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
beaniebye mekin
Posted
I have been experimenting lately by cutting out all caffeine and drinking only decaf to see if this would help me solve this problem. It hasn't been that hard for me as I have always been a two cup a day/casual caffeine drinker. It was a little harder the first few days, but not brutal. I continued drinking as much Starbucks VIA decaf as I wanted. I recently learned from Starbucks that each packet of decaf VIA contains 25 mg caffeine which is still quite a bit. It was the perfect tool for me to wean myself off of coffee and I will probably continue to enjoy it so I am not completely caffeine free.
It has seemed to cure my exercise induced insomnia, and I have never slept better in my life. The combination of exercise and the removal of almost all caffeine has made all the difference for me, and has improved my sleep quality. Also, I feel better when I am awake.
I think exercise induced insomnia has something to do with cortisol levels. Caffeine and exercise both increase cortisol levels which can effect your sleep. Also, staying hydrated during your workout can help blunt your cortisol response. I have found that exercise alone without caffeine has been the remedy for me.
One last tip. Hot showers after workout are better than cold in helping you to sleep. Cold showers tend to wake you up more.
lucas14544 mekin
Posted
I also tried cutting all caffeine, but no help whatsoever. I still slept poorly.
I do however think it has something to do with with a disturbance in the HPA axis, which seem to interact with exercise and insomnia.
Deep sleep seems to calm the HPA-axis, but over the years i've haven't been sleeping very well. This stimulates the HPA-axis and leads to arousal and sleeplessness (central nervous system hyperarousal).
Working out in this state worsens the symptoms. I guess this is where we get problems, because i can't live without working out, lol.
What i did:
When i had holiday a few days back... I started with calming my HPA-axis. With supplements and medication.
I started with 6mg silenor, 3g glycine and 400mg theanine 2 hours prior to sleep.
Within 1 week i saw a change in my sleep. I log it in a sleep diary.
I went from an average sleep efficiency of 60% to 80-90%. Took me 8 days though!
After that i slept 11 hours for some days... and then it started to normalize to 7-8 hours. And guess what... I can workout again. I started heavy and strenuously workouts and slept like a baby.
Silenor seems to increasy nocturnal melatonin secretion and normalize the overactivated HPA-axis.
Glycine increases deeper sleep and makes it more efficient.
Theanine relaxes the mind and body
Hope this helpes some people over here
slalomdude lucas14544
Posted
philipfuchs lucas14544
Posted
I would be really interested to hear how you treatment is doing?
What are the updates so far?
ganv lucas14544
Posted
With Philipfuchs, I would be interested to hear how your treatment is going. I have been inclined to avoid Silenor, not for good clear reasons, but just because of hearing of bad experiences with tricyclic anti-depressants. But it would be very interesting to hear if at lower dosages maybe it works for exercise induced insomnia over a long term.
My case is pretty much unchanged. A good workout clears my head and I feel great but then I wake up at 4am with my heart racing and by the end of the next day I am exhausted.
philipfuchs mekin
Posted
First off, I am so relieved to have finally found some people who share the same symptoms I am having.
It's insane, I have been to so many doctors and none of them knew what was going on, even worse, like most of you I felt the weirdo, because they looked at me funny.
Long story short and before I recite all the obvious and same symptoms you all have I wanted to add my backstory and other related symptoms I am experiencing.
I am otherwise healthy, 33 years old and used to work out a lot. For the last 2 years I would meditate for approx. 1hr per day. So I feel stress shouldn't really be the most prominent reason, but who knows.
After any exercise at any time during the day I would wake up in the middle of the night:
- When waking up in the middle of the night of anxiety and stress I previously have very intense but fanatic dreams. Those dreams in which you need to do something really urgent/important.
- Once woken up I would feel very very warm but not sweating.
- I could feel anxiousness in my body that, once I meditated on this anxiousness it would release in bursts of hot flashes over my chest and down the spine.
- Those burst of hot stress flashes also come with gas and flatulence - yes that was weird to me, but it seems to also be connected with the intestines (at least for me)
- Interestingly similar feelings of stress and unease happen to accumulate in my body whenever I eat something, especially heavy protein meals. Protein might be a trigger here.
- I also suffer from very painful muscles, even on light intensity workouts. They seem to be on fire at times and I generally need to stretch a lot.
Things that help me deal with this, though I am still working on a proper "cure" :
- Chamomile or Sleep teas that include Chamomile and or Valerian root 1hr before bed time. Sometimes those hot flashes would appear while drinking the hot tea. Hot might also play a role here??
- Stretching, especially back and hips and especially the Psoas seem to make a difference, though on exercise days these tend to tense up again very quickly it seems.
- Eating more carbs and less protein helps me have a better sleep and not get too anxious at night.
- Meditation before bedtime can get rid of most of the hot stress flashes which will decrease the amount of anxiety that can build up at night
- Acupuncture gives me temporarily relieve I feel.The only doctor that seemed to know what was going on with me. He told me that it has something to do with the blood vessels that run from my heart to my liver.
- Tai Chi and Qi Gong have been greatly helpful as well
All of those are merely remedies and dont prevent the stress-buildup in my body, but I don't give up yet.
Im gonna test out supplements that you all recommended and will try to keep my HR under 180-33 years of age = 147BPM and see if that helps.
I think together we can figure this out so let me know what you think. Who needs doctors, am I right?
RohanS philipfuchs
Posted
Hi Philip and welcome.
I agree it is a bit of a relief to know there other people who are having the same problem. I spent a lot of time and money on Doctors but in the end it was the Fatigue Clinic at Royal Free who had answers and helped me the most. So they are good for something if you find the right ones. Never-the-less the therapy is absurdly simple and is very effective so it's matter of knowing what the problem is and just doing the GET.
Interesting what you say about protein and carbohydrates. For me its pretty much the opposite to your experience, but it's paramount to acknowledge everyones physiology and gut biota is different. Also I think you are quite a bit younger and when you are younger I think you do need more carbohydrate especially if you are very active. I don't KNOW that, I am surmising from the fact I now definitely have had to cut down, and others like me have as well at my age...(I'm 48).
It's definitely good to know we are not alone and not crazy.
laura98152 philipfuchs
Posted
Hi Philip,
Many of your symptoms sound very familiar to me. I suffer from exercise-induced insomnia also, awake from very intense dreams which get worse whenever I exercise even mildly, and also get very very hot at night but don't sweat. Have you gotten any more clues about what is causing your symptoms or been able to find any relief? Thank you for any updates you can give.
lucas14544 mekin
Posted
Ok, how is everybody doing? I've been sleeping better and stopped all sleeping medicines after years. But still the exercise induced insomnia occurs. So frustrating. I can only do really light workouts or else i get really sleep deprived.
I'm gonna follow op RohanS advice and completely stop till i feel more rested and try to continue my workouts then.
lucas14544 mekin
Posted
Ok, how is everybody doing? I've been sleeping better and stopped all sleeping medicines after years. But still the exercise induced insomnia occurs. So frustrating. I can only do really light workouts or else i get really sleep deprived.
I'm gonna follow op RohanS advice and completely stop till i feel more rested and try to continue my workouts then.
slalomdude mekin
Posted
Things gone quiet around here lately. Anyone have any updates? Merry Christmas all.
fred73923 mekin
Edited
I've been struggling with insomnia for 5 years and took several sleeping pills every night.
It began with stress in my job and I noticed since then I could not sleep 8 hours after working out, generally waking in the middle of the night.
Like you, I saw several doctors, a sport doctor and several sleep specialists.
They all conclude that my insomnia was due to the stress encountered in my job but could not see any relationship with the sport.
After long reading over the net, I understood that I was suffering from severe over-training.
Until the age of 44, I used to train hard and pushed almost every sets until failure, even with big compound exercises (squat, dead lift), without sleeping issues.
I thing insomnia is the result of the stress of the training (even if this is good stress) added to the stress of my job (bad stress).
I tried to drastically reduce the intensity of my training but even low intensity sessions induced insomnia, sometimes, even walking for 1 hour.
I stopped training for 2 months but insomnia started again after I had returned to the gym.
I red than over-training could take months or YEARS !!! to cure ... s**t.
I tried magnesium, Valerian but it doesn't help.
Meditation helped improved my sleep without totally solving the insomnia.
That really sucks because I like to train.
I will try to reduce the training to 30 mn max, 3 X per week and stop the sets 2-3 reps before failure and see if it's OK. Good luck.
I
RohanS fred73923
Posted
Hi Fred,
As someone who has suffered Overtraining syndrome I sympathise with your frustration. I still have problems with sleep being disturbed by exercise, but I am fairly confident I know how to beat it - to an extent.
The main issue is that when you become overtrained, your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems get out of whack. What happens is you aren't getting the signals from your parasympathetic NS to lower your state of arousal from your sympathetic NS. So the solution is when you train, to not let your heart rate go above 180 minus your age. It's actually really hard.
If you are weight training, it should be relatively easier to accomplish - but I quite like cardio type sports so I find it harder.
Also stimulation is cumulative, if you have stress and then exercise it can exacerbate things. Your system doesn't distinguish between the "good" stress of exercise and the "bad" stress of work or other things in your life. Stress is stress, and in small amounts is good for us; it forces us to adapt. But our ability to "adapt" is limited and becomes more and more limited as we get older. Stopping any sort of stress (such as exercise) only speeds up the process of not being able to "adapt" though, it just means once you get to our age you have to change things up a bit.
It's dead frustrating though. It's not just my ability to recover and tolerate strenuous exercise that has taken a hit, but bits of me are breaking down. I hate the feeling of having to be measured - it's not really my mindset. I'm a bit "go hard or go home" and this is not working for me anymore. So all the best of luck to you. Sorry its taken so long to reply.
fred73923 RohanS
Posted
Hi Rohan,
thanks for your reply.
It is very hard to train with a HR below 130.
For example this morning, I made a set of 6 reps of squat with 50 Kg and my HR went close to 120 !
One year ago, I was able to squat with 160 Kg ! 50 Kg is 1/3 of my RM.
That's very frustrating and I think it's not worth training with such a tiny weight.
I often get above 10 at the ruffier-dikson test with reflect the ability of your body to recover from training, This is a bad result, it should be < 5.
Are there some pills are treatment to help the CNS to recover ?
Leona711 fred73923
Posted
When i first started lifting heavier weights 6 months ago, I didn't have a problem with sleep, but then we I upped the weights and frequency I had a problem with sleep that lasted several weeks after I stopped working out . I think my issue was elevated cortisol . I took, and still take after a heavier than usual workout, phosphatidylserine (aka phosphatidylcholine) and it seems to help. My insomnia is less the first night and resolves by the second night.
lucas14544 fred73923
Posted
I'm currently using sleep medications to aid my sleep. I've always been a bad sleeper and prone to over training.
What seems to work for me (i workout everyday again)...
Good sleep hygiene (wake up everyday, no screens at night, yada yada yada).
A little exercise everyday
0.3mg melatonin 2-3 hours before sleep with 6mg silenor.
Most of the time i sleep like a baby, even after working out. It seems that too much stress (physical + mental) seems to have induce this exercise induced insomnia. The best thing is to try to rest as much as possible and not force training when you're tired. Skip a day 😃
laura98152 fred73923
Posted
Hi Fred,
I'm wondering if you have ever found relief from your exercise-induced insomnia. I suffer from the same problem and am at a total loss. I am hopeful that someone on this forum has found some answers. It has gotten progressively worse for me and is taking a huge toll on my life. Any updates you can give me are appreciated.
laura98152 Leona711
Posted
Hi Leona,
This is the first I have ever heard of phosphatidylserine. I am wondering if you have ever found any further relief from your insomnia? Has the phosphatidylserine continued to work for you? I suffer from the same problem and am at a total loss. Thank you for any updates you can give.