Hello! I am Liu Jian
Today is the 584th issue of Jian Ge said to accompany you
Recently, the latest "2022 Chinese National Healthy Sleep White Paper" was jointly released by the China Sleep Research Association and other institutions, and a questionnaire survey of more than 10,000 respondents found that about three-quarters had been troubled by sleep, of which 23.5% of sleep troubles came from insomnia.
We know that adequate and high-quality sleep is important for cardiovascular health and even overall health. Patients are usually advised to improve sleep through aerobic exercise, but recent studies have found that resistance exercise may be more beneficial than aerobic exercise [1]. In this issue, let's take a look.
Resistance exercise improves insomnia even better
The study included 386 adults aged 35 to 70 who were overweight or obese, with a body mass index (BMI) of 25 to 40 kg/m2, and who did not exercise and had a normal high limit of blood pressure (systolic blood pressure of 120-139 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure of 80-89 mmHg). The participants were randomly divided into four groups, including the inactive group, the aerobic exercise group, the resistive exercise group, and the combined exercise group combined with aerobic resistance exercise. Each participant in the exercise group under supervision used fitness equipment for 60 minutes of exercise 3 times a week and persisted for 12 months.
At the beginning of the study and at 12 months, the investigators assessed the sleep quality of each participant. The results of the pre- and post-analysis evaluation found that compared with aerobic exercise or aerobic exercise + impedance exercise, the simple resistance exercise was more obvious to prolong sleep time and improve sleep efficiency.
Among those who slept less than 7 hours at the start of the study, 42 percent of those who participated in the resistance exercise group slept an average of 40 minutes, while participants in other groups, including the inactive group, increased by an average of 18 minutes. Moreover, participants in the impedance exercise group fell asleep faster by about 3 minutes, which did not change significantly in other groups.
Therefore, people who have insomnia problems can try to improve sleep through resistance exercise.
How to do impedance motion
So, what exactly is impedance motion?
Resistance movement refers to the active movement of muscles when overcoming external resistance, and the most common way to exert resistance on muscles is to use their own weight for exercise, also known as self-weight resistance movement; they can also use barbells, fitness equipment or pull elastic ropes to exercise, also known as weight-bearing resistance exercise.
Unlike aerobic exercise, resistance exercise is generally a shorter time, stronger anaerobic exercise, if you want to exercise deep muscles, often need to go to the gym with the help of equipment to train. But we can also perform impedance motion without tools or with simple tools.
Here are some simple impedance motions:
Self-weight resistance exercises, if the body allows, can try squats, or squat against the wall to exercise leg muscles; supine curls and supine leg lifts help reduce abdominal fat; push-ups, or kneeling push-ups, can exercise chest muscles; flat straight braces, can exercise abdominal and back muscles (see the following figure for action demonstrations).
Weight-bearing resistance exercise, you can use dumbbells or mineral water bottles filled with water to perform biceps bending, flexion and extension of the back of the neck and other actions, exercise the biceps; the elderly can also use the elastic rope, when the strength is soft and not easy to be injured (see the following figure action demonstration).
You can choose the sport you are interested in depending on your situation, specifically, repeat each set of movements 8 to 15 times, and do three sets of each exercise.
As can be seen from the frequency of training, the resistance movement is to repeat the same action in the same part to make the muscles stronger, which will also cause minor damage to the muscles. Therefore, it is not recommended to exercise the same part every day, and can be carried out at intervals with aerobic exercise, exercising muscles in different parts each time. In addition, before and after exercise, we should pay attention to warm-up and relaxation, and exercise should not be greedy for speed, and should be carried out according to force, and gradually increase the number and weight.
Brother Jian said
The latest research has found that resistance exercise may help improve sleep problems more than aerobic exercise.
Resistance movement refers to the active movement of muscles when overcoming external resistance, which is generally divided into self-weight resistance movement and weight-bearing resistance movement.
Resistance exercise will cause minor muscle damage, it is recommended to carry out at intervals with aerobic exercise, each time exercising muscles in different parts, pay attention to warm-up and relaxation, do what you can, step by step, to avoid causing sports injuries.
Today's content is finished, and the next issue is more exciting.
Heart health knowledge is in "Jian Ge Says Heart"
We'll see you next time.
"On the Heart" - Medicine, Health and Lifestyle of the Heart
Works by Professor Liu Jian