Hope someone can give me some advice. I’m sure this has been addressed elsewhere on this site, but I need advice directed to me.
We know proper sleep in important for recovery. Ever since I really started to workout since January I can’t sleep the nights through. I do intense training twice a week and on the night after my workouts, its guaranteed I’ll wake up a couple of times from 3 am all the way to 6:30am. I used to sleep from midnight to 7am. Now I try to get to bed before 11:30. But I wake up several times between 4am and 6am. Usually takes me 45 mins or longer to fall back to sleep.
My libido has also increased so much, waking me up in the early hours. Someone suggested its the amino acids and supplements that are giving me energy. I now take an over the counter sleeping medication just to give me 8 hours of sleep, but I hate taking it all the time and Melatonin just doesn’t work for me anymore.
I’m gonna have a blood workup in the next few weeks and talk to my doctor to find out what’s going on. At this point it may be a choice between working out, taking a sleeping pill to get a good nights sleep or forget about working out, lead a sedentary lifestyle and get 7.5 hrs of uninterrupted sleep. I am still making some muscle gains and slowly putting on weight, so things aren’t completely bad.
Anyone else dealing with this. I can’t be the only one with this problem. Whatever advice you can give will be appreciated.
When do you work out? Sounds like working out in the morning could be best for you.
Any caffeine or other stimulant use? Coffee, Hot-Rox, Spike, etc. I used to have caffeine in the afternoon, but now I know I have to stop at noon.
OTC sleeping pills are horrible - they often wear off by the early morning and you get that rebound as you described.
Well, as a chronic insomniac I can say it isn’t your lean body weight! Not sleeping is a real pain. Personally now I depend on sleeping pills. The ONLY advantage to insomnia is I don’t get jet lag…
Interestingly most insomnia apparently is “learned”. The first thing the docs are going to say is sleep in a cool room, no caffeine in the pm, try some white noise, and continue with the excursive, in the morning. He might say watch the alcohol and the carb intake at night. Avoid eating late at night as well. He may want to do a sleep study, which after being wired to all the damn sensors its a wonder anyone sleeps!
Oh and if your doc is a she, just sub she for he…
Good luck and let us know what you found out.
Well I never drink coffee or alcohol anymore. I’ll have tea at night, sometimes green tea. Been drinking tea for years never had probs until now. My diet is really pretty good- bulking up phase. Cold showers before bed, white noise, exercise in the morning. So WTF!!!
Alright I get stressed out easily, high metabolism- hence Skeletonboy. So, is my body just too stimulated by working out? Yes my doc is a she. Please no sleep studies!!!
I’ve found I’m more sensitive to caffeine as I’ve gotten older. Googling ‘caffeine sensitivity age’ seems to agree. I’d ditch the tea.
Thanks, I’ll have to do that.
The doc prescribed Trazedone for me. Not sure how much I’ll take. May just stick with an over the counter and try to sneak in as many naps a week as I can.
One of the things the Doc’s told me was fight thru the naps…save the “tiredness” up for nighttime sleep.
My wife took that stuff for anxiety. She stayed zonked for 20 hours a day. Then again she can’t handle Ambien either