldine Zamansky, a journalist at Magazine de la Santé on France 5, tells us about a new study that could even allow us to extend our sleep time.

franceinfo: A study shows that ultimately, moving around in the evening does not harm sleep?

Geraldine Zamansky: Exactly, until now, any physical activity close to bedtime was accused of disrupting the quality of sleep in the hours that follow. Too much “excitation” of our body theoretically slowed down the calm necessary for our nighttime recovery. But this “prohibition” could well be swept away, thanks to an original experiment proposed to 28 young women by a team from the University of Otago, in New Zealand.

They agreed to wear a sensor that tracked their sleep, before and after two very different evening programs, from 5 to 9 p.m. Either almost 100% sitting on the couch. Or on the contrary, moving for 3 minutes every half hour. With small, simple movements, like standing on tiptoes, following the example of a video. Result: not only did they not sleep worse after the second program, but they even slept longer. 27 minutes more! An incredible result for Jennifer Gale, the researcher behind this study. She told me that their hope was at least to show that there was no deterioration.

And why was it so important to prove it?

In fact, these results are the continuation of a first study by the same team, which had evaluated other benefits of these small evening activities. In short, they slow down the “clogging” of the heart and blood vessels for example, generated by a sedentary lifestyle. It is therefore a very simple way, while staying in your living room, without any equipment, to fight against our modern-day diseases.

So being able to prove that it even allows you to sleep more was the key Jennifer Gale was looking for to transform this discovery into a recommendation, so that we all change our routine, often aggravated by the many episodes of series that follow one another. From now on, with or without the help of a small alarm every half hour, the idea would be to adopt the reflex of walking a little, doing a few dance steps or leg bends for at least 3 minutes. The New Zealand volunteers moved for a total of 24 minutes, and they gained the equivalent in sleep.

It is impossible at this stage to promise that it will be the same for any duration of activity. It is also impossible for Jennifer Gale to explain “how it works” today. Further research will try to find out whether it is rather through a reduction in the person’s stress or a “good fatigue” created by this light physical exercise!