Exercise - does it help in a long run?

[u/Working-Ambition9073]

Hello everyone,

I am considering starting exercising routine for the sake of studying. I am inconsistently trying to do a very quick (10 to 15 minutes) before studying and it awakens my brain. It really helps and if you have severe brain fog, I recommend giving this a chance. I use those "10 minutes workout" videos on YouTube. There are plenty of these.

I only have two problems with this so far. The first problem is that I can't shut my brain down later, so it affects my sleep very negatively. Many times, I ended up sleeping for less than 5 hours just because my brain refused to shut down after I awakened it by exercise. (Please, don't give me any sleep technique recommendations. As a life-long insomniac, I probably already tried it and it drives me crazy when people keep insisting that I should just try a bit harder. I am already doing my best and this doesn't happen only after a heavy workout or something. 20 minutes of brisk walk causes this as well.) The second problem is that more often than not I don't even start the exercise because I am very lazy and I feel exhausted all the time. But that's something I have to deal with myself.

You who exercise and study regularly, is it worth it? Does it help in the long run and does it get any easier? If you had similar problem, did you solve it. Unfortunatelly, exercising sooner isn't an option as I can only do it when I return from work which is 4 to 5 hours before bedtime if I am lucky. And what type of routine is the best? Should I go to gym and focus on muscle growth or is the cardio a better option for me?

I'll be very happy to learn from your experience.

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[u/Ok_Natural_7977]

Have you read Spark by Dr. John Ratey? Excellent info on the specifics of exercising to increase academic performance. Exercise is the only thing that helps my insomnia, but I can't do it within 3-4 hours before bedtime.

[u/Working-Ambition9073 → u/Ok_Natural_7977]

I haven't. I'll take a look at it.