Exercise: key to good sex, good sleep
(CNN)
Updated: 2006-06-21 14:39 Everybody knows exercise is key to a good ticker
and a more sleek physique. But did you know working out may improve your sex
life, trigger a better night's sleep and  help you stop smoking?
"Obviously, exercise helps with weight
loss, lowering cholesterol and blood pressure and reducing risk for such things
as osteoporosis and diabetes," says Fabio Comana, exercise physiologist with the
American Council on Exercise. "Those are the mainstream benefits, but there's a
lot more people may not be aware of."
As summer begins -- and many contemplate a trip to the gym -- take a look at
a few of the other benefits of exercise.
Good night's sleep
An active lifestyle might also mean a more restful
sleep. The National Sleep Foundation reports that exercise in the afternoon can
help deepen shut-eye and cut the time it takes for you to fall into dreamland.
But, they caution, vigorous exercise leading up to bedtime can actually have the
reverse effects.
A 2003 study, however, found that a morning fitness regime was key to a
better snooze. Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
concluded that postmenopausal women who exercised 30 minutes every morning had
less trouble falling asleep than those who were less active. The women who
worked out in the evening hours saw little or no improvement in their sleep
patterns.
No studies have proven conclusively the best time to exercise, says Comana,
but the benefits of "a better ability to fall asleep and a more restful sleep
when you do -- there's unanimous agreement on that."
A stop to smoking
The adrenaline rush and stress relief from a brief
workout can replace similar feelings smokers get from tobacco and help reduce
the urge for a cigarette for those trying to quit, according to smoking
cessation programs.
Interested in the effect of exercise on someone trying to
kick the habit, one study in the Archives of Internal Medicine followed 281
sedentary female smokers, who were otherwise healthy, in their efforts to quit.
The group assigned exercise sessions was twice as likely to quit and stay
smoke-free over the nonexercise group, both at 12 weeks and a year later.
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