[BlackFriar]

Have any forum members had trouble sleeping after workouts? I have been lifting, walking and riding my bike until I get weak and can barely stand up. But when I go home (like again tonight,) I cannot fall asleep.

I worked today, lifted and rode my bike about twenty miles and could barely pedal it home. But when I laid down. I am wide awake.

This is kinda odd to me.

[Hannibal]

The solution to that is to workout in the morning.

Some folks get jacked up after a workout and can't sleep, some do not.

If you're taking a lot of preworkout, then yeah all those stimulants are going to keep you up at night.

[not_dead_yet]

(09-08-2016 05:56 AM)BlackFriar Wrote:  

Have any forum members had trouble sleeping after workouts? I have been lifting, walking and riding my bike until I get weak and can barely stand up. But when I go home (like again tonight,) I cannot fall asleep.

I worked today, lifted and rode my bike about twenty miles and could barely pedal it home. But when I laid down. I am wide awake.

This is kinda odd to me.

It happened to me too and it took me a while to figure out what the problem was. It's called overtraining. You're pushing yourself too hard and your body is generating cortisol as a result. Decreased libido is another symptom of overtraining.

Dial your volume back until you lose the insomnia. Make sure you're taking rest days. Try taking Zinc and Magnesium supplements -- I use MetRx brand.

[AtyourCervix]

Very interesting. Since i've restarted training i've been experiencing insomnia as well a little loss in libido. Got better with the use of zma about 30-60min before bed. But what really helps me the best is to not eat 1-2 hours before bed.

I've also read about a supplement (sleep aid) that lower cortisol levels. Might try it in the future.

[Isaac Jordan]

Can't sleep after training?

Quote:

Be the weirdo wearing blue-blocking goggles

The worst thing you can do for your sleep is to spend your evening under fluorescent lights with blaring music and two dozen big screen TVs beaming blue light directly into your eyes. Couple the heavy light-induced melatonin suppression with the stress hormones coursing through your veins from the constant training sans-respite and yeah, you won’t sleep well. Pick up a cheap pair of orange safety goggles and wear them to the gym for two weeks. See if it helps. I bet it will.

Train in the morning

Instead of losing 2.5 (and likely 3, with showers and such) hours every night to your workout, shift it to the morning. You can focus on establishing a nice, relaxing evening routine. You can read some fiction, chill out with friends or partners, have some tea, maybe some gelatin. Sure, you’ll have to wake up earlier, but you’ll be sleeping better, going to bed earlier, getting the workout over first thing, and that should free up enough sleep time for an earlier wakeup.

Gelatin before bed

Gelatin is a great source of glycine (the best, actually). Human studies show that 3 grams of glycine taken before bed increases the quality of your sleep and reduces daytime sleepiness following sleep restriction.

L-theanine before bed

While L-theanine hasn’t been definitively shown to reduce cortisol, it does induce relaxation and improve sleep quality (especially in hyperactive people). Go for 100-200 mg. You might also try Primal Calm, my anti-stress stack that includes L-theanine.

Look into anti-stress teas, herbs, and supplements

Browse these two posts for ideas.

Don’t make it worse with caffeine

Keep caffeine to the morning hours. Avoid pre-workouts that include caffeine if you intend on training at night.

Don’t train HIIT so much

HIIT, sprints, and related workouts work as an acute stressor: a massive dose of intensity that you need lots of time to recover from. If you try to make them a chronic stressor, something done every day or every other day, you’ll get diminishing returns and blowback from your adrenals. Your insomnia is blowback.

But at some point, you’ll have to just chill out and reassess your schedule. It sounds rather extreme to me.

Why are you training for two and a half hours at a time? Are you doing this every day? Why?

I’ve observed a funny thing: when something isn’t working, many people do the same thing even harder. Low-carb not working? Go even lower. Dropping 500 calories a day not helping your weight? Drop 1000! This can be a big mistake. That you feel the need to train so frequently and for so long suggests that you’re not getting the results you’d expect. Just remember that you don’t get fitter during a training session. You get fitter during your recovery from the training. If you’re doing HIIT every day, you aren’t recovering. You aren’t improving. And the lack of sleep will only hamper your recovery and adaptation even further.

[BlackFriar]

All good information. I will definitely look into the anti stress teas and L Thea.

I have been trying to work out at night, because I get off at 11pm and I do not fall asleep right after work. And It does not give me enough time to wake up in the day and work out, before work. I will rest today and exercise tomorrow.

Thanks.

[Gentleman Josiah Crown]

Same thing happens to me. I started waking up early and training in the morning. It has worked out a lot better for me.

[MrFish]

I can also attest to the positive effects of working out in the morning. I sleep a lot better at night and feel a lot more energetic at work.

Timewise, it can be a hassle though.

[Tekka]

It is hard to sleep after working out because it really activates your fight or flight systems. There are breathing exercises you can do to switch it off, but they may not work that well if you spend hours and hours in the gym.

[nek]

Anyone who trains in combat sports has probably experienced this, and the reasons are several-fold as previously touched on in this thread:

- As opposed to going to the gym to weightlift, there are usually set class or training times, and these times are often in the evening, so timing your workouts are often out of your control,

- It's essentially HIIT training, and that has consequences for sleep as previously mentioned,

- It's really easy to overtrain. It's a group environment and you don't want to be the guy slacking. Also, it's a fun environment, very much a male-space in a world devoid of them, so guys really like coming to the gym.

- Probably most significantly, the nature of combat sports themselves. The biggest difference between combat sports training and HIIT, weightlifting, or any other version of exercise is that you're in direct physical contact with another person, a person who, even in a controlled setting, is trying to do harm to you to some extent, causing the adrenaline is flowing like no other. Weights you can put down, HIIT you can stop and catch your breath, with combat sports, just because you're tired doesn't mean the other guy is going to stop hitting you or trying to slam you onto the mat, so there's an extra gear of intensity involved with it that you don't find in other sports/activities. The "fear" factor adds a hormonal/body chemistry opponent that really makes it hard to fall asleep after.

[britabroad]

yeah i get hyped and cant sleep, if i needed to id just smoke hash to knock me out