[quote]StormTheBeach wrote:
x2 on ZMA and melatonin. Don’t take melatonin everyday though.
Also, light aerobic activity or even something as stupid as 20mins of stretching right before bed has been shown to promote better, deeper sleeping. Don’t forget to turn all of your electronic shit off as well. [/quote]
What is the rationale behind not taking melatonin every day? I have been doing that for months, and before I did that I would feel like my quality of sleep was not good enough, as i would be tired in the middle of the day even with 8 hours of sleep consistently. But now I feel much better taking 3mg of melatonin every day before bed. I have become dependent on it, since when I don’t take it, I feel like crap.
[quote]NikH wrote:
Melatonin is a hormone the body produces. Nobody should be popping a handful of melatonin.
I suggest you workout as early as you can, say if you get out of work at 5pm you go then and not at 10pm and try to sleep at 11pm.
And eat well after so you wont feel hungry in bed.
Avoid doing work in the bedroom, at any point during the day if possible.
Also, dont watch TV / have bright lights on /use computer /get excited an hour before going to sleep.
You can try stop using stimulants like caffeine and see if you can sleep better. Especially if you workout in the evening and take these typical “preworkouts” with 300mg caffeine (3 cups of coffe) they will keep you awake, seriously. If you are an addict it will probably take around 2weeks to get rid of lack-of-caffeine-drowsiness.
Just try to relax and get to bed at the same time everyday - that’s the most crucial thing, and dont think about work at bed. Getting a steady sleep cycle will help alot more than dosing melatonin, but it may help in the start to get the sleep cycle.[/quote]
These are general and sensible recommendations for sleep hygiene and won’t do harm, but with all respect, this kind of “burnout insomnia” is not in my experience a problem of sleep hygiene. If it were, the problem would occur every night, not just after heavy training days.