Aerobic Activity For Better Sleep: How Aerobic Activity Resolved My Sleeping Disorder

Aerobic activity was the big factor in resolving my serious sleep disorder. Since we are all different, and since sleep disorders are very different, I don't expect your experience to be exactly like mine. But let me tell you my story so that you can determine for yourself whether or not aerobic activity might help your sleep the way it helped mine.

For about 19 years I lived as a missionary in South America. After being there for about two years I started to get very severe headaches. Trying to sleep them off didn't help at all. The more I slept the worse the headaches got. Eventually I was waking up with a splitting headache almost every day, and often they lasted all day. I went to a clinic for some physiotherapy, but that didn't seem to help at all.

One day, while visiting at home, I remembered once overhearing a friend tell someone how vigorous aerobic activity had resolved a serious sleeping disorder that he had. His sleeping disorder was much different from mine, but I figured that it couldn't hurt giving it a try. I could never have imagined what a change it made! My headaches became fewer and fewer until they almost disappeared.

I was delighted with the results of the aerobic activity, but for a long time I couldn't figure out how it worked or why. Eventually I started to understand. The source of my headaches was the stiff muscles in my neck. The longer I slept the stiffer my neck became, and the worse my headaches grew. But with aerobic activity I was able to get to sleep much more quickly. I also got much more out of my sleep so that I didn't need to sleep nearly as long. So I was up and out of bed before my stiff neck turned into a headache.

Aerobic activity helps me to get more out of my sleep. I usually get about 6 hours of sleep each night, but I get more out of it than some people get out of eight hours of sleep each night. That gives me two extra productive hours each day, or 14 extra hours per week. That's almost like adding an extra day to my week! Nobody can be healthy without good sleep, but good sleep does not necessarily mean a lot of sleep. There are some people who regularly sleep ten hours each night and then are lethargic and unproductive all day long. Aerobic activity helps a person sleep quicker and better so that his waking hours are more productive.