Waking up in the middle of the night

littleburgy

Lately I've been waking up in the middle of the night and generally just have not been sleeping as well as I usually do. Sometimes I wake up drenching with sweat, or in last night's case, a little bit hungry so I ate a muesli bar and went back to sleep. I work out 5-6 days a week doing cardio and weights, sessions ranging from 1-2 hours. Because I commute, I go from work directly to my fitness class so I eat dinner afterwards, roughly 9pm. I go to sleep about 1am... (I'm a night owl...) up by 7:30.

The thing is, in the past I had a tendency to eat later and go to bed later but slept fine, the only thing about my schedule that has changed is less calorie intake and higher level of fitness. (roughly 1600-1700, sometimes a little more if I eat back my calories. Rate of weight loss has been fine, actually this week I lost a kilo/about 2 pounds.) I still try to avoid caffeinated beverages past the late afternoon.

Has anyone had similar experiences with this? Did you become a lighter sleeper when your fitness level was higher?

Pinkranger626

I've been having trouble staying asleep all night... I thought it was just because my neighbors have been really loud lately. But I too have noticed that I'm a much lighter sleeper than I used to be (I once slept through lifestar landing in my neighbor's yard). I'd be curious if anyone has heard of higher fitness levels making for a change in sleeping patterns. Usually when I wake up it's because of a nightmare or being too hot or cold. My problem has been that once I wake up I have trouble getting back to sleep, and the last two days my workouts have suffered due to just feeling exhausted.

Do you have anything that's bothering you? Anything big coming up that you're uneasy about? Sometimes its our brain that gets in the way.

littleburgy

I have had some things bothering me. Battled a mild cold too but I guess what I've been experiencing has been a little unusual. I'd be interested in hearing if anyone else had their sleeping habits change when they started their fitness/exercise plan.

elsyoommen

I have become a slightly lighter sleeper some nights (I've never been a great sleeper). But I think this has to do with the fact that my routines have changed. Now that I fit in an extra 1 to 1 1/2 hours of activity each day, everything else gets a little squeezed. I have been trying to vary my routines a bit to see what works best for me. So now I'm trying to eat my dinner a little earlier followed by a walk outside (helps to clear my head) and then a small snack (cottage cheese, a few raspberries and some slivered almonds) before I go to bed. I'm also trying to cut down on everything else - e.g. not stress out about housework as much. I have also found that caffeine affects me more than it used to. I used to avoid coffee in the late afternoon. But now I've started avoiding it after noon altogether. I find these are helping to get me back into a good sleep routine. I think what it comes down to is that I have more energy overall but I need to try to settle down gradually in order to be able to fall and stay asleep.

paperpudding

How old are you OP?

I haven't had these problems since changing my diet - but I have woken up with night sweats sometimes in past couple of years which I put down to pre menopause rather than dieting.

Of course, if you are not in this age group - or you are male, LOL, - ignore this thought.

littleburgy

Hi paperpudding I'm 37 and female. Only other theory would be thyroid because I take meds for it and all the same my inner thermostat is broken. Thanks for the feedback everyone.