Exercise for Sleep: How Much and When

Written by INNER G

Clocks in most of Ontario, including Vaughan, went back one hour overnight on Sunday, November 1, 2026, while parts of northwestern Ontario are staying on daylight time to match Manitoba (Government of Ontario, 2026). Darker evenings and a shifted schedule make this a good week to look at a habit that affects your sleep all year: exercise.

Canada's 24 Hour Movement Guidelines treat sleep as part of a healthy day, right next to activity. They call for 7 to 9 hours of good quality sleep on a regular basis with consistent bed and wake up times, at least 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity, and muscle strengthening at least twice a week (CSEP, 2020; Ross et al., 2020).

This post covers what research says about exercise for sleep, whether strength training counts, whether evening workouts keep you up, and what to do when poor sleep doesn't go away.

Please read first. This post is general information, not medical advice. If you've had trouble sleeping on most nights for weeks, or you're so sleepy during the day that it's hard to stay awake at work or behind the wheel, get medical care and talk to your doctor before you start a new program.

What the research says about exercise for sleep

  • A 2015 meta analysis of 66 studies found that regular exercise had small benefits for total sleep time and sleep efficiency, small to medium benefits for how long it takes to fall asleep, and moderate benefits for sleep quality (Kredlow et al., 2015).
  • A 2021 meta analysis of 22 randomized trials in people without diagnosed diseases looked at exercise programs lasting at least 2 months. Exercise lowered scores on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) by about 2.2 points, the Insomnia Severity Index by about 1.5 points and a daytime sleepiness scale by about 2.6 points compared with control groups. Lower scores mean better sleep. Walking and cycling style exercise and mind body exercise like yoga helped to the same extent (Xie et al., 2021).
  • For people diagnosed with insomnia, a 2018 review of 9 trials with 557 people found exercise lowered PSQI scores by about 2.9 points and Insomnia Severity Index scores by about 3.2 points (Banno et al., 2018).

How much exercise improved sleep scores

Points lower than control groups after regular exercise. Lower scores mean better sleep, so a longer bar means a bigger improvement. Pick a group.

Sources: Xie Y, et al. Front Psychiatry 2021;12:664499 (study) and Banno M, et al. PeerJ 2018;6:e5172 (study). Mostly self reported scores; the insomnia review rated the evidence for these scores low to very low quality.

For context, in the study that created the PSQI, a score above 5 separated poor sleepers from good sleepers (Buysse et al., 1989).

There are limits. Both newer reviews found the clearest gains in how people rated their own sleep. When sleep was measured with devices, the 2021 review found few changes beyond better sleep efficiency, and the insomnia review found no improvement in sleep efficiency. The insomnia review also rated the evidence for those score changes low to very low quality, and only 4 of its 9 trials mentioned side effects. So the fair summary: regular exercise tends to give modest improvements in how well you feel you sleep.

Does strength training help sleep?

It looks that way, though the research is still small. A 2018 systematic review with researchers from McMaster University in Hamilton looked at 13 studies of resistance training and sleep (Kovacevic et al., 2018).

  • Regular strength training improved all aspects of sleep the authors looked at, with the biggest benefit for sleep quality.
  • When lifting was combined with cardio and compared with cardio alone, the extra benefit was smaller.
  • The effect of a single lifting session on that night's sleep is poorly studied and the results are mixed.
  • Strength training also improved anxiety and depression in the studies they reviewed. We cover the mood side in our post on exercise for depression.

The 2015 meta analysis didn't find that the benefits depended on exercise intensity or on whether the exercise was aerobic or anaerobic (Kredlow et al., 2015). In practice, the type of training you'll keep doing every week matters more than finding a perfect workout.

Will an evening workout keep you up?

Probably not. A 2019 meta analysis pooled 23 studies that compared a single evening exercise session with no exercise in healthy people (Stutz et al., 2019).

  • Evening exercise slightly increased deep sleep (slow wave sleep, up 1.3 percentage points) and reduced the lightest stage of sleep (down 0.9 percentage points).
  • Overall, the studies did not support the idea that evening exercise hurts sleep. The authors wrote that the findings pointed, if anything, the other way.
  • The exception: vigorous exercise that ended 1 hour or less before bedtime might make it take longer to fall asleep and reduce total sleep time and sleep efficiency.

Will your evening workout affect your sleep?

Based on a 2019 meta analysis of 23 studies on evening exercise in healthy people. Pick both options.

When does your workout end?

How hard is it?

Source: Stutz J, et al. Sports Med 2019;49(2):269-287. Read the study. General information, not medical advice.

Exercise and your body clock after the time change

Exercise is one of the signals your body clock responds to. In a lab study, 99 fit volunteers did 1 hour of moderate treadmill exercise at the same time on 3 days in a row, at one of eight times across the day and night (Youngstedt et al., 2019).

  • Exercise at 7 AM or between 1 and 4 PM shifted the body clock earlier.
  • Exercise between 7 and 10 PM shifted it later.
  • The size of the shifts was comparable to what researchers expect from bright light of the same length.

This was a lab study, and the authors called for more research on how exercise and light work together and on the health benefits. The practical takeaway is simpler: pick a training time you can repeat, and keep your bed and wake times steady, as the Canadian guidelines advise.

Clock changes themselves are a sleep topic too. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine has taken the position that seasonal time changes should end in favour of permanent standard time, pointing to health and safety risks linked to the spring change (Rishi et al., 2020).

How to plan a sleep friendly training week

  • Move most days. Build toward at least 150 minutes a week of moderate to vigorous activity.
  • Lift at least twice a week. In the 2018 review, regular strength training improved sleep, especially sleep quality.
  • Train at a time you can repeat. Morning, midday or evening all work. If you train hard in the evening, try to finish more than an hour before bed.
  • Keep your sleep times steady, including on weekends and in the days after the time change.

How does your week line up?

Check what you already do. These are items from Canada’s 24 Hour Movement Guidelines, which link movement and sleep.

Source: Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, Canadian 24 Hour Movement Guidelines (2020). See the guidelines. The guidelines say progress toward any target brings some health benefits.

When poor sleep doesn't go away

Exercise helps, but it isn't a full treatment for chronic insomnia. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine strongly recommends cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT for insomnia) to treat chronic insomnia, and suggests not relying on sleep hygiene tips alone as the treatment (Edinger et al., 2021). If poor sleep has lasted for weeks, talk to your doctor about it, and keep training as part of the plan.

Train for better sleep with a coach in Vaughan

If you want a set time to train each week, start with our small group classes, where a coach adjusts every exercise to you and each class is capped at 16 people. The studio is open from 5:45 AM to 8 PM on weekdays and from 8:30 AM to 4 PM on weekends, so you can pick a time and keep it.

If you'd rather work one on one, see personal training in Vaughan. We also offer one on one training focused on balance and strength, and our nutrition coaching can help you build eating habits that fit your training schedule. For more on why sleep matters for your results, read how sleep affects recovery, muscle and fat loss.

Start with the $30 seven day trial: 7 days of unlimited classes for $30 (+ HST). Join by day 5 and your $30 is credited toward your membership.

Questions? Call (289) 536-8066 or email g-squad@innerg.ca.

References

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