Evening Workouts and Sleep Quality. When Your Exercise Routine May Be Keeping You Up.
- Alastair Hunt
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
For many, evening is the most practical time to squeeze in exercise. But if your post-dinner workouts have been followed by tossing and turning, new research might explain why - and what you can do about it. A large-scale 2025 study and a comprehensive umbrella review both explore how physical activity, especially in the evening, affects our sleep. Together, they paint a nuanced picture of the benefits—and limits—of working out late in the day.
As ever, please talk to your doctor or medical practitioner most familiar with your medical history before implementing any changes in diet, exercise or lifestyle, especially if you are under treatment. Links to all studies at bottom of page.
Strain and Timing Matter: Insights from a Global Sleep Study
The 2025 study published in Nature Communications tracked over 14,000 physically active adults using wearable biometric devices, analysing more than four million nights of sleep. It focused specifically on how the strain (intensity × duration) and timing of exercise influenced sleep patterns.
Here’s what they found:
High-strain exercise close to bedtime - within 4 hours of falling asleep - was consistently linked with poorer sleep outcomes. These included:
Delayed sleep onset (up to 80 minutes later for workouts ending two hours after usual bedtime).
Shorter sleep duration (up to 13.9% less).
Reduced sleep quality (as much as 5.6% lower).
Elevated night-time heart rate and reduced heart rate variability, suggesting less effective recovery.
In contrast, light or moderate exercise ending more than 4 hours before bedtime had no negative effects on sleep and, in some cases, even appeared beneficial.
The disruption wasn't limited by age, sex, or body mass index - suggesting that this pattern holds across various demographics.
The 2025 study didn’t specifically compare the effects of strength versus cardio workouts on sleep. Instead, it measured total exercise strain based on heart rate data, capturing intensity and duration but not the workout type. The authors acknowledged this could underestimate the strain of brief, high-effort strength training like heavy lifting.
In short: if you’re working out hard in the evening, especially close to bedtime, your sleep might be paying the price. But finish earlier, or opt for lower-intensity activities, and you may avoid these effects.
The Bigger Picture: What Decades of Research Say
Complementing this, a 2021 umbrella review assessed over 30 systematic reviews and meta-analyses involving nearly 300 studies on physical activity and sleep. It offered strong evidence that both acute and regular physical activity improve various sleep outcomes - including sleep onset, duration, efficiency, and perceived quality - particularly in healthy adults.
However, this broader review also underlined important nuances:
Time of day generally doesn’t harm sleep, contrary to old beliefs. Evening exercise even within three hours of bedtime - was not typically linked to worse sleep for most people, unless it was very intense and ended less than an hour before bed.
The benefits of exercise on sleep were especially clear for people with insomnia or obstructive sleep apnoea, with moderate activity reducing sleep disturbance severity by 28–32% in some studies, and improving subjective sleep quality.
Dose matters: Longer exercise sessions - both acute and over time - yielded greater benefits. However, intensity wasn’t as crucial as once thought, unless, as the 2025 study showed, it was coupled with poor timing.
The umbrella review examined a wide range of studies and found that both resistance and aerobic exercises benefit sleep. Resistance training was just as effective as aerobic activity in improving sleep quality and high-intensity strength training done regularly appeared particularly helpful. Overall, the type of exercise didn’t significantly alter sleep outcomes - as long as the workout was long and intense enough. However, resistance workouts were slightly more linked to better sleep quality, while aerobic exercise tended to influence multiple aspects of sleep, including duration and latency.
Where the Two Studies Align and Diverge
Both the 2025 study and the umbrella review support the view that physical activity is, on the whole, beneficial for sleep. But they differ in focus and interpretation:
The umbrella review is broadly optimistic: most people benefit from physical activity, including in the evening, and few need to worry unless they’re doing high-intensity workouts right before bed.
The 2025 study zooms in with precision, showing that the combination of high strain and late timing is the key disruptor. It introduces the concept of a “dose-response” relationship - essentially, the later and harder the workout, the more your sleep may suffer.
What’s more, the newer study was based on wearable technology over a full year, offering a more ecologically valid snapshot of real-world behaviour, while many studies in the umbrella review were shorter and laboratory-based.
What This Means for Your Sleep Routine
If your evening exercise has been leaving you wired rather than relaxed, consider these practical takeaways:
Wrap up intense workouts at least four hours before your bedtime when possible.
Opt for light activity - like walking, stretching or yoga - if you’re exercising closer to bedtime.
Monitor how you sleep after workouts to find your personal sweet spot. Everyone’s recovery pattern is different, what works for one may not suit another.
For those committed to evening exercise, here are a few additional strategies to support recovery and sleep:
Cool down gradually after your workout. Include low-intensity stretching or slow walking to ease your body back toward a restful state. This helps initiate parasympathetic activity- your body’s 'rest and digest' mode - which supports sleep onset.
Mind your post-exercise habits. Avoid stimulants like caffeine or energy drinks in your post-workout window. Hydration is important, but try not to overconsume fluids right before bed to prevent sleep disruptions.
Manage your light exposure. Exposure to artificial light at night can delay melatonin production, which may make falling asleep harder.
Use sleep as a performance enhancer. Adequate sleep supports muscle recovery, immune function, and injury prevention. If you're aiming for performance gains or weight management, prioritising both sleep and exercise timing gives your body the best chance to adapt and improve.
Final Thoughts
Exercise remains one of the most powerful tools for improving sleep—across ages, fitness levels, and even in those with sleep disorders. But like most tools, its effectiveness depends on how it's used. This emerging research reminds us that when and how we move our bodies can shape the quality of our rest just as much as the fact that we move at all.
Whether you’re an evening runner, late-night lifter, or someone trying to juggle fitness and family, being mindful of exercise timing and intensity could make the difference between restless nights and restorative sleep.
Supporting your body through balanced nutrition, physical activity, stress reduction, quality sleep and meaningful social connection (these are known as the Pillars of Health) are some of the most powerful longevity tools we have. As always, it's about progress, not perfection, and even small changes can make a meaningful difference over time.
As always, the best health strategy is one you can stick with - one that fits your personal lifestyle profile. For most people, improving health is about finding motivation and prioritising self-care - with an ultimate goal of taking action. If you want to take effective and targeted steps that fit into your unique lifestyle and circumstances, The Whole Health Practice is here to help.
Whether your interest is healthspan and longevity, to beat chronic illness or to enhance your mental health and well-being, our consultations and programs deliver results that are tailored to your needs.
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Stay Healthy,
Alastair
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Related Studies
Leota, J., Presby, D.M., Le, F. et al. Dose-response relationship between evening exercise and sleep. Nat Commun 16, 3297 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58271-x
Kline CE, Hillman CH, Bloodgood Sheppard B, Tennant B, Conroy DE, Macko RF, Marquez DX, Petruzzello SJ, Powell KE, Erickson KI. Physical activity and sleep: An updated umbrella review of the 2018 Physical Activity Guidelines Advisory Committee report. Sleep Med Rev. 2021 Aug;58:101489. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2021.101489. Epub 2021 Apr 9. PMID: 33934046; PMCID: PMC8338757.
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