exercise and insomnia

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lisajtubs
lisajtubs Posts: 62
in Fitness and Exercise
I find that on days where I have done higher intensity training, that I cannot sleep at night. I started back at boxing but the sessions finished at 9.30 pm and even though i was tired, I couldnt really sleep. I would lie awake for an hour and thenonly sleep for 3 hrs. My body doesnt feel in pain or uncomfortable, but I am aware of my muscles if that makes any sense. I decided to join a gym instead so that I could do some training earlier in the day and add in some strength training to make up for lack of boxing, but the same thing happens regardless of whether i train in the morning or evening (I do treadmill sprints after lifting) On days where i jog 6-8 miles i dont have this problem at all.

Any idea on what might be going on? my sodium intake is generally low but I always exceed the sugar limit imposed by MFP. A girl must have some pleasure in life!

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  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
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    I find that on days where I have done higher intensity training, that I cannot sleep at night. I started back at boxing but the sessions finished at 9.30 pm and even though i was tired, I couldnt really sleep. I would lie awake for an hour and thenonly sleep for 3 hrs. My body doesnt feel in pain or uncomfortable, but I am aware of my muscles if that makes any sense. I decided to join a gym instead so that I could do some training earlier in the day and add in some strength training to make up for lack of boxing, but the same thing happens regardless of whether i train in the morning or evening (I do treadmill sprints after lifting) On days where i jog 6-8 miles i dont have this problem at all.

    Any idea on what might be going on? my sodium intake is generally low but I always exceed the sugar limit imposed by MFP. A girl must have some pleasure in life!

    I would say that is pretty typical for late evening high intensity interval workouts that are too close to bed time. But why the same thing happens on days you do it in the AM or afternoon - who knows?

    Caffeine? Energy drink? Drinking booze? Anything you are ingesting that might be the cause?
  • cmbauer99
    cmbauer99 Posts: 184 Member
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    I just noticed this same exact thing last night and was going to post pretty much this topic.

    I did about 30 minutes of HIIT about 20 minutes before bed and I struggled to shut my mind down
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    It's fairly common for folks to have trouble sleeping due to exercising too close to bedtime. If memory serves, it has something to do with warming up the body by increasing blood flow when normally we're trying to relax and decrease body temp to get ready for sleep. This made sense to me because I know when it's really warm out in the summer, I had a horrible time sleeping and have awful dreams.

    For the OP, not sure why that's happening when you exercise earlier in the day though. I wonder the same thing as the above responder - could have something to do with what you ate/drank that day?
  • lisajtubs
    lisajtubs Posts: 62
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    Thanks for the replies. I think I will add a multivitamin to my diet in case i am deficient in anything, but I suppose it could also be down to new routines etc. Its a pain though as I know that I wont be bothered to exercise as often as i hope if i cant sleep at night.

    Maybe im getting old?? in my 20's i lived off carbs (cereals, pasta, baked potatoes, pasties) then would exercise intensely for 2 hrs every evening between 6-8pm doing boxing or kickboxing, and slept like a baby. all the while being 5'5" , 115 lbs and 10% bf. those were the days!
  • lorigrocks
    lorigrocks Posts: 123 Member
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    I do an hour of my kickboxing class from 6 - 7pm two to three times a week and I find that I am full of so much energy afterwards that when I am done my class, I come home, make dinner, do the dishes, etc. I'm always go, go, go but come 10pm I am ready for bed and do sleep really well. I think I would be too wired if I did my workout any later.
  • QueenBishOTUniverse
    QueenBishOTUniverse Posts: 14,121 Member
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    I can have the same problem. The muscles are cooling, even if I worked out early afternoon and have had plenty of time to settle and am very sleepy, the muscles cooling and tightening is just annoyingly uncomfortable and can make it hard for me to get to sleep, or if I'm so tired I pass out almost instantly, I don't always stay asleep like I should. My guess would be I need to spend some time with my foam roller and lacrosse ball before bed, but I'm so tired I just want to go to bed! It's a bit of a catch 22.....

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