Unusual exercise-induced insomnia

I too have exercise induced insomnia. It started at around the age of 40, before then I had no problems, I could do strenuous badminton or cycling without problem.

Now if I do anything more than a gentle 10 minute run I'll be risking not getting any sleep.

Its like my body remains in a hyper adrenaline fueled state for a day after exercise. If I do strenuous exercise I can go to bed maybe feeling reasonable ok, and I might even fall asleep, but then I'll wake up after an hour or so feeling extremely hot and bothered and a kinda sick feeling in my throat/stomach. Best I can describe it is my body remains hyper after exercise, not in a relaxed and calm state for sleeping, takes a day or 2 to revert to normal, I can physically feel the difference.

I battled with this for years I tried every possible solution under the sun, even went to a private endocrinologist to get my bloods tested etc. There is no solution, I've given up the battle now, have to content myself with more gentle forms of exercise, hiking for example.

I started having post workout insomnia after I went overboard with my yoga breathing exercise. My condition is peculiar in the way that -

1. My insomnia only triggers if I do any exercise which puts direct pressure on my stomach ( crunches, pushups etc.) I can do biceps, triceps all day with no repercussions.
2. It doesn't matter what time I do the exercise, early morning, afternoon, evening, I wake up nonetheless.
3. Upon waking up, I don't feel any adrenaline rush or sweats. I just wake up.

I had given up working out for around 5-6 years (from 2015), recently I decided to try to face my condition and see where I end up. Been exercising alternate days , when I wake up I down a 2mg melatonin pill and am able to go back to sleep. Upon waking up in the morning I wouldn't say I feel a 100%, but it's much better than not sleeping at all.

Not sure how safe it is to be taking 2mg melatonin over the longer term.

On the days that I do exercise I feel a sensation above my eyebrows (left eyebrow) as if it's inflamed or something. I had gotten a CT stomach done but nothing came up.

I wish I had a solution to offer but that's all I have.

I wonder if it links to adrenalin hanging around in the body.

Glad to find you here fellows. I face exactly the same problem of you all from more than 10 years. Im now trying an sports doctor in Brazil to see what suggestion he can bring for me. So far, Drs really did not consider my hypotesis but I wont give this up and carry on my research. Thank you a lot for the posts. Regards,

Thankyou so much for starting this thread, with over 200 replies here would it be worth asking some CFS and OTS specialists to take a look at it and give some overall advice? The hardest thing about this is not having the guidance or a proper diagnosis.

Cliff notes to my story:

• Im 37/m/UK, fit boxer, heavy set with no sleeping issues prior to March 2019
• Got covid during first lockdown
• Doctor prescribed 2 weeks of antibiotics, got bad oral thrush
• Didnt sleep for 5 days and had severe panic attack.
• Continued running after recovery, took Nytol, slept fine for a month
• Started missing whole nights sleep every 2 weeks, no signs of physical/mental stress
• Missing whole nights became more regular, got made redundant, moved in with parents
• Took Zopiclone, didnt work and made depression symptoms unbearable
• Took Mirtazapine 15mg, then 30mg and finally 45mg (max)
• Insomnia still bad every 3 or 4 nights, heart palpitations at night
• Started hard boxing training an hour a day
• Sleep improved but missing whole nights every 1 or 2 weeks
• Realised training was related to insomnia, stopped training.
• Sleep improved massively for 2 months with only 2-3 bad nights
• Weaned off Mirtazapine, sleep, anxiety + went crazy bad.
• Started 10mg Amyltryptaline, sleep improved with the odd bad night but now sleeping by 3am at worst
• Began walking 30mins a day, then 60 mins month after
• Started 1.5hours walking a day and stopped Amyltryptaline
• Sleep has been terrible for a month and crying most days from the lack of help and guidance

My backstory: Im now 37, have always had an undiagnosed anxiety issue but found sport, meditation and mindfulness almost completely eleviated it, but I never had issue with insomnia. I started getting very fit about 10 years ago when I started running and Thai boxing, but have always been on the heavier side 100-115kg. For many years 4-6 hours of training a day was not a problem. In 2019 I let myself go quite a bit while I worked, got married etc. but still kept up some running and occasional boxing class. My chronic insomnia began when I caught Covid in March 2019.

Covid: My wife had it first, then I caught it but it subsided within 4-5 days. I stupidly did 30 mins of boxing training that day in my lounge and that night I woke up with breathing issues. My doctor put me on 2 weeks of antibiotics and this gave me bad oral thrush which I still have mildly a year later! After this I didn't sleep for 5 days, whatever Nytol or meditating I did I could not fall asleep. By day 5 I completely lost my mind and resulted in a massive panic-attack on day 5 as doctors would not prescribe me anything, and no ambulances would pick me up for breathing problems or mental issues.

Insomnia: I slept on day 5 and as I had to work soon after I decided to use a Nytol every night for a month. That month I slept 8 hours every night and felt totally recovered so began to run 3 miles every day. Then one day I stayed awake all night, no anxiety/sweats/physical issues at all. Then 2.5 weeks later same again. Then a week later, then days later. Unfortunately at the same time I was made redundant and by this point my sleeping was almost non-existent. A doctor finally prescribed me Zopiclone, but this did not work and turned my condition into sever depression where I was barely speaking and in constant mental/physical agony.

I changed doctors when I had to move and was prescribed Mirtazapine, after a few days my sleeping got better, I started running and boxing again and then the same pattern happened. 2.5 week of blissful sleep feeling great, followed by a whole night awake. So my dose increased from 15mg, to 30mg, to 45mg. While on the Mirtazapine I did notice heart palpitations at night and the feeling like my heart stopped in a panic occasionally.

My training was very good, I was getting faster/stronger but would it a wall of feeling sluggish which I put down to the Mirtazapine at the time.

It took 3-4 months before I twigged that my 1 hour running/boxing may be causing this insomnia and stopped it dead, and in Jan/Feb 2020 I had mb 2-3 nights of bad insomnia.

The random fortnightly/weekly insomina was still there but I felt better and needed to get back to working so I weaned off of the Mirtazapine over a month, and to my surprise my sleep got increasingly worse, and coming off the meds completely left me with the similar depression symptoms (Nausea, stopped eating, random sweating, panic feeling). Since then I have been on 10mg Amyltryptaline to stop the tension headaches.

I found this thread and decided to do a month of walking 30mins a day, then 60mins a day to raise my activity slowly. By May the insomnia felt manageable so I upped to 1.5 hours walking a day and stopped the Amyltrypaline. Almost instantly my insomnia came back severely and has been worse than ever for a month now, so I am resting for a few weeks and back on the Amyltyptaline.

From the replies in this thread it looks like Mirtazapine is helping a lot. Wish you all the best of luck, it's very hard when no-one understands what you are going through, especially when it's your doctor, so keep updating this thread.

I was searching google yet again for a reason for my terrible insomnia and at last ive found others with the same problem. It just helps to know (as i always did) its not a mental condition as my doctor have said!

i love my training & lifting weights makes me insanely happy but i have had to forfeit my sleep. Im a 51 female & have always loved to train but i honestly have not had a full nights sleep for about 30 years. im luck if i get 3 hours! i dont train every day I eat well I keep hydrated and have a non stressful life. I also only train in the mornings. Ive had every test going & nothing is wrong? I cant imagine a life without training so im just accepting my fate.

To add Ive tried dramatically lowering my weights to experiment & i only train for an hour or so .. its still the same!

I'm experiencing the same thing. This happens every time I start strength training again. I can walk, but within 3-4 weeks of lifting, I wake up 2 hours, then the time awake increases if I keep lifting.

I also was told I have a mild apnea. I wondered if it has to do with the muscles around the neck tightening and making apnea worse. I'm just guessing though. In the past I participated in triathalons and 150 mile bike-a-thons. I hope this isn't a permanent thing...

i had the same problem... i was addicted to nicotine! worked out like an athlete.... had huge trouble sleeping ...took cough syrup to sleep

in 2017 quit nicotine and it was dow hill.. my resting heart beat was around 50's. a single workout gave me inflammation and very bad sleep

i started taking nicotine through patches and its seems it has kickstarted my engine... higher BPM resting though

Hi everyone! I'm in the same boat.

Basically, I've been overtraining for quite a while now. It all started around a couple of years ago or even earlier. I would do lots of outdoor workout sessions, such as different variations of pull-ups, push-ups, Bulgarian split squads, etc, as well as dumbbell and barbell workouts at home. I performed those almost every day, usually before breakfast, for 30-45 minutes, even though my results weren't always noticeable, and my sleep suffered from time to time. Gradually, it became worse, with me waking up every couple of hours unable to go right back to sleep. Also, my heart rate would be elevated for an hour or two after each session, and anxiety and emotional issues also started to manifest themselves. Should I have stopped right then and there? Of course, but I didn't 😉

Fast-forward to the late fall of 2020, and one such workout was particularly "memorable" - I became extremely exhausted, a bit dizzy, and seemed to lose the sense of time. I could not even remember getting home from the park where the workout had taken place 😃) Later that day I felt fine, bit decided to take a break as my WBC count on the full blood panel had been low for a while by that time, with doctors not being able to pinpoint the cause.

My health issues were on the rise, however. Enter insomnia, GI disturbances, and mood swings. I rested for two full months but didn't feel a lot of improvement. Now I tend to think it may be due to the fact I continued to take an hour-long walk every morning instead of a habitual workout, and several shorter walks in the afternoon and evening.

My current situation is as follows: WBC is low from time to time, especially lymphocytes, although not as far below the lower range as it used to be; GI issues persist, my Free T4 and Free T3 are on the low end or slightly below, my total testosterone is in the middle range, my free testosterone is on the low end. Most endocrinologists don't see that as a huge issue, though, and tell me I'm completely fine.

However, I seem to get wired even after mild exertion, such as an hour-and-a-half walk or a ride on the bicycle. A couple of sets of push-ups or pull-ups will bring the symptoms back, I will be irritable, anxious and then insomnia hits with a vengeance.

Do you think I should completely rest for some time, not doing ANY physical activity apart from very short and mild walks? Does it really get better with time? I eat enough calories, don't drink caffeinated beverages, my weight is normal, and I don't have lots of daily stress.

I really look forward to your reply, thanks!