Disturbed sleep when working out

[ambivalens]

Whenever I'm working out regularly (which is most of the time, except for periods here and there when we had our children etc.), my sleep pattern is quite disturbed. I would have thought working out was going to make me tired and sleep like a baby, but it's the other way around. If I stop working out for a couple of weeks, my sleep is back to normal and it's all fine and dandy. When working out I wake up many times every night, and in general just have trouble falling properly to sleep.

Anyone have any experience with this? My theory is that the physical work is giving me "too much" energy and keeping me up. If I add in 8 hours of hard physical work on the house (like changing the roof like I'm currently doing), I'm so blown out come evening that I go into a coma. FWIW, I never work out close to sleepy time, atleast 5 hours before.

[veryhrm]

What kind of working out do you do ?

For me, usually (when not working out ) i sleep well. When i work out (swimming, snowboarding, volleyball, helping people move, previous weight workouts usually more exercises w/ more reps and w/ some metcon) i sleep even better. HOWEVER, doing the SS beginner program has been the first time i've experienced sleep disruption. Overall it's causing me to sleep a long time, but i've also had maybe 4 or 5 sleepless nights in the past 2 - 3 months i've been doing this and generally i have some trouble falling asleep which, for me, is practically unheard of. So i don't know... maybe there's something about the high intensity and low volume that's messing me up.

[ambivalens]

I've been doing SS novice for a long time, and just recently switched over to 5/3/1 with a large reset and a plan for very slowly going back up and beyond because I'm trying to cut an ugly amount of bodyfat. Had trouble sleeping ever since I started heavy weight training, really. Sports like soccer and american football never disrupted my sleep, from what I can remember. I'm doing the "big but boring" assistance work, which is basically the days worksets, say 3x5 deadlifts, then 5x10 deadlifts with reduced weights. Even after a big reset it's a lot of work.

It's like weight lifting is putting so much stress on my system that it upsets the "going to rest" part of sleeping. I have no clue really, mostly talking out of my ass.

[Dastardly]

I had this while going through the novice motions, especially when I took part in some extremely high volume group deadlift sessions with some powerlifter at the gym. I think so much "recovery" is going on, your body is literally a hive of activity that it makes it difficult to sleep.

The more you progress in your training, the harder it will be to overload yourself in the same way so it gets rarer and harder to stress your body/CNS like this, and sleepless nights will be a forgotten memory of novice days before long.

[JMS]

I too experence disturbed sleep after a hard workout which I have largely attributed it to aging. However the same loss of sleep occurred in my 30’s while over-stressing my body (replacing my roof comes to mind). So the age factor is real but not the only issue at play.
My sleep problems mostly occur after workouts lasting past 7pm or to my Friday workouts where I test for PR’s or where I just drive extra hard.
I believe it is my CNS being fried and my joints/muscle in hyper-repair that won’t let me shut down enough to sleep.

I have begin taking melatonin or valerian, and sometime both at the same time, especial after Fridays workout. Staying away from alcohol and the computer before bedtime seems to help too.
Also just recently I have begun PVC pipe rolling BEFORE going to bed, if I know there will be sleep problems. This seems to help take the edge off my legs enough to help fall asleep, sometimes.

[funguyrye]

"very slowly going back up and beyond because I'm trying to cut an ugly amount of bodyfat."



Sleep apnea? Ask your wife how your snoring is.

[ambivalens]

"very slowly going back up and beyond because I'm trying to cut an ugly amount of bodyfat."



Sleep apnea? Ask your wife how your snoring is.

She says I haven't been snoring at all. I've never really been a snorer, I believe.

And to clarify, the amount of bodyfat isn't _that_ bad. I can still see my dick, but I definitely have a gut and some perky man boobs.

[joshbro73]

Wow! I've been going through this myself, and considering my first post. I'm 38 years old, 6 weeks into my first go at SS, and already gained about 25 lbs bw. Squat and deadlift are past bodyweight, and I haven't stalled yet. But my sleep has been horrible, pretty much since I started.

I'm not a "good" sleeper to begin with...if I'm worried about something or have been watching an intense movie or something I struggle to get to sleep in a timely fashion. But since I started training, my ability to get to sleep and stay there has been compromised even more. My symptoms are:

1) I'll get the jimmy-legs in my arm 2 out of 3 nights, although I haven't notice if it's on lift or recovery days. I will explore this.
2) Milk is giving me heartburn, which isn't helping any.
3) I'm fucking hotter than I was before...I need the room temperature to be almost frigid, or I'm sweating and tossing and turning.
4) I'm sure I'm snoring more due to being more of a fatty. A stronger fatty, but nevertheless.
5) My fucking kids (2 and 4) aren't helping with their "DAAA-DAAA" at 6 in the morning. Fucking kids...
6) I'm losing productivity at work b/c around 3:30 pm I'm ready for a 2 hour nap. And if I take the nap, forget about going to bed at a reasonable hour.

Boo hoo. Anyway, I'm surviving, and I think (hope) it will stabilize soon, but YNDTP for me is getting good sleep, and there's sort of nothing I can do about it (that I can think of). Sort of sucks. But if this were easy everyone would be doing it, amirite?

[ambivalens]

I too experence disturbed sleep after a hard workout which I have largely attributed it to aging. However the same loss of sleep occurred in my 30’s while over-stressing my body (replacing my roof comes to mind). So the age factor is real but not the only issue at play.
My sleep problems mostly occur after workouts lasting past 7pm or to my Friday workouts where I test for PR’s or where I just drive extra hard.
I believe it is my CNS being fried and my joints/muscle in hyper-repair that won’t let me shut down enough to sleep.

I have begin taking melatonin or valerian, and sometime both at the same time, especial after Fridays workout. Staying away from alcohol and the computer before bedtime seems to help too.
Also just recently I have begun PVC pipe rolling BEFORE going to bed, if I know there will be sleep problems. This seems to help take the edge off my legs enough to help fall asleep, sometimes.

What you're saying makes alot of sense. After hard workouts I feel, for lack of a better expression or word, electrified. My whole body is on edge. Now as atleast one of our two kids is getting a bit older (oldest 2 years, youngest 10 weeks), I'll try to take a little longer in the gym, spend more time with recovery and cooldown-related activities. The last months have been stressful in the gym, just going in and warming up and pushing through the workout as fast as I can, so I can get back to either helping with the nutbags or the work on the house. And when I say gym, I mean the basement :P

I've more or less cut alcohol completely. The computer though.. I'll try to stay off it the last couple of hours before bedtime, but it's not always easy.

[ambivalens]

I had this while going through the novice motions, especially when I took part in some extremely high volume group deadlift sessions with some powerlifter at the gym. I think so much "recovery" is going on, your body is literally a hive of activity that it makes it difficult to sleep.

The more you progress in your training, the harder it will be to overload yourself in the same way so it gets rarer and harder to stress your body/CNS like this, and sleepless nights will be a forgotten memory of novice days before long.

I hope you're right, Dastardly These restless nights aren't something I'm very fond of. I don't feel that they impact my day very much, actually, but being awake at all times of the night and tossing around is pissing me off. And often I become aware that I have to take a piss, so I have to get up... hurr..