A new study finds that 60 minutes of resistance exercise three times a week helps with sleep more than 60 minutes of aerobic exercise three times a week. It also helps more than a combination of 30 minutes of aerobic exercise and 30 minutes of resistance exercise three times a week. 

Resistance exercise participants did three sets of 8-16 repetitions on 12 separate machines. Aerobic exercise participants did moderate to vigorous exercise on their choice of treadmills, exercise bikes or elliptical machines. The combination group did both of these types of activity.

The average quality of sleep and number of sleep disturbances improved for participants in all three groups. Among the 42% of participants that were getting less than 7 hours of sleep a night, those in the resistance exercise only group increased average sleep time by 17 minutes and took three minutes less to fall asleep each night. The other two groups did not see these improvements.

Bottom line: If you are struggling to get quality sleep, consider increasing your amount of resistance exercise using free weights, machines, body weights or bands over increasing aerobic exercise. Resistance exercise also helps you build muscle and bone strength which is important as we age.