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Run
or Walk on a Treadmill and Sleep Better as a Result
Your sleep quality often largely depends on how active your
body and brain are during the day.
Exercising your body and mind usually causes a person to sleep
better in order to recover from the physical and mental activity.
Treadmill Advantages
& Disadvantages
Treadmills can offer good exercise. A treadmill is similar
to a stationary bike in regard to its advantages and disadvantages.
It can provide a quality workout, is generally safe to use
and is convenient. On the downside, a treadmill can be a little
boring to use, especially compared to other types of workout
options. For example, unlike walking or jogging outside, there
is no change of scenery to keep you mentally stimulated.
Boring is what you want to avoid, especially when you are
doing exercise primarily for sleep benefits. You want your
mind to get a work out along with our body, because this will
help you to sleep better. Also, if you find an exercise to
be boring, the likelihood that you will stop doing it increases
dramatically.
Keep Things Interesting
One way to keep things interesting involves music. Many people
seem to listen to music while they jog on a treadmill. While
this may help the time pass more quickly, listening to music
is usually a passive activity for the brain. In other words,
the brain usually does not have to work much to listen to
music.
To exercise your brain more, listen to music you usually don't
listen to, music you've never heard before or perhaps music
you don't even like. When you do, you'll notice that your
mind is uncomfortable with the music to some degree because
the music is new information for your brain, and it has to
work to process it.
An even more active exercise for your mind while using a treadmill
is to read a stimulating book or magazine. (It is much easier
to read while walking than jogging.) Or, you can watch something
stimulating (dare I say educational?) on TV.
Remember, try to kill two birds with one stone while you exercise:
Work your body and brain. It's a little more difficult to
use your brain when exercising on a treadmill, but it can
be done. And you'll likely sleep better for your effort.
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