{"id":6359,"date":"2024-07-07T00:00:55","date_gmt":"2024-07-07T00:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fitolympia.com\/?p=6359"},"modified":"2024-07-07T17:12:49","modified_gmt":"2024-07-07T17:12:49","slug":"why-exercise-and-sleep-are-your-ultimate-defense-against-stress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fitolympia.com\/na\/why-exercise-and-sleep-are-your-ultimate-defense-against-stress\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Exercise and Sleep Are Your Ultimate Defense Against Stress"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Physiologically, getting enough sleep and logging regular exercise play a major role in keeping stress in check.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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More and more evidence shows these simple solutions really do work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stress is complicated. It\u2019s the result of physiological chemical reactions that take place in our bodies, as well as the intangible emotional responses we have to what\u2019s happening in our lives. In an emergency\u00a0the body\u2019s stress response\u00a0can save our lives, yet when our bodies are stressed all the time, it can cause a lot of problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And we are struggling when it comes to avoiding that latter outcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Results from an Everyday Health surveyof 3,000 adults ages 18 to 65 show that stress is rampant, with 59 percent of those individuals rating their stress level at 5 or higher on a 7-point scale (7 being \u201cextremely stressed\u201d and 1 being \u201cnot stressed at all\u201d). The survey data was published as part of Everyday Health’s\u00a0United States of Stress\u00a0story.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two of the solutions we know work (and work consistently) are vexingly simple: get enough rest and get enough exercise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a three-way quarrel between stress, exercise, and sleep,\u201d says Niket Sonpal, MD<\/a>, adjunct assistant professor of clinical medicine at Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in New York City. \u201cWhile stress keeps you feeling anxious and awake, exercise reduces stress and in turn, helps you sleep, and when you sleep better, you can handle stress better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You likely already know all about those relationships from experience \u2014 that\u00a0sleep\u00a0and\u00a0exercise\u00a0can make you feel less stressed and even help you cope with your stressors better. But what research is just starting to unravel is the physiological explanation for why those relationships exist between stress, sleep, and exercise, which in turn could help us be smarter about how we do all three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stress Can Definitely Disrupt Sleep, but Can Good Sleep Beat Stress?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Stress can be a sleep thief. That\u2019s because when you\u2019re stressed, your body releases a hormone called\u00a0cortisol. While it plays an important role in the fight-or-flight response,\u00a0excess cortisol can trigger problems\u00a0like\u00a0anxiety,\u00a0depression, and mental fogginess. Worse? \u201cThose elevated cortisol levels send an energizing signal to your body that makes it difficult to relax and drift off to sleep at night,\u201d Dr.\u00a0Sonpal says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s not so clear is exactly how consistently sleeping well helps prevent stress in the first place. A good place to start is looking at what goes wrong in the body (that could potentially lead to stress) when you don\u2019t sleep well, explains Mark S. Aloia, PhD<\/a>, associate professor of medicine at National Jewish Health in Denver and global lead for behavior change with Philips Sleep and Respiratory Care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even in small amounts, sleep deprivation drives up your body\u2019s stress response and makes you more sensitive to stress. \u201cIf you\u2019re not getting the sleep you need, you\u2019re more susceptible to the effects of stress,\u201d Dr. Aloia says. As a result, your mood could be affected, you\u2019re more impulsive, and you may be less able to cope with stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A small study published in September 2015 in The Journal of Neuroscience<\/em><\/a> found that this effect may be a result of the brain actually changing our emotional response to triggers we may have otherwise not reacted to. Among a group of 10 adults, brain imaging scans showed that when the individuals were sleep-deprived they had more emotional processing going on for sets of images than when they were well-rested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other research has suggested it\u2019s because when you\u2019re not getting enough sleep, activity in your brain\u2019s amygdala (a part of the prefrontal cortex, where our emotional responses come from) ramps up, according to a review published in October 2017 in the journal Current Directions in Psychological Science<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Sleep Smarter: Get Enough of It and Nap With Intention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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To alleviate those effects, logging enough sleep at night is the best strategy. The\u00a0National Sleep Foundation<\/a>\u00a0recommends adults get seven to nine hours every night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about a nap, though? It can help, and the effects are immediate. \u201cIf you\u2019re excessively sleepy, which can increase stress levels, studies suggest that a well-planned nap can be beneficial,\u201d Aloia says. A study published in March 2015 in The<\/em> Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism<\/em><\/a> found that a 30-minute nap helped alleviate stress in men who had slept only two hours the night before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two rules you need to remember, though: Keep that nap under 40 minutes, and time it so that you\u2019re napping in the early afternoon, generally before 2 p.m. Nap too long or too late in the day, and you\u2019ll have a tougher time falling asleep that night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exercise Helps Keep Stress Hormones in Check<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The connection between exercise and stress is better understood. \u201cAlthough we don\u2019t know the exact mechanisms behind it, we know that exercise helps reduce stress,\u201d says Jack Raglin, PhD, professor of kinesiology at Indiana University in Bloomington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may have heard of a \u201crunner\u2019s high\u201d \u2014 that euphoric feeling people often report after logging an aerobic workout. Credit the release of feel-good neurotransmitters called endorphins, chemicals in the brain that act as the body\u2019s natural painkillers and mood elevators, essentially calming you down. But that\u2019s not all. \u201cA cocktail of hormones, including dopamine and endocannabinoids, interacts when you exercise, and together, they help dissipate stress,\u201d Dr. Raglin says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This neurochemical effect of exercise, in addition to stimulating these stress-busting hormones, also reduces levels of adrenaline and cortisol, your body\u2019s stress hormones, Sonpal says. Together, more feel-good hormones and fewer stress hormones help you better manage stress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The exercise won\u2019t necessarily make the situation itself less stressful, but because you\u2019ll be in a better mental state to handle it, the stress from that job interview or presentation won\u2019t affect you as much as it ordinarily might, Raglin says. And research shows this is the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A study published in May 2014 in the journal Frontiers in Physiology<\/em><\/a> found that when people who exercised regularly were asked to do a stressful task (give a five-minute speech or recite mental arithmetic), their heart rates on average stayed lower than those of a group of individuals who did not exercise regularly; and self-reported mood stayed higher in the exercisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exercise also helps fight fatigue, one of the biggest consequences of stress, Raglin says. A review published in October 2013 in the journal Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behavior<\/em><\/a>, which considered 16 studies, found that 20- to 40-minute bouts of exercise tend to boost (rather than lower) energy levels in individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States of Stress survey data found that overall, nearly one-quarter of respondents ranked engaging in some sort of physical activity or exercise as one of their top three ways of dealing with stress. But experts say nearly everyone can likely benefit from it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which Workouts Are Best for Stress?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The good news is any type of exercise will help, Sonpal says. \u201cA little is good, a lot is better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aerobic exercise\u00a0gets the lion\u2019s share of the spotlight, namely because it\u2019s the one that releases those feel-good hormones the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One study that surveyed 472 small business owners about exercise habits and stress levels found that those who spent time exercising had lower stress levels, and those who reported doing rigorous or high-intensity exercise experienced lower levels of job stress and higher levels of job satisfaction. The study was published in April 2019 in the Journal of Leadership and Management.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But don\u2019t rule out\u00a0strength training. Raglin\u2019s research has found that when people engage in mild forms of strength training, it\u00a0reduces stress and increases energy<\/a>\u00a0just as much as aerobic activity. An\u00a0analysis published in July 2014 in the journal\u00a0Frontiers in Psychology<\/em><\/a>, which reviewed several randomized clinical trials, concluded that low-intensity strength and resistance training produced the most reliable and broadest decreases in anxiety levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much exercise you\u2019ll need\u00a0to do to get rid of your stress then depends on the type of stress you\u2019re dealing with. If you\u2019re facing chronic stress that lasts weeks or months, getting regular exercise at least twice or three times a week is best, Raglin says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if you want your workout to help bust the anxiety you\u2019re feeling about a job interview or some other acute situation that\u2019s stressing you out, a single bout of exercise is all you need to quash it. \u201cAlthough the effects will gradually fade, just as they would with a medication, you will get relief for several hours,\u201d Raglin says. (That\u2019s why hitting the gym ahead of a situation you might find stressful \u2014 like having to give a presentation \u2014 can help, he says.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The takeaway is there are a lot of remedies that help with stress. But sleep and exercise are really foundational to the equation: Healthy sleep equals healthy exercise equals healthy stress. And shortchanging any of those factors can throw off the others. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Physiologically, getting enough sleep and logging regular exercise play a major role in keeping stress in check. More and more 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