Insomnia when dieting/exercising?

juliaruliasNY
juliaruliasNY Posts: 263 Member
edited November 16 in Chit-Chat
I find that whenever I start a healthier diet/exercise plan that I often have trouble falling asleep and when I do it's not restful and is usually only a few hours (more like a nap).

I've become immune to sleeping pills, melatonin pills and wine. I also notice I'm very hot/sweaty at night...

Anyone else have this issue? Suggestions or tips that worked for you?

Replies

  • karenlauler
    karenlauler Posts: 12
    I'm right there with ya. Have trouble sleeping every night.
  • belimawr
    belimawr Posts: 1,155 Member
    You're not alone, there have been several such threads lately, but no one has any real idea how to go about it from what I've seen.
  • fastforlife1
    fastforlife1 Posts: 459 Member
    edited April 2015
    It helps when I eat less or nothing for breakfast and most of my calories at dinner. Example - 400 calorie lunch, 200 calorie afternoon snack, 800 calorie dinner. This is a form of intermittent fasting (see MFP group) called 16:8 because you only eat during an 8 hour period.
  • karenlauler
    karenlauler Posts: 12
    I do Intermittent Fasting and eat from 12 pm - 7:00 pm . It hasn't helped my insomnia at all.
  • juliaruliasNY
    juliaruliasNY Posts: 263 Member
    Very interesting. I've never heard of it, but I've eaten heavier dinners for the purpose of inducing 'food coma' to no avail.

    I think I just sweat too much whenever I start working out (body literally feels like a furnace right after a workout and for days following) and it prevents me from falling asleep.
  • JeopardyRight
    JeopardyRight Posts: 331 Member
    Sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is.
  • juliaruliasNY
    juliaruliasNY Posts: 263 Member
    JeopardyRight wrote: »
    Sleeping is giving in, no matter what the time is.

    Hmm .. Giving in as a positive or negative?
  • Shadowsan
    Shadowsan Posts: 365 Member
    There are lots of contributing factors in this, but if you've just started your program i'd go with it cortisol levels and/or leaving a large gap between eating and sleeping.

    Can also be down to things like caffeine intake.

    Answer to these is usually reduce caffeine intake, reduce intensity of workouts for a couple of weeks to 'get acclimatised', and ensure you're spreading your calories out well.

    Prepare a healthy snack that you can have as supper, make it tasty. When you have it, you'll release endorphins and settle down in bed easier.

    Any more you need to know, gimme a shout, feel free to add, whatever *shrug*
  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    I can relate to this when it comes to exercise and sleep. For me, I think part of the issue is being able to relax while exercising. I find if I'm very tense throughout the day (including while exercising), if anything the exercise seems to make it worse for me to try to sleep well. Even still, just yesterday I did a fair amount of exercise and was fairly relaxed throughout the day (including while exercising). But I did wake up in the middle of the night and spent almost 2 hours trying to fall back asleep.
    I have heard that there are some links between certain nutrients and sleep (magnesium in particular), but I haven't experimented with it.
  • salembambi
    salembambi Posts: 5,585 Member
    how much are you eating?? i started sleeping much better when i stopped restricting dumb amounts
  • juliaruliasNY
    juliaruliasNY Posts: 263 Member
    salembambi wrote: »
    how much are you eating?? i started sleeping much better when i stopped restricting dumb amounts

    Already considered that and I'm eating over my maintenance calories so that's not really the problem
  • juliaruliasNY
    juliaruliasNY Posts: 263 Member
    ForecasterJason wrote: »
    I can relate to this when it comes to exercise and sleep. For me, I think part of the issue is being able to relax while exercising. I find if I'm very tense throughout the day (including while exercising), if anything the exercise seems to make it worse for me to try to sleep well. Even still, just yesterday I did a fair amount of exercise and was fairly relaxed throughout the day (including while exercising). But I did wake up in the middle of the night and spent almost 2 hours trying to fall back asleep.
    I have heard that there are some links between certain nutrients and sleep (magnesium in particular), but I haven't experimented with it.

    I actually have magnesium supplements that I haven't been using but I will try it out and see if it helps at all. Thanks!

  • ForecasterJason
    ForecasterJason Posts: 2,577 Member
    @juliaruliasNY have you noticed any difference yet?
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