Background: Current recommendations advise against exercising in the evening because of potential adverse effects on sleep.

Objectives: The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the extent to which evening exercise affects sleep and whether variables such as exercise intensity or duration modify the response.

Methods: A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Cochrane, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and CINAHL databases. Studies evaluating sleep after a single session of evening physical exercise compared to a no-exercise control in healthy adults were included. All analyses are based on random effect models.

Results: The search yielded 11,717 references, of which 23 were included. Compared to control, evening exercise significantly increased rapid eye movement latency (+ 7.7 min; p = 0.032) and slow-wave sleep (+ 1.3 percentage points [pp]; p = 0.041), while it decreased stage 1 sleep (- 0.9 pp; p = 0.001). Moderator analyses revealed that a higher temperature at bedtime was associated with lower sleep efficiency (SE) (b = - 11.6 pp; p = 0.020) and more wake after sleep onset (WASO; b = + 37.6 min; p = 0.0495). A higher level of physical stress (exercise intensity relative to baseline physical activity) was associated with lower SE (- 3.2 pp; p = 0.036) and more WASO (+ 21.9 min; p = 0.044). Compared to cycling, running was associated with less WASO (- 12.7 min; p = 0.037). All significant moderating effects disappeared after removal of one study.

Conclusion: Overall, the studies reviewed here do not support the hypothesis that evening exercise negatively affects sleep, in fact rather the opposite. However, sleep-onset latency, total sleep time, and SE might be impaired after vigorous exercise ending ≤ 1 h before bedtime.