5 Miles to Sleep

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I have discovered that if I walk 5 miles or more each day, sleep comes more easily at night. The longer the trek, the better the quality of sleep I end up enjoying. Just sharing in case there are other people out there who believe that sleeping well is the best way to manage autism.

I experience much the same thing. I've wondered if the discoveries of EMDR might explain it - alternate movements (left/right) while thoughts flow through, mind heals itself. But then, so long as walking works, who cares why.

Only because I'm obsessive, I can't leave without giving you the url

www.emdr.com

You are right, it is not the exercise that makes a difference, although it helps, it is the repetitive motion that calms my brain down. Walking is like a giant stim and if I do it a lot, it seems to force my brain to “sync”.

Walking outside for a long time makes me feel good and helps get rid of acne. I just wish I wasn't scared of going outside.

Thanks for reminding me. I miss walking long distances.

Getting plenty of sleep benefits the cns. I walk 1.5 miles three or more times a week. Physical exercise never hurts;

Well spotted - it's called exercise.

5 miles might be a tad more than most people need. Nothing wrong with a long walk if you enjoy it though. If you don't like walking, how about cycling?

Cycling is an awesome idea. There's just one problem, a lack of places to cycle. There's so much traffic, people get hit by speeding motorists while riding bikes. If there were separate lanes to ride them with barriers, free of motor vehicles, I would ride one more often.
More and more people are riding bikes. It would be great if there were separate lanes to accommodate them.

The exercise is probably helping as well. It is a great way to manage stress. That with the calming effect you're getting makes it all the better.

Does it matter how long you wait before you go to sleep? Some people can't exercise too close to bedtime.

Exercising wrongly can actually make it more difficult to sleep. I find that hard vigorous anaerobic exercises sometimes cause slight inflammation to my joints which then affects my sleep as the inflammation sets off a chain reaction. The magic of walking long distances is not about burning calories or releasing endorphins. What I believe happens is that the walking tempo puts my brain into rhythm which has the effect of bringing things down a notch.

If you take the distance up to say 10 miles, it will not matter how late it is when you walk because I can guarantee that you will sleep when you stop. 5 miles may already seem excessive, but that is the minimum I need to make sure that my brain stays synced.

Five miles sound very good, but doesn't that take a lot of time? I try to walk two miles every evening, although sometimes I only do one if the weather is not good. It's quite refreshing.

I also have trouble sleep after too much exercises. Especially if my muscles are aching.

It takes about an hour and a half to walk 5 miles. Since I do more than that on most days, I spend a lot of time walking. But to me, that is the price of getting some decent sleep.

I like walking but i hardly do it anymore because people act like animals everytime i do so

You gotta expect that if you go out in short skirts and a T top, Richard.

Are you talking about the dirtbag teenagers who throw stuff out their window at pedestrians?

Or the ones who honk their horns thinking that it would be fun to startle the person?

I get that alot and have considered carrying around some rocks in my pocket the chuck back at them.