Evening sport that is good for you, here are the bedtime exercises - Lifestyle

After scented candles, supplements, herbal teas and meditation methods to sleep well and avoid sleepless nights, it is the turn of physical activity, until now considered the polar opposite of evening rest because sport done in the evening triggers adrenaline and keeps you alert. night.

Now it turns out that some physical exercises produce a soporific effect by increasing the sense of sleepiness so much that they have just been renamed 'bedtime exercises', or ZZzzz by some scientists. 

and endurance training works," comment some researchers who conducted an interesting survey presented in Chicago for an American Heart Association conference dedicated to lifestyle.

Such as?

Doing endurance activities with the help of the 'isotonic' machines of the gyms or with some household tools such as benches, barbells, elastic bands and exploiting the weight of your body.

"If aerobic movement such as running or cycling are the ideal sports for general health,

- explains Angelique Brellenthin, kinesiologist and author of the study at the State University of Ames, Iowa.

- It is a sports routine that improves the duration and quality of sleep ".

The exercise set was evaluated on a group of about 400 sleepless, lazy and less than perfect health and was also compared with the use of the treadmill and the stationary bike in an alternative or combined way.

Resistance exercises are the best and now they can be added to the methods followed by those who are tired of tossing and turning in bed at night. 

You go (using the typical language of those who attend fitness temples) from

where the strength of the legs is used to push weights to 'chest press' (same thing but for the pectorals), from

(for the back muscles) to the 'leg curl' for the resistance of the knee muscles to the 'leg extension' for the legs.

This is followed by biceps (curls), triceps 'pushdowns', back weights and so-called

to train the abdominals.

The gentle sleep movement continues with lumbar extension, torso rotation and hip abduction exercises. 

“It is a type of movement that stimulates one muscle band at a time and, compared for example to a run or an evening soccer game, trigger a greater production of endorphins which increase the sense of drowsiness.

Aerobic sports, on the other hand, produce even more adrenaline which wakes up and makes you more euphoric and, if done in the evening, they do not help rest ”, explains Matteo Fontana, fitness trainer in Rome.

To marry the new pro-rest evening routine, you don't necessarily have to join the gym.

Fontana explains: "The isotonic counter-resistance machines present in gyms have the advantage of accompanying movements, minimizing the risk of injuries but the exercises can also be reproduced at home, with the

and also exploiting the weight of one's own body with the same effects, - explains Fontana.

- "The machines for abdominals and squats can be replaced with push-ups on the ground, for the lats you can use traction bars or elastic to fix in stable points of the house to avoid getting hurt".

On this group of home exercises there are also a plethora of online video tutorials and learning the bedtime exercises is not difficult.

And in the gym?

Adrenal activities must be avoided at least three hours before sleeping, instead pilates, yoga, swimming, stretching are fine, holistic disciplines while dance, functional, boxing, gag, spinning, total body are excellent during the day but must be avoided in the evening if you have problems with insomnia because they trigger adrenaline.