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Can't sleep after a run
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I have tried many different remedies-with varying success- but I always sprinkle lavender oil on my pillow or burn it (if you can cope with the weird old lady type smell).
I also occasionally take herbal sleeping tablets which sometimes work-valerina as suggested by cinders is ok although they stink! Another good tip is ear plugs and a sleep mask.
If like me it's because you're thinking about too much stuff try writing it all down-it sometimes helps with accepting that there is nothing you can do about any of it then and there.
I agree with Yanner about the not eating to much too-if you're really hungry before bed a bannana is supposed to be best as it has sleep inducing chemical which I can't for the life of me remember the name of!
You have to eat after exercise, or your muscle will not build and your recovery will be longer. However if you do your digestion systems will warm you up and keep you awake. Normal society doesn't like irregular eating times.
I suggest you eat a good healthy lunch at 12pm lots of fruit and liquid. then at about 4pm have some carbohydrates. Brown bread sandwich or pasta salad. Go out and run hard, sort you kit out for the next day, make lunch, chat to your mates or do a crossword. If your a workaholic like me check your e-mails, do some research. Just something to engage brain. Quell those endorphins. DONT EAT, but do drink a non sugar drink. Herbal or Earl grey is my fave bedtime drink.
Bed before 12.
Have a good breakfast to feed muscle. fruit, muesli yoghurt, honey all mixed up in a big bowl. Maybe a grapefruit and poached eggs. Yum Yum.
posting at 4.20am says it all. i'm an early bird but that means i'm done for by 8pm.
i suffer too. after hard long race i just feel restless. and the night before like a lot of people.
so long as i rest it doesn't seem to affect my performance only how grumpy i can get later on in the day
My advice is to try a few of the suggestions given - especially about eating before a run and cooling down afterwards - for a few weeks. If these don't work then you'll have to make the choice of accepting less sleep or less running.
Both could have the same effect on your overall performance.
Good Luck.
I think I notice sleeping is hard when a run has been long enough to notice cardiac drift while running. The evening I will feel really tired, expect to sleep well, perhaps even fall asleep for an hour or so but wake up, not exactly hurting but unable to settle or even lie still.
Milk and paracetamol with codeine usually does the trick. Paracetamol is easier on the tum than ibuprofen, for example. For muscles that go solid or painful overnight, the rheumatology consultant suggested low dose of amitriptylene. It seems to work.
I think if you are even just a little bit uncomfortable sleep is not easy.
Don't know whether any of this will help you all.
- avoid all sources of caffeine from the moment you wake up - that means no coffee obviously, no tea (including green tea and early grey) except if it's naturally caffeine free like Redbush or a herb or fruit tea. Note even "decaffinated" coffee and tea have caffeine in them so that's a no. No to chocolate too.
- avoid all alcohol. Although alcohol may seem to relax you and knock you out for sleep - it does have well documented disruptive events on sleep patterns.
The above may seem drastic but they're certainly what I need to do to get a good night's kip.
Other advice already mentioned in the thread is to keep your room temperature cool and in the 2 hours before bed avoid too much mental stimulation. Read a book, watch TV or listen to some relaxing music.
Good luck!
When I played rugby, I trained 3 nights a week and slept well. Once I was forced to give that up and became a 17 stone 'athlete', I found that plodding around after 7pm killed my sleep patterns, I either could not get to sleep or woke and could not get back to sleep.
Fed up studying running mags in the middle of the night, I studied law at the OU. In year 4 you study something that was so boring I cannot remember what it was (oh yes trust law). Half an hour of that and I slept like a log. Temporarily cured with an honours degree.
Tried running at night just before the GNR and couldn't sleep after. If insomnia returns I will need another course.
Bring on the PhD and sleep, is all I can say!
;o)
As for Nocte(i'm sponsered by SIS so get it cheap and have used it quite a bit)I'd say it does work, certainly helps sleep and it feels like it helps recovery but it tastes foul. I used to gag trying to get it down(go for vanilla, chocolate even more disgusting)but I have sort of just about got used to it now.
With me its a result of getting my heart rate too high so suggest you have a go at running slower and keeping you heart rate down and see if this helps.
Would also agree with eveyone who has said eat light if you're eating after you run.
The only way I have found to help this is by making sure I have cooled down properly before going to bed whether that is a cool shower/bath - also good for sore/inflamed muscles, better than taking ibuprofen all the time - or just staying up for a bit longer.
have a light meal after the run, some cereal for example, you get the carbs and protein to help recovery.
The only time I struggled to get to sleep was the night after a recent marathon when I was in a YHA and the bed had one of those horrible plastic lining sheets....i was too hot!
As with many others I have found reading relaxes me, rather than telly. Also I quite like to have a glass of warm milk before going to bed.
One thing that can affect how I sleep is if I am in a warm room. I like to have the window wide open even in winter so that the room is cool - or even cold
http://www.sleepcouncil.com/news.cfm?category_id=32&id=52
.........surely this should be available from 1am-3am or something?!!!!
Yawn.....
Ah..maybe I'm not running hard enough
I've got better at just lying there thinking about what my mum always used to say "It doesn't matter if you're not asleep, just lying down relaxing gets you most of the rest you need"! I can survive the next day on 5-6 hour sleep plus a couple of strong coffees and generally go to bed earlier the next night.
BOING....TWITCH
I have tried copious amounts of alcohol to avoiding caffeine and alcohol, but still I get the twitchy leaps
2. Good book.
3. Bedroom window open.
4. Ovaltine.
5. Someone special to tuck you in.
1-4 Reccomended.
No.5 essential.
Not tried it myself
Magnesium, in doses of approximately 250 milligrams, can help induce sleep. Magnesium deficiency is responsible for nervousness that prevents sleep. Magnesium-rich foods include kelp, wheat bran, almonds, cashews, blackstrap molasses, and brewer's yeast.