Move more, sleep better: Exercise helps fight insomnia

Exercise might be one of the most effective ways to tackle insomnia. Millions of people find themselves tossing and turning at night, waking up too early, or lying awake for hours.

While medication and therapy can help, they’re not always available – or ideal – for everyone. A new analysis highlights just how powerful exercise can be.

Researchers analyzed 22 clinical trials to understand which types of physical activity work best for people with insomnia. The trials included over 1,300 participants and compared 13 different treatments.

Seven of them were exercise-based, including yoga, Tai Chi, walking or jogging, and combinations of strength and aerobic training.

The rest included cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), sleep hygiene education, massage or acupuncture, Ayurveda, or usual care. The findings could influence how doctors treat poor sleep moving forward.

Exercise enters insomnia research

Insomnia affects between four percent and 22 percent of people, depending on the population studied. It’s not just a nuisance – it’s linked to serious issues like depression, heart disease, and even dementia.

Traditional treatments like medication come with side effects. CBT works, but trained therapists are in short supply. That’s where exercise comes in.

The researchers used a method called network meta-analysis to compare all the treatments at once. They looked at both subjective and objective sleep outcomes, including total sleep time, how long it took people to fall asleep, how often they woke up, and overall sleep quality.

CBT showed the strongest results overall. It helped people sleep longer, fall asleep faster, and stay asleep more consistently.

But certain exercises weren’t far behind – and in some cases, they even outperformed existing treatments.

Exercise improves sleep

Yoga showed some of the most promising results. Compared to standard treatment, this exercise helped people sleep almost two hours longer. It improved sleep efficiency by nearly 15 percent, reduced time awake during the night by almost an hour, and helped people fall asleep 30 minutes faster.

Tai Chi also made a strong showing. It improved overall sleep quality, increased total sleep time by nearly an hour, reduced nighttime wakeups by over 30 minutes, and helped people fall asleep about 25 minutes faster.

Even more impressive, Tai Chi continued to deliver results for up to two years, both in how people felt and in measurable sleep data.

Exercises like walking or jogging turned out to be particularly good at reducing insomnia symptoms. Participants in those programs saw their insomnia severity scores drop by nearly 10 points.

“Walking or jogging may result in a large reduction in insomnia severity of nearly 10 points,” noted the study authors.

Exercise calms the brain

Each of these exercises may improve sleep in different ways. For yoga, it’s about body awareness and breath control. These elements may calm the brain and reduce anxiety – two key roadblocks to sleep.

Tai Chi combines slow movement with mindfulness and relaxation. It may lower nervous system arousal and ease “mental chatter,” helping people wind down more effectively at night.

The researchers also suggest it could reduce the body’s production of inflammatory chemicals over time.

Walking or jogging boosts energy use and helps regulate emotions. It may also lower stress hormones like cortisol and increase melatonin, the hormone that makes you sleepy. Plus, it could deepen the most restorative stages of sleep.

Promising, but not perfect

Despite the promise of these findings, there are limitations. Most of the studies had small sample sizes and inconsistencies in how exercise routines were structured. The researchers pointed out that 68 percent of the trials had at least one design flaw.

Even so, they believe the overall message is clear: The findings of this study further underscore the therapeutic potential of exercise interventions in the treatment of insomnia, suggesting that their role may extend beyond adjunctive support to serve as viable primary treatment options.

Although current clinical guidelines make only limited mention of exercise, this study provides relatively comprehensive comparative evidence that may inform the development of more specific and actionable clinical recommendations.

Given the advantages of exercise modalities such as yoga, Tai Chi, and walking or jogging – including low cost, minimal side effects, and high accessibility – these interventions are well-suited for integration into primary care and community health programs.

Customize your sleep routine

There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and what works best for one person might not work for another.

But if you’re looking for a drug-free way to sleep better, adding an exercise routine like walking, a yoga class, or some Tai Chi might be a good place to start.

And as the researchers point out, science is still working out which exercises work best for which sleep problems.

The full study was published in the journal BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine.

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