Summary: The kind of exercise that works best for insomnia may not be exactly what you expect. A new study shows that yoga, tai chi, and walking/jogging have the most significant positive impact on sleep, compared with several other standard and/or common therapeutic approaches for mental health.
Key Points:
- Insomnia is associated with a wide range of negative physical, psychological, and emotional consequences
- Insomnia is a symptom of at least four (4) common mental health disorders, and can exacerbate disruption caused by each disorder
- Evidence shows exercise modalities involving calmness, relaxation, and/or less intensity result in greater improvements in sleep
Insomnia and Mental Health
Insomnia appears as a symptom in several mental health disorders and can increase the level of disruption and discomfort reported by patients. Mental health disorders associated with insomnia include:
- Depression: insomnia in depression associated with increased risk of suicidality
- Psychosis and schizophrenia: insomnia in psychosis and schizophrenia associated with increased cognitive dysfunction
- Anxiety: insomnia in anxiety associated with increased symptoms and functional disruption in patients with separation anxiety disorder, panic disorder, specific phobias, social anxiety disorder (SAD), agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
- Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): insomnia in people with ADHD associated with increase overall symptoms and may have an adverse effect on learning and memory.
The most common treatments for insomnia, when it appears in mental health disorders, include cognitive behavioral therapy tailored for insomnia (CBTi), lifestyle changes including exercises and sleep hygiene, changes in diet, and the short-term use of pharmaceutical medications. However, these treatments don’t work for everyone, and chronic insomnia can both exacerbate mental health symptoms and create its own set of physical, psychological, and emotional problems.
New Research: Exercise for Insomnia vs. Standard Care
In the study “Effects of Various Exercise Interventions in Insomnia Patients: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis,” published in July 2025 by the British Journal of Medicine (BMJ), a group of researcher defined this research goal:
“To compare the effectiveness of different exercise interventions in improving sleep quality and alleviating insomnia severity among patients with insomnia.”
To assess the various interventions to learn what kind of exercise is best for insomnia, the research team analyzed results from 22 random controlled trials (RCTs) involving 1,348 participants who received a total of 13 distinct intervention types. Seven types of intervention were exercise-based, and included:
- Yoga
- Tai chi
- Walking/jogging
- Aerobic exercise + strength exercise, i.e. resistance training with weights
- Strength training alone, i.e. weight training
- Aerobic exercise + therapy
- Various types of aerobic exercise
Researchers measured sleep outcomes with standardized, evidence-based metrics such as the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), as well as personal sleep diaries, as well as well-established sleep study techniques such as polysomnography and actigraphy.
Active controls – i.e. the interventions researchers compared exercise with – included standard care and lifestyle interventions, while additional modalities for comparison included cognitive behavioral therapy, sleep hygiene, Ayurveda (5,000 year old healing tradition from India), acupuncture, massage, and no treatment at all.
Let’s take a look at what they found.
Best Exercise for Insomnia: The Results
While it’s logical to assume that the primary way exercise improves insomnia is by wearing you out and making you tired enough to fall asleep, which would mean more intense forms of exercise may be the best kind of exercise for insomnia, the data in this study contradict that assumption, as logical as it may be.
The results of this study – although the reviewed data didn’t measure intensity – show that modes of exercise more commonly associated with relaxation and stress reduction, and less commonly associated with intensity/high intensity, are more effective in reducing features of insomnia.
The most effective modality was yoga.
Among people with insomnia, data associated yoga with:
- An increase of 1 hour and 40 minutes of total sleep time
- Improved sleep efficiency
- Reduced waking time after falling asleep, i.e. time spent awake and falling back asleep after falling asleep initially: 57 minutes less woke back up/can’t fall back asleep time
- A 30-minute reduction in time to fall asleep
The second most effective exercise modality was tai chi.
Among people with insomnia, data associated tai chi with:
- An increase of 52 minutes of total sleep time
- Improved sleep quality on the PSQI metric
- A 27-minute reduction in time to fall asleep
- Reduced waking time after falling asleep, i.e. time spent awake and falling back asleep after falling asleep initially: 36 minutes less woke back up/can’t fall back asleep time
The third most effective exercise modality was walking/jogging, which was associated with a significant reduction on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI).
In addition, researchers found that tai chi yielded superior outcomes on all sleep metrics, compared to standard treatment, for up to two years after initial assessment.
What This Research Means for Our Patients
First, it debunks the notion that the only way exercise improves sleep is by making you tired. Although, as we mention, none of the studies in the meta-analysis measured intensity, the exercise modalities associated with less intensity showed better outcomes for people with insomnia. Those modalities – yoga and tai chi – are more commonly connected stress reduction and relaxation.
Second, it confirms that insomnia is complex. It shows that the way people with insomnia respond to treatment may be unexpected. It also teaches us that when insomnia appears with a mental health disorder either as a symptom or a co-occurring disorder, stress management and relaxation may be the most effective general approaches to symptom reduction.
Interviewed in Science Daily, the research team noted:
“The findings of this study further underscore the therapeutic potential of exercise interventions in the treatment of insomnia, suggesting that their role may extend beyond adjunctive support to serve as viable primary treatment options. Given the advantages of exercise modalities…including low cost, minimal side effects, and high accessibility, these interventions are well-suited for integration into primary care and community health programs.”
And, we can add, when we treat patients with anxiety, depression, and/or early onset psychosis in a specialized mental health setting, we can consider yoga, tai chi, and walking/jogging as effective complementary, practical support to improve overall treatment outcomes.
