6:54. This is the average sleep time in France, which is below the 7 to 9 hours usually recommended. It is a fact: we sleep less and less in France. However, “Sleep has always been recognized by everyone as an essential factor in psychological balance and physical and mental recovery, regardless of our age, environment or state of health. It is also a pleasure inseparable from rest, personal and family time, an intimate moment in our lifestyle habits.“, describes Public Health France. This is why it is essential to pamper our sleep time.
In a study published in the BMJ Open Sport & Exercise MedicineNew Zealand researchers have started from the observation that most people, once they get home in the evening, are rather sedentary for a long period (sitting in front of the TV for example). However, according to their work, it would seem that a small change in our evening routine can significantly increase our sleep time during the night.
For the purposes of this study, 20 women and 8 men aged 19 to 40 years underwent a laboratory experiment for a period of 4 hours starting at 5 p.m. These participants were divided into two groups: the first group had to watch streaming videos, while remaining in a prolonged sitting position, and the second group had to also watch these videos, in a sitting position interrupted by breaks every 30 minutes during which they had to do 3 minutes of a specific exercise. At the end of the experiment, the participants returned home to go about their normal activities. Their sleep was then measured using an electronic bracelet.
Compared to prolonged sitting, the exercise breaks did not disrupt the participants’ sleep at all. In other words, they did not wake up more during the night. Better still, practicing these mini exercise sessions increased the average duration of the sleep period by 29 minutes per night (an average of 7 hours and 12 minutes for the “active” group versus 6 hours and 45 minutes for the “sedentary” group).
The exercise in question was a so-called “body weight resistance” exercise of light to moderate intensity. Specifically, this involves calf raises, chair squats or hip extensions on the floor.These simple, bodyweight exercises were chosen because they don’t require any equipment or a lot of space, and you can do them without interrupting the TV program you’re watching.specifies the main author of the study. From what we know from other studies, you could probably get a similar effect if you walked around your house, marched in place, or even danced around your living room, the most important thing is to get out of your chair regularly and move your body.”