Exercising.. Keeping me wide awake at night.

[Sharmelsheik]

I've been exercising in an attempt to lose weight, I'm on week 4 and currently do 50 minutes of cardio 4 times a week.. Within a week or so my sleep has been shot to pieces. Previously I'd get a good 7 hours, asleep by 11. It's 1.46am and I'm wide awake.. Anyone else ever experienced this??? What can I do??

What time of day are you exercising?

Yes, what time are you exercising? If its at 10pm then that is what's doing it to you. If its at 7am then I'm surprised!

Yesterday I exercised at 1 pm

You need to exercise in a morning then.
The earlier the better.
I’m the same, it’s not unusual.

Just cardio? you could add in some resistance/strength training?

Are you sure it’s the exercise? Exercise should make you sleep better not the opposite unless it’s late at night and you’ve said it’s 1pm I doubt it’s the exercise. What are you eating / drinking in a day is it enough ? .

Have you changed anything else? Your diet perhaps? It’s odd for exercise to have this effect?

I'm the same if I do cardio in the evenings. All that adrenaline release just makes me wired and I can't sleep. It's quite common. If you can, keep the cardio workouts to the mornings and do lower intensity exercise like yoga, pilates etc later in the day.

I too would be very surprised if it’s the exercise if you’re working out at 1pm

Do you have a smart watch? What’s the heart rate data?

If you’re drinking tea or coffee in the afternoon it may be that this is what’s interfering with sleep. If I have a cuppa tea and ANY form of chocolate for example, I’m awake for hours

How old are you? Could it be something that’s unrelated to exercise, like peri-menopause?

I swim, we train at night. If we’re practicing diving, starts or sprinting, I’m wired till 1ish. Slightly less if it’s just a regular session, but then the general muscular fatigue as opposed to the endorphins keep me awake then, and the recovery process overnight means I don’t sleep too well.

Check that you are drinking enough water

@olivermcfuddling

Just cardio? you could add in some resistance/strength training?

That's not going to help the sleep issue.

Yes, exercise certainly impacts negatively in my sleep. In my case, I've always exercised to some level so never knew differently and I used to sleep ok but since the menopause, any firm of stimulation impacts on my sleep quality. Exercising in the morning helps a bit but still will affect my sleep.

It's all down to stimulating our adrenalin release.

No way am I going to stop exercising but I'm trying to slow down a bit, at least for what is 'normal' for my age.