Evening exercisers, sleep question

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gingerjen7
gingerjen7 Posts: 821 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
For those of you who exercise in the evening or early evening, do you find that it affects your sleep? I've always had a difficult time sleeping; I'm a light sleeper and it also takes me a really long time to fall asleep. I've been working out about an hour after dinner, as I don't have the energy to do it before dinner and I've been too tired to get up and do it in the morning. I've been sleeping pretty poorly lately, too. I seem to spend a lot of my night tossing and turning, having really confused but lucid dreams and then waking up still thinking about the things from my dreams while I toss and turn and try to go back to sleep. Last night I dreamt a lot about numbers, then woke up and kept thinking about how to get numbers to match (awake, I realize that this stems from tracking calories and macros, though in the dream, it was like an episode of Criminal Minds combined with The Dead Zone, having something to do with prophecy and murder) and trying to make my cat's presence significant to my specific dreams (I'm fairly certain I convinced myself that his position on my bed relative to my own was helping me commit murders to fulfill prophecies had by Johnny Smith so that "the numbers all matched up"), all the while repeating the chorus of that stupid Call Me Maybe song over and over and over. It's like my dreams and my wakefulness meld together into one restless night of confusion. I've begun to wonder if it's something chemical related to how late I do my work out. Does anyone else have trouble sleeping when they work out later in the day?
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Replies

  • IveLanded
    IveLanded Posts: 797 Member
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    Nope. I find that, in general, the more consistent I am with work outs the better I sleep, and my usual work out time is around 6 or 7pm, with my bedtime being around 10pm.
  • preaser
    preaser Posts: 85 Member
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    No, but I gave up caffeine for a couple weeks and realized that was keeping me awake.
    Maybe try giving up caffeine. I too am not a early bird, so I exercise in the evening.
  • ChgingMe
    ChgingMe Posts: 539 Member
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    Nope. I find that, in general, the more consistent I am with work outs the better I sleep, and my usual work out time is around 6 or 7pm, with my bedtime being around 10pm.

    Yep me too
  • Crazibaker
    Crazibaker Posts: 130 Member
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    I work out right after work now - 5pm, but I used to work out right after dinner like you are doing now. I never had a problem sleeping due to the excercise - for other reasons, but not exercise. When I have a good workout, I find that I'm pretty tired about an hour or so after and ready for bed.

    But, maybe you should try switching up your schedule and workout in the morning?
  • shanster23
    shanster23 Posts: 144 Member
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    I always exercise in the evening, between 6 and 7pm usually, and I think it has actually helped improve my sleep :) I do still struggle (I've had insomnia for years) but it isn't as bad as it used to be.
  • ceajules
    ceajules Posts: 123
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    Nope. I find that, in general, the more consistent I am with work outs the better I sleep, and my usual work out time is around 6 or 7pm, with my bedtime being around 10pm.
    [/quote

    I agree]
  • gingerjen7
    gingerjen7 Posts: 821 Member
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    No, but I gave up caffeine for a couple weeks and realized that was keeping me awake.
    Maybe try giving up caffeine. I too am not a early bird, so I exercise in the evening.
    The only caffeine I have is in the morning from black tea (or coffee the last two days since I forgot to restock my tea supply at work).
  • Rubyayn
    Rubyayn Posts: 433 Member
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    I recently quit working out in the evenings and my sleep has already improved. I was having insomnia 2-3 nights per week BAD. I was also over-doing it by working out in the morning AND at night, so I cannot blame it all on the evening workouts.

    Currently giving my body a much needed break and it is thanking me. Morning workouts are my saving grace now. I hate mornings, too, but it has really been helping my sleep. Good luck!!

    oh, also I discovered some great hypnosis apps for android and ipad. My favorite is by Darren Marks and zonks me out every single time.
  • juliec33
    juliec33 Posts: 238 Member
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    Hi there! I'm an evening exerciser - a bootcamp class from 7:00 to 8:00pm twice a week and sometimes a kickboxing class from 7:15 to 8:15pm. It usually helps me sleep but if I've had a particulary hard workout and I'm "achy" then I can't sleep. I know that taking a hot bath with epsom salts usually helps me relax and unwind (mentally and physically) when I get home. Sounds like you're making yourself crazy with the counting calories thing.......go easy on yourself if they aren't what you want them to be.
  • LupaNera
    LupaNera Posts: 170
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    I have my evening krav maga classes 8.30-10.00 or even 10.30 and tra afterwards i'm full on adrenaline and i cannot sleep till 2 o'clock in the night. And usually just drink an expresso in the morning and one after noon. With some exceptions I have the third around 5 o'clock.
  • o2bADyer
    o2bADyer Posts: 208
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    I work late and exercise afterwards...not getting to the gym until 9 p.m. or so. If I work out hard enough, my body is physically ready for sleep when I get home. I try to be in bed around 11 p.m. Good luck to you!
  • penrbrown
    penrbrown Posts: 2,685 Member
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    Exercise usually tires me out so much that I sleep like a BABY the night of a workout. It's the day AFTER the workout that I struggle to sleep. Always feels like I'm full of so much energy that my body can't settle. It sucks. :\
  • IronTitaness
    IronTitaness Posts: 117
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    When I workout really hard in the evening I don't sleep that good. I am like an energy ball and awake at 3 or 4 in the morning.

    x
  • trina433
    trina433 Posts: 96
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    i sleep better when i exercise in the evening. especially if im doing strength dvds like jillian micheals 30 day shred or no more trouble zones
  • jamacattack
    jamacattack Posts: 94 Member
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    I work out between 8:00 & 9:00 usually (after my dd is asleep). I take a shower after that and then eat dinner and then go to sleep. No sleep issues here- actually I've been sleeping better then I ever used to.
  • madamepsychosis
    madamepsychosis Posts: 472 Member
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    I ran at about 6ish today (it varies, depending on how much I actually have to do during the day) and I'm ready to hit the hay already! I often am when I workout in the evenings, so maybe it's just a personal thing.
  • Lift_hard_eat_big
    Lift_hard_eat_big Posts: 2,278 Member
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    Good questions. An intense workout first thing in the morning seems to wake me up. Yet an intense workout in the PM gets me primed and ready for bed.
  • samlankford
    samlankford Posts: 334
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    I workout starting about 4:30 pm after work.. workouts usually last anywhere from 40-65 mins... tough high intensity workouts... I usually will not sit on my tush until about 8pm, then I rest for about 1 1/2 hr before I go up to bed... I HAVE to have that unwind time otherwise I will not sleep.. I have MS so insomnia is my best friend!! I have valium to take, it is that SHHHHHH that my brain needs sometimes to turn off.. Try switching the times that your working out or maybe do some yoga to help calm your brain....
  • gingerjen7
    gingerjen7 Posts: 821 Member
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    Sounds like you're making yourself crazy with the counting calories thing.......go easy on yourself if they aren't what you want them to be.
    :laugh:

    No, you just need more context. The numbers were related to counting calories in this specific instance, but I'm a mathematician, and while mathematics is more about logic than about numbers, I've always had a small obsession with numbers, and when I was in college I used to lie in bed for hours thinking about calculus questions, and later about proofs. I would just keep trying to make things work until I had to get up, turn the lights on and grab a pen and paper and work it out.

    Unfortunately, it's kind of a vicious cycle: I sleep so poorly that I'm so tired in the morning I feel like I can't get up and also that I'm justified in not getting up early because I need to sleep, but then I have to work out in the evening. I should probably just force myself out of bed to work out and see if that helps, but I'm doing better at sticking to a work out schedule by working out in the evening then I ever was when I would try to work out in the morning. I'd be good for three weeks, and then I'd start sleeping in and fall off the wagon for months at a time. I definitely don't want to repeat that.
  • Alford96
    Alford96 Posts: 70
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    My usual bed time is 930ish. If I don't get my workout completed by 6pm, I cannot sleep. I just stay energized. Have you tried an herbal tea like Celestial Seasonings sleepytime or tension tamer before bed? Sometimes when I can tell I won't be able to sleep that night, I try that and it really helps me relax. Plus the warmth of the tea helps me feel nice and full.

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