Unusual exercise-induced insomnia
Posted , 126 users are following.
TL;DR: I have exercise-induced insomnia for which no one has been able to explain or provide a solution.
I used to exercise regularly. I would wake up every weekday at 6am, bike to the gym, and exercise for about an hour before work. I would usually jog or do some other cardio for 20-30 minutes, then do weight training for the rest of the hour. I had help from a personal trainer, so I knew what I was doing.
I felt great, and I was in the best shape of my life. I kept this up for about 3 years, before something strange happened: I would wake up around 2 or 3am, unable to fall back asleep. I was 33 at the time, and I know sleep patterns can begin to change around this age.
At first, I noticed that I slept much deeper on days I didn't exercise (e.g. weekends). Then I began waking up in the middle of the night, but would usually go right back to sleep. It got worse. Eventually, I would wake about 4 hours after falling asleep with a feeling like an intense adrenaline rush or panic. It would last about an hour, and I would have poor, restless sleep the rest of the night.
I did not have trouble falling asleep. I was in bed at 9:30pm every night, then would read a bit with lights out by 10pm. I would fall asleep within 10 minutes.
When this started happening, I adjusted my routine. I worked out during lunch, or in the evening. No change.
I tried doing more or less cardio vs weight training. No change.
Today, if I exercise at any point during the day, I will only get four hours of good quality sleep.
I've been to several doctors, sleep specialists, and neurologists. I've had multiple take home sleep studies, as well as one on-site at a medical institution. The only thing they've been able to confirm is that I do indeed wake after 4 hours if I have exercised, but no one can tell me why. Many doctors don't even believe my story -- they think it must be psychological stress that I insist on tying to a physical cause.
I have found that walking, low-intensity biking, and hiking are all acceptable forms of exercise that do not trigger my insomnia. I can hike 10 miles and be fine. But if the hike is over very steep terrain, or if I were to jog for 10 minutes, then I have insomnia. So the intensity is definitely a factor.
The sleep studies did reveal that I have very mild sleep apnea. My doctors have told me that normally it would not warrant treatment, but it could be related. However, the usual recommendation for such a mild form is simlply "get more exercise".
My current pet theory is this: following a day of excerise, one's muscles will repair themselves during sleep, usually around 3 or 4 hours into the night. This process requires oxygen from the blood, so if my sleep apnea lowers my blood oxygen levels, then the repair process might cause it to dip below some threshold; my body panics, sending adrenaline through my body to wake me up to address whatever is happening. However, my sleep studies showed my blood oxygenation stayed over 90% the entire night.
I'm currently trying out a CPAP treatment. I'm still adjusting to it, but so far it hasn't made any difference. There's no real reason to think that it will, but I'm willing to try anything at this point.
When I tell this story, most doctors look at me like I have three heads, so I thought I would seek the collective wisdom of the Internet.
Cheers!
13 likes, 351 replies
teppo39137 mekin
Posted
Hi Mekin, and others,
Interesting to read about your experience and symptoms. I hope you are figuring it out and making it work, whatever it means.
I found this thread by googling "can exercise affect sleep". Below the usual don't exercise too late articles was this goldmine. I've had problems with sleep for years now, but not until recently have I made, or suspected, a connection with exercise. I always had other excuses.
I'm interested in hearing, from anybody, about how you have learned to manage to keep exercising. I can see from all the posts that everybody figures out something that works. Similar solutions, but individual too.
Have anyone tried HIIT training with really good recovery periods? I remember reading that cortisol response of such HIIT session is very different from say similar (time x effort) low intensity training.
My second question is about Heart Rate Variability HRV. Has anyone tried to manage to stay on a right training path using HRV monitoring? I have tried HRV last year simply out of interest, and I remember noticing how my HRV was low every time that I had problems sleeping through the nights. However, I did not pay enough attention to use the method as a predictive tool.
I think I will try both now that you have made me realize I'm not wrong with my suspicion. I'm sure I can manage this better than I have. For me, training hard, every now and then, has been a way to keep my head straight. It has been my preventive medicine for stress, but as someone here pointed out, nothing beats good sleep, so I must figure this out with the right balance.
drive22470 mekin
Edited
Same frustrations with sleep for me, sorry to hear you guys are still going through this. Absolutely sucks and seems a bit unfair - all I want to do is exercise and recover and be healthy, and this makes it fairly difficult.
Has anyone used marijuana for this issue? I don't like smoking as I am pretty health conscious but have found it to be one of the only things that works consistently.
Opportunities for medical marijuana on the NHS are increasing so it might be worth looking into.
lucas14544 mekin
Edited
After a lot of private messages, I want to say that I finally found the clue for my exercise induced insomnia... I hope i can help other people here:
Currently, I've been weightlifting almost every day without insomnia! At least not as it used to be... I still have some nights where I might sleep a little less or even bad. But it only occurs on training days which are really straining the nervous system (read squats and deadlifting).
I noticed there were problems with my cholinergic system (due to symptoms) like exercise intolerance, dry eyes, muscle fatigue, etc. So I tried several cholinergic supplements, without success. I think I have some kind autoantibodies against the M1 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor.... (not tested though).
The only thing that did work is are acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (which crosses the blood-brain barrier), which inhibit the reuptake of acetylcholine. Since acetylcholine play such a big role in the nervous system, brain, etc
My current regimen consists of mirtazapine (7.5mg) daily before bed and huperzine a (200mg) every other day. When i started the huperzine a i noticed a decrease in a lot of symptoms as described before!
road01001 lucas14544
Posted
Very interesting. I have been speculating that it might have something to do with acetylcholine.
I have been eating 6 eggs daily for the past month and haven't noticed any improvement, but maybe huperzine will work. Might be wort trying alpha gpc as well.
What brand of huperzine a are you using?
road01001 lucas14544
Posted
Also how long have you been taking mirtazapine?
james36561 lucas14544
Posted
Thanks Lucus for sharing - and congratulations for finding a solution that works for you.
With respect to the mirtazapine, I discontinued after 4-5 days as the relief I enjoyed on days 1 and 2 were not found on the other days - I suspect my body builds a rapid tolerance. I'm curious as to why it seems to work long term for others...
One query: do you think your issues would be solved by the huperzine alone or is it the combination of mirtz and huperzine which operates synergistically?
Has anyone else had success with this combination? I've ordered some huperzine so will test this out next week.
james36561
Edited
Lucas, looking into your theory, I read a medical journey that observed that during exercise, levels of acetylcholine drop*. This is quite interesting - could it be that we have low levels of acetylcholine or that we don't replenish it adequately, so we need to preserve what we have (by not exercising etc) so as to avoid crashes.
Really keen for my bottle of huperzine to arrive to test this out!
*Exercise and neuromodulators: choline and acetylcholine in marathon runners.Int. J. Sports Med. 13(Suppl. 1):S141-142, 1992
lucas14544 road01001
Posted
I've been taking it for a couple years now... Somehow it only works if I take it earlier in the evening. Around 20:00 or 20:30. If I take it later it doesn't work. Took me a while to figure that out...
I'm trying to use lower dose, but these doesn't seem to help as much...
lucas14544 james36561
Posted
I guess it doesn't really matter which brand as long as it's good quality regarding huperzine. I'm using 250mg (I just checked).
I'm sure of it it has something to do with the acetylcholine pathways and the vagus nerve get over excited.
I've not had any headache, insomnia or dizziness ever since I started using the huperzine-a. When I ran out my symptoms manifested again within a week or two.
The mirtazapine is mostly for sleep support. I've been a bad sleeper for most of my life. Exercise exacerbate this tenfold. Mirtazapine is the only drug that fixed my sleep without reducing true rem sleep.
road01001 lucas14544
Posted
If you could post the brand that would be really helpful, because at least we know that your brand is legit so we could possiby order it as well. Thanks.
road01001 james36561
Edited
What's up. Did the huperzine A do anything for you?
Also I have a request for you if you don't mind. Could you post the various lab test that you have done over the years dealing with this problem? You could link them via imgur or something like that. Sex hormones, blood panels, thyroid panel. etc. Anything you have. Would appreciate it a lot!
This thread is completely dead again...
james36561 road01001
Posted
Hi - I've been using Huperzine A for a little while now and do feel that it has made an inprovement to my condition, but I'm not yet in a position to quantify the scope of that improvement. I still have significant sleep difficulties so do not believe that the supplement is the panacea I was hoping it would be. I note that @lucas14544 combines Huperzine with Mirtazapine to achieve the beneficial effects he has enjoyed whereas I'm not taking an additional drug for sleep. I've tried Mirtazapine before but didn't find it effective after a few days of usage.
I'm going to persist with the Huperzine (along with the vit D that I already take) and continue to look for other supplements/options to address this condition.
susie70572 mekin
Edited
I found your post very interesting. I work as a dance teacher and , although I am semi retired, I still take classes twice per week. Most dance classes are in the evening so maybe this is what has affected me for so many years. My sleep just seems forever "ragged". the last time I slept through the night was on a weekend in Paris 3 years ago! Apart from that one night, I wake up constantly during the night. I occasionally fall asleep as soon as I turn out the light but this is rare. . Once awake again, typically between 1.30 and 3.30am. i find it very difficult to resume sleeping. My alarm goes off around 8am and I usually feel dreadful! I have tried a long list of things, mainly advice given from a Natural Medicine Centre:- herbal teas, herbal tinctures, infuser lamps, "calming down hour" before bedtime, cutting out "black" tea, not eating 4 hours before bed, taking a 15 minute walk each day, the list is endless......... occasionally something works, most of the time it does not. Magnesium Glycenate has helped me a little but, again, not all the time, I have almost given up now!! The exercise thing is interesting though.
road01001 mekin
Edited
Do you guys experience myoclonus/hypnic jerks as well? Especially on days you exercise? Muscle twitches during the day and/or jerks waking you up as you fall asleep?
MsAJL mekin
Edited
I have been suffering from this for 6 years now and no doctor or specialist has done a thing for me. Finally, after being misdiagnosed several times, I put all the pieces together and determined this is caused by glutamate imbalance in the brain. I have been supplementing with 2g L-Glutamine a day for 3 weeks now and my symptoms have dramatically improved. I still have triggers for the insomnia, brain fog and anxiety, but exercise is no longer one of them. Hope this helps.
james36561 MsAJL
Posted
Thanks for reporting your experiences. I have not investigated L-Gluatmine but sounds like it holds some promise. Would love to hear from others if they've had success with this sup.
bradley99834 MsAJL
Posted
How did you determine this was the issue/solution? Would be interested to read about it if you came across anything useful. I'm hesitant to start taking it for fear of it making the issue worse, so hoping to do a little research first to better understand it.
james36561
Posted
I discontinued Huperzine A after a month of use as I didn't find it all that useful for me. Giving L-Glutamine a go - it has gut healing properties so even if it doesn't directly improve insomnia I think I'll benefit from it nonetheless.
Has anyone else had any success they could share? There doesn't appear to be many people contributing to this thread anymore...