{"id":74,"date":"2025-10-02T08:46:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T08:46:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qa-new.fitcart.com\/blog\/?p=74"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:08:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T14:08:51","slug":"is-it-okay-to-work-out-at-night-or-does-it-affect-your-sleep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/is-it-okay-to-work-out-at-night-or-does-it-affect-your-sleep\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Okay to Work Out at Night, or Does It Affect Your Sleep?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


If you\u2019ve been struggling to drift off, you\u2019ve probably tried all sorts of strategies to fall asleep faster: Put your phone away at a decent hour, make your bedroom relaxing, and stop exercising before bed.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article by Self & Ashley Mateo<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wait, hold up. Does working out at night really mess with your sleep?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a valid question if you don\u2019t have tons of free time to exercise during the day; for a lot of people, evenings may be the only option to squeeze in a session. But many folks are reluctant to sweat before they sleep because they think a workout might rile up their body and mind, making it hard to wind down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rest assured: A 2019 review published in the journal Sports Medicine concluded that the science does not support the idea that exercise before bed revs you up\u2014\u201crather the opposite,\u201d the researchers wrote. A separate 2022 review published in Nature and Science of Sleep supported that statement and added that some moderate-intensity evening routines helped people sleep better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no \u201cmagic hour\u201d for fitness, and \u201cworking out at night is better than no exercise at all,\u201d Thom Manning, MS, CSCS, a sleep and recovery coach with the fitness app Future, tells SELF. That said, some routines\u2014mainly, super intense exercise done very close to bedtime\u2014can make getting quality sleep a little trickier. Here\u2019s what you should know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, certain nighttime workouts can hinder your sleep.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing intense workouts\u2014say, Peloton\u2019s latest HIIT cycling class or a sprint-heavy running session\u2014too close to bedtime (within an hour or so) can mess with your body\u2019s thermoregulation, a process that\u2019s key to good sleep because it messes with your core temperature, Thomas Kilkenny, DO, the director of Staten Island University Hospital\u2019s Institute of Sleep Medicine, tells SELF.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe brain falls asleep better on a decreasing temperature curve,\u201d he explains. That drop in body temperature naturally starts about two hours before you doze off. So if you raise your internal temperature through vigorous physical activity\u2014whether you were lifting heavy or doing cardio\u2014without giving yourself enough cooldown time, your sleep quality may suffer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doing these high-intensity workouts before bed also may make it harder to fall asleep to begin with, likely because they increase your heart rate, as a small 2014 study in the European Journal of Applied Physiology suggests. The effects of intense exercise continue even after you nod off too. Bouts of hard exercise before bed can lead to less REM sleep, a stage that\u2019s crucial for processing emotions, memory consolidation, brain development, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\u2026what\u2019s the best type of workout to do at night?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t have to stop exercising before bed if that\u2019s the time that works best with your schedule. You may just need to tweak your workouts if you\u2019re not sleeping great after them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on the research we have, Dr. Kilkenny recommends trying moderate-intensity exercise if you prefer to work out at night. According to the 2022 review in Nature and Science of Sleep, this type of activity may support more restorative sleep\u2014which is important for the repair and regeneration of tissues throughout your body. This means training in the evening may also enhance post-exercise recovery, helping to mend any tiny muscle tears that exercise may cause and allowing them to grow back stronger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A moderately intense workout has you breathing a bit hard, though you\u2019d still likely be able to talk during it\u2014think about a 5 to 6 on an effort scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being absolute, all-out exertion. This can look like brisk walking, easy cycling, Pilates, yoga, or resistance training with bands, Ellen Thompson, a NASM-certified personal trainer at Blink Fitness, tells SELF. Yoga in particular can be super helpful before bed; it\u2019s been shown to improve sleep quality by reducing the number of times people woke at night, according to 2022 research published in BMC Psychiatry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But you don\u2019t have to reserve more vigorous exercise (which ranks at a 7 to 8 effort level out of 10) for the daytime if you don\u2019t want to. Doing high-intensity exercise\u2014running, HIIT-based cycling, or max-effort strength training\u2014two to four hours before bed is unlikely to disrupt your sleep, according to a 2021 study published in Sleep Medicine Review. That means if you have a later bedtime, you may be able to squeeze in a HIIT routine after work and still have enough time to get your body back to baseline before you start to wind down for bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are going to do a harder routine in the evening, pay attention to how you structure your session too. \u201cStarting [your workout] with more intense or challenging exercises will stimulate your body and increase your heart rate,\u201d Thompson says. For instance, if you\u2019re strength training, you may want to do your plyometric exercises or compound lifts (say, heavy squats, deadlifts, or bench presses) before less strenuous ones (like lighter-weight or isolation moves). Then you can transition into movement that\u2019s more chill, such as easy aerobic activity, to gradually bring your heart rate down, before going into a cooldown (more on that later).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of which kind of activity you choose, \u201cyou should strive to finish any kind of workout at least one to two hours before bed,\u201d says Dr. Kilkenny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What you do before and after your nighttime workout matters too.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good night\u2019s sleep isn\u2019t just about what you do before your eyes get heavy. Practicing solid sleep hygiene all day will make a huge difference in the quality of rest you get\u2014and it\u2019s even more important if you\u2019re planning on exercising before bed. Some tried-and-true recs, according to the National Sleep Foundation, include seeking bright daylight early in the morning, cutting down on coffee (and other sources of caffeine) at least eight hours before sleep, sticking to consistent bedtime and wake-up times, dimming bright lights at night, and creating a relaxing environment (i.e., cool temps, little light and noise, comfortable bedding, a great mattress\u2014which you can get at a store or online\u2014and calming scents).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if you need to wait until evening for your actual workout, taking a walk or two throughout the day can be beneficial. The more steps you walk in a day, the higher your quality of sleep may be, a 2019 study published in Sleep Health suggests. Of course, managing stress earlier in the day is also key. \u201cActivities like meditation, deep breathing exercises, and spending time in nature help calm your mind and prepare you for better sleep later on,\u201d Thompson says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for what to do after your workout: It\u2019s important to \u201cturn down\u201d that state of physiological excitement you just induced via movement, Manning says. That means you absolutely should not skip your post-workout cooldown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA quality, effective cooldown is essential to transition the body into a state where we can achieve quality sleep,\u201d he says. Stretching and foam rolling are great ways to reduce muscle tension, release built-up stress, and promote a sense of calm and relaxation throughout the body, Thompson adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your post-workout shower can make a big difference too. A warm one actually helps your body cool down because it stimulates your blood vessels to open. \u201c[This] allows more blood to be pumped to the superficial tissues of the body [like your skin], which causes us to release a lot of internal heat, thus lowering our internal temperature,\u201d Manning says. Again, it\u2019s that drop in body temperature that helps promote solid sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember: The best time of day to work out is whatever time you can get it done. If that happens to be at night, NBD. Just make sure you\u2019re planning ahead to set yourself up for successful shut-eye as soon as you crush those last few reps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fitcart believes in True Play and Clean Sport.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#trustedbrandsbetterhealth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve been struggling to drift off, you\u2019ve probably tried all sorts of strategies to fall asleep faster: Put your phone away at a decent hour, make your bedroom relaxing, and stop exercising before bed. Article by Self & Ashley Mateo Wait, hold up. Does working out at night really mess with your sleep? It\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":76,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[182,187,177,179,175,181,184,185,180,186,176,178,174,183],"class_list":["post-74","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sleep-recovery","tag-best-time-to-exercise","tag-circadian-rhythm-exercise","tag-does-exercise-affect-sleep","tag-evening-workouts","tag-exercise-before-bed","tag-fitness-and-sleep-quality","tag-impact-of-exercise-on-sleep","tag-late-night-gym-workout","tag-late-night-workout-benefits","tag-night-exercise-pros-and-cons","tag-night-workout-effects","tag-sleep-and-exercise-timing","tag-working-out-at-night","tag-workout-before-sleep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74\/revisions\/145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fitcart.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}