Why Can’t I Sleep After a Hard Workout or Race?

Here’s a scenario a ton of athletes experience, but few talk about: The night after finishing a big endurance competition or a long and strenuous workout, you lie awake in bed or toss and turn despite being thoroughly exhausted. Your sleeplessness may be compounded by feeling like you are radiating heat or you can feel/hear your heartbeat.

And even if you are able to get to sleep initially, you struggle to stay asleep and fail to have a restful night. What gives?  How can an exhausting event leave you sleepless?

Important Factors That Affect Your Sleep After Exercise

There isn’t one simple cause for post-exercise insomnia, but there are definitely factors that contribute to your poor sleep:

Hormones

Exercise ramps up your heart rate, core temperature, and sweat rate. It also has an excitatory effect on your nervous and endocrine systems. The more strenuous the exercise and the longer the workout or competition, the longer you have been in this excited or aroused state.

Two of the hormones that appear to play a significant role in post-workout sleep disturbances are norepinephrine and cortisol.

Cortisol

Cortisol is released in response to stress, which means elevated cortisol levels are a natural consequence of exercise. This increase isn’t all bad; it contributes to the training stimulus that drives positive adaptation. However, when an athlete’s training workload is too high and someone is struggling to recover from workouts, chronically elevated cortisol levels are likely part of the problem.

On a day-to-day basis, your cortisol levels fluctuate naturally on a cycle that peaks about 30-minutes after you wake up and slowly declines throughout the day. As a result, you are normally at the lower portion of the cycle when you go to sleep at night.

A day-long endurance competition like the Leadville 100, Dirty Kanza 200, or an Ironman pushes cortisol levels up and out of sync with the normal daily cycle for cortisol, which can contribute to sleeplessness.

What about shorter workouts or events? A shorter event closer to your bedtime can have a similar effect to a longer event that ends further before bedtime. What matters are the magnitude of the exertion and the time between the finish and bedtime.

The good news for athletes who train in the afternoon or evening is that you can habituate to a routine and essentially train yourself to get to sleep after a workout. Post-exercise insomnia is more common when the magnitude of the exertion is greater than normal for you, or the workout/competition is later in the day than you are used to.

Norepinephrine and Adrenaline

Exercise and competition are exciting, and as a result, you release more adrenaline and norepinephrine. Adrenaline levels fall quickly after exercise, but according to a 2011 study by Shahsavar norepinephrine levels may stay elevated for up to 48 hours after exhaustive exercise.

This may help explain why some athletes can train in the evening and normally sleep fine, but struggle after exceptionally difficult training sessions and/or very long competitions.

Stimulants

Many athletes consume foods or drinks that contain caffeine before or during workouts and competitions. Caffeine is a stimulant you can habituate to quite readily, meaning that some people can drink coffee late in the day and fall asleep just fine. However, if you are a person who struggles to sleep following a late afternoon/evening workout or after long endurance events, take a look at how much caffeine you are consuming and when you are consuming it.


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In the case of long events, you may realize that you are ingesting a whole lot more caffeine than you normally would over the course of 10+ hours. If that’s a problem, reserve the caffeinated sports nutrition products for when you will benefit most from increased focus and alertness.

Dehydration and Core Temperature

There isn’t too much you can do to change your hormonal response to exercise (although, being more fit and less stressed out will help), but you can absolutely influence your hydration status and its impact on your core temperature. Your body temperature dips slightly during restful sleep and starts to increase again as you awaken.

People also sleep better in cooler environments compared to hot ones. When your body temperature remains elevated you are very likely to have trouble sleeping. Exercise elevates body temperature, and cooling the body becomes increasingly difficult when you are inadequately hydrated. Some level of dehydration is highly likely following long endurance events lasting more than 4-5 hours. It is essentially inevitable after ultraendurance events like Western States, Unbound Gravel, or an Ironman.

Dehydration also leads to an elevated heart rate, even hours after your workout or race. When these factors combine, athletes report feeling like they are radiating heat while lying in bed listening to their heart rate in their ears.

Here’s How You Can Get More and Better Sleep

If you have suffered through a night of bad sleep or a night of tossing and turning after an already-exhausting endurance event, here are some recommendations for getting more and better sleep next time:

  1. Maximize your fitness: As with many aspects of performance, fitness solves most problems. The more fit you are, the better you will cope with the acute stress from a workout or event. Essentially, your fitness gives you greater ability to absorb the stress before it impacts your sleep.
  2. Minimize lifestyle stress: “Let it go, let it go…” Seriously, the stress you’re carrying from your job or your busted car or your visiting in-laws just pours more cortisol on the fire and heightens the sensitivity to excitatory hormones like epinephrine (until a chronic overload of these hormones subsequently reduces your sensitivity to them).
  3. Ease up on the stimulants: Remember, caffeine doesn’t actually give you any additional energy. It primarily helps with focus and awareness, and in that regard consuming more doesn’t necessarily lead to greater benefit. In long events, caffeinated products are not likely to help you all day. A better strategy for endurance events is to consume caffeine before a portion of the race where you actually need it. Read more on caffeine for endurance athletes.
  4. Proactively cool down: Many athletes have gotten the message about post-workout or post-event rehydration and fuel replenishment. But proactively bringing your body temperature down is also important. Effective methods include wrapping yourself in wet towels, dousing clothing with cold water, ice packs, cool water immersion (not necessarily ice baths), cool showers, and hanging out in an air-conditioned environment.
  5. Cool your sleeping environment: Both core and skin temperatures decline when you fall asleep, and a cool sleeping environment helps create a temperature gradient that facilitates this process. Everyone is a bit different, but optimal room temperatures for promoting restful sleep are typically in the 60-70 degree Fahrenheit range.

Chris Carmichael
CEO/Head Coach of CTS


Shahsavar, Ali Reza, and Mohammad Javad Pourvaghar. “Follow-Up Alterations of Catecholamine Hormones after an Intensive Physical Activity.” Biosci., Biotechnol. Res. Asia Biosciences Biotechnology Research Asia 8.2 (2011): 591-95. Web.

 


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Comments 79

  1. I am 69 this year and curl 3x per week, 2 hours each time. Proper sweeping in the game is an incredible cardio and physical workout. Typically I cover 5km during each game. Just this year I have noticed I have trouble falling asleep and or staying asleep even when my game ends at 6:15 pm. I am definitely tired but amped up. Caffein or alcohol, absolutely none after the game. Based upon what i have read, i think I’ll have to cool down my bedroom, drink a lot more water, maybe with electrolytes and perhaps some of the other tips mentioned. I hope it helps cuz it is so frustrating to just lay there. I thought i was the only one. It’s comforting to some extent to know that I am not. Thanks for sharing tips and tricks.

  2. Having just completed reading the article and comments, I’ve struggled with insomnia for years despite my consistent gym routine. I’ve vaguely noticed a correlation – whenever I travel or skip exercise for a couple of days, my sleep improves. It never occurred to me that my intense workouts might be causing my sleeplessness until I stumbled upon this article today. I’m relieved to find others facing exercise-induced insomnia. Now, I’m contemplating whether sacrificing a good night’s sleep or maintaining good health through regular exercise is more valuable. Finding a delicate balance seems to be the key, and I’m grateful for the enlightenment from everyone sharing their experiences here tonight.

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  5. I am glad you mentioned the effects of cortisol when working out. I need to get a dance instructor. That way I can exercise in a fun way.

  6. Strange article, weird how it keeps mentioning specific endurance races every time “like the Leadville 100, Dirty Kanza 200, or an Ironman”.

    Just seems really odd and forced.

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  10. Aun cuando nuestra rutina es muy agitada, no podemos olvidar que el descanso es fundamental para mejorar nuestra calidad de vida y mantenernos activos. Cuando dormimos, el estado de relajo físico y mental que alcanzamos nos permite recobrar energía y enfrentar de óptima forma una nueva jornada. No dormir lo suficiente o dormir mal, puede afectar de diversas maneras tanto nuestra salud física como mental.

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  12. I am 49 and if I over do it on road bicycle with sprints, hill climbs and high intensity workouts, I get the elevated heart rate and heat feeling around chest and back that keeps me up. Takes a good 18 hrs from workout to return to normal….So solution was to reduce intensity…. Getting older makes recovery take longer. Worrying about it can cause anxiety which may make it seem worse. Feel great next day….

    1. Thanks to all for your stories and experiences, I had NO idea that as I aged exercise would become yet another one of my sleep enemies at the age of 57. As if hormones, menopause, stress from work, etc, weren’t enough! The notion of reducing intensity of work outs never occurred to me as I have already given up running in favour of hiking, kayaking and now gym work outs that include floor work, free weights and the stationary bike which I THOUGHT would be the ticket to reducing high impact and therefore pain at night. Not so. It has been a conundrum for sure and I don’t want to stop exercising as it is the very thing that is supposed to IMPROVE health. At least now I know it’s a real ‘thing’ and that I need to tinker with my routine to find that ever elusive balance. Thanks everyone for your input and insights!

      1. So glad to read this and not be alone. My cortisol levels broke some 10 years back due to work and stress. I have had insomnia now since 30 y.o. Feels like my life is ruined and that noose tightening around my neck. Exercise does not improve sleep as everyone recommends. Yoga and mindfullness is more promising. But here I am 10 years later -> no change! SSDD

    2. Thanks to all for your stories and experiences, I had NO idea that as I aged exercise would become yet another one of my sleep enemies at the age of 57. As if hormones, menopause, stress from work, etc, weren’t enough! The notion of reducing intensity of work outs never occurred to me as I have already given up running in favour of hiking, kayaking and now gym work outs that include floor work, free weights and the stationary bike which I THOUGHT would be the ticket to reducing high impact and therefore pain at night. Not so. It has been a conundrum for sure and I don’t want to stop exercising as it is the very thing that is supposed to IMPROVE health. At least now I know it’s a real ‘thing’ and that I need to tinker with my routine to find that ever elusive balance. Thanks everyone for your input and insights!

    3. Acontece-me precisamente o mesmo, th tenho 49 anos e quando treino com demasiada intensidade fico com o sistema nervoso ativado por muitas horas, com muita ansiedade e um sono ruim, só ao fim de 02 ou 3 dias me sinto melhor novamente…

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  15. This is very innovative and informative also useful Article. Very good article on latest trending topics. This is one of the most incredible blogs I’ve read in a very long time.

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  16. I’ve struggled with this and I’ve been in a progressive decline for the last 20 years. I was into lots of intense aerobic exercise and weights until my body started to rebel. Now that I’m 58 I’ve literally had to give up back to back exercise days. Don’t get me wrong, I can do the exercise. My exercise induced fatigue was caused by sleeplessness! I’m strong and can do the aerobic activity but man do I pay for it when I try to sleep.

    I’ve found if I do squats I need to put 6 minutes between sets, so I don’t put stress on already stressed muscles. Even then I need 3 days off because of the insomnia. A sleep app showed me that even with Ambien I was not getting much restorative sleep. Something I already knew based on what I felt like and looked like facially in the mirror. If I continued stressfully exercise, even using Ambien my bowel movements eventually become scarce and what stool I could pass was progressively unformed, like as though my digestion started to get impeded as well.

    NOW, I’m trying to not sound like I’m selling something and I’m also not trying to jinx myself before I’m sure this problem is over with. I’d like someone else to try what I’ve done to see if it ameliorates your symptoms like it has mine. I started taking a glutathione slow release (Thorne Glutathione SR) pill 3 times a day for a couple weeks now. I’ve read that vitamin-C helps in the absorption so I take 1000mg of ester-C with each pill. I’ve had heavy aerobic activity 3 days in a row and my sleep app says I’ve had progressively BETTER sleep quality for the last 2 weeks with last night being the best. No Ambien and quality sleep for 8 hours last night and no digestion issues this morning! Holy shit! Exercise makes me TIRED again!

    If you are suffering with this problem as long as I have you already know it is crazy to hope that a simple supplement fixes it overnight. I’m kinda raging at my retired sports medicine guy for not suggesting glutathione this 20 years ago. I’ve ordered a cheaper glutathione SR (reduced they call it) to see if I maintain the results. Good luck if you try it!

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  18. I hardly sleep for five hours during the night. This problem is since two years running, if i do a hard work or not. I need a solution. I showed doctor but they advice me sleeping tablets. I didn’t like to take tablets. I need natural sleep at seven hours of sleep.

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  20. Thanks again Chris, seems your subject is a very popular one, with many having sleep issues.
    Besides all the good advise already given, I highly recommend folks do they’re best to sleep grounded. Many pro athletes, (including TDF riders), do this, as it helps regulate cortisol, reduces inflammation, & helps regulate our electrical energy fields. There are numerous double-blind, placebo studies showing it’s effectiveness, (many available on earthling,com). At the very least, you can put your feet on the ground, (wet grass is a great conductor), before you go to be , (20 min. is best). It may sound woowoo, but we Are electrical beings to a great extent.

    And, turn Off all devices, (at very least place on airplane), especially wifi routers, (and sleep as far from a smart electrial meter as possible). Keep room as dark as possible, and remember, the sleep we get before midnight is very important. Cheers

    1. Awesome addition to the great advice contained in this article. I’ve had this issue for over 40 years of hard workouts….it would be nice to finally get some decent shut eye after a hard push. Heat and humidity are my typical enemies.
      Thanks…

  21. I found this site, because i have moderate Cfs since 8 years. Not getting deep sleep makes the problem worse. I noticed that stimulating my metabolism and immune system prevent me from getting enough deep sleep. Exercise, Heat or immune stimulants like Oregano, licorice or ginge. Multivitamins too. What helped me was remediating our house from mold and taking 5htp for Serotonin and Melatonin and L-Theanine for GABA. Still have to go slow on exercising. Sorry if my english is bad.

  22. I’ve always received a blank look from fellow cyclists regarding my inability to sleep after a 2 hour intense MTB ride where I’m doing large parts above FTP. For me I think it’s a fine line regarding intensity and how much training I’ve done at that intensity in that season.

    I’m 48 and I’ve definitely noticed that going too hard affects my sleep much more than when I was 30.

  23. It was so helpful to find this article and see the replies of other people suffering from this problem. No one else I know had suffered from this and there is a comfort knowing I’m not alone! I’m in my 40’s now and have trained at the gym regularly for the past 12 years or so. The last couple of years I’ve experienced problems in staying asleep. I would fall asleep fine at around 10ish but the wake up about 3:00am feeling wired and absolutely could not go back to sleep. It was absolutely killing me. My diet was healthy and with all that exercise I thought I was doing everything right and I didn’t know what the problem was. I fell ill through something unrelated and had to take 6 weeks off training and my sleep returned to normal almost immediately! It was great to get proper sleep again (7-8hrs a night) but I didn’t want to sacrifice my exercise which helps me in so many ways. I’ve now adapted my training whereby I only lift weights in a circuit session at the gym once a week and I now incorporate other forms of less intensive exercise in such as swimming and cycling. Generally speaking it all works fine and things are much better but I still get a funny night here or there sometimes. I think this whole problem gets exacerbated for some people by high intensity training and older age and you just have to play around and adapt to find what works. Sorry for the essay but I hope whoever reads this finds a way to balance their exercise and get something approaching normal sleep again.

    1. This article and your comments, Ben, are so helpful to me. I appreciate your insights. My situation is different in that I’m a senior and have had disrupted sleep on days that I work out (morning classes) for over a year. It’s awful. I suspected hormone imbalance but never found support for that until now. At least I now know what’s happening. No doctor had any idea why this was going on, nor did my instructors. I’ll try less strenuous workouts and hydrate more. Hopefully, that will work.
      Thanks!

    2. I Read it ! This lack of sleep is killing me ! I even went to see a doctor ?my normal Heart rate resting is around 87…. My new norm is now 95 ? I can hear and feel my heart at night ! 7 a.m. comes so quickly ! Next day how can I train with 1 hour of maybe sleep ? Scared to do squats ! Thinking I might die ! 😂😂 I’ve just turned 40 recently and with the world on fire and Covid ! I wanted to get back into it ! I’ve been training hard real real hard for about a month ! Then all of a sudden I cannot sleep for the life of me…. After reading this I’m going to take the day off…. Sleep wake up at 8 instead of noon eat and train not less but smarter…. Give my self a full day of healing before bed ! I’ve been taking zzzzquil no affect ! Melatonin! Won’t even touch me ! Nothing works…. I’m hoping this is the way ! It’s hard to admit that .y body is changing…. I went from a 12 min 2 Mile at 19 …. To 40 over weight …. I just want to be Healthy ! Thanks again!

    3. Thanks for your comments.
      I started pilates this week after not doing much exercise for many years, my body is all achy and can only toss and turn the night after my workout. My class is in the morning , and by the evening I´m still energised and sore and won´t go to sleep, I also think it is about older age and too intense of a work out. Still trying to manage it. I´m glad I´m not alone in this. Hope you do better. Cheers.

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  25. I can not sleep after a run of between 7-10 miles and when I am exhausted, it is a nightmare. I have to train this long to burn fat or gain any cardio or conditioning effect but I can’t sleep after until about 3-4 in the morning.

    I tried jogging earlier in the day and a longer cool down and this was even worse.

    I don’t take stimulants or energy drinks to cause this effect but I literally feel like some kind of chemical adrenaline is rushing through my blood giving me a high alert catatonic stimulant effect.

    Sometimes I get exhausted and it takes me 2-3 days to recover but at the same time I have this peace and tranquil feeling, I am able to concentrate and study more and I don’t gain these benefits if I’ve not been strenuously training.

    I can use a stepper for 1-2 hours and I feel refreshed but it’s no way near as beneficial as jogging for conditioning or cardio.

    The fitter I get, the more training I need to do to have the benefit but it is seriously increasing my inability to sleep.

    What else can I do?

    I would really appreciate expert advice.

    Thank you.

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  28. When there are jobs that require overtime, I often take the time to exercise first, usually after that I will be fresher and ready to work longer. Surely a cup of coffee to accompany me

  29. Is it the skiing or the double energy drink? Alpine. Fatique, mood, doesnt feel right. Feels like im pressurized.

    The tip is to get more fit, i need more muscles. More breaks, I try to eat as much as possible, preferly before session.

  30. Great findings Chris. In my study on sleep, I have seen that many people want to know how they can sleep well after a long bike ride but most of the people missed the basic issues. In your article, I think you cover the key points of why people cannot sleep after a hard/long race.

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  32. It is interesting to me that cortisol is released to respond to stress. I never thought that this might cause my trouble sleeping. I do not want to cut back on my exercising, but maybe I should try some sleep medication at night.

    1. Before going to drugs, try magnesium supplements. About 70% of Americans do not get enough magnesium due to a lack of leafy green vegetables, of which is the primary source. Magnesium helps with energy, heart rhythm and sleep. But don’t use magnesium in the form of magnesium citrate. That is primarily for bowel movement.

  33. Find Jacky soilan on facebook her technique work greats. You can sleep faster by using her technique and it work for everyone.

  34. I’m close to 40 years. I am a male. I work a lot during the day. I wake up very early everyday and by 9pm I would have been very tired. If I sleep through I wouldn’t have a problem but if I have any reason to wake up around 20 to 30 minutes after I have slept it always not a comfortable experience.
    I feel not being myself. Feel so much uncoordinated, feel unbalanced if I walk and do have shortness of breath and my heart beat fast any time I want to sleep back. It takes a little time to also sleep back. Please what is your advice?

  35. Thank you for all your comments…
    I am a 64 year old female and started the gym 10 weeks ago…
    Since doing this I am getting to sleep quickly (as always) but then wake up around 2-3 in the morning in a big sweat … Legs restless and unable to get back to sleep even though Im Really tired.
    Don’t want to stop going to the gym as I enjoy it …
    I’m drinking plenty of water throughout the day…
    What can be done to overcome this

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  38. I have this issue..especially after weightlifting on leg day. A few things that help me are self hypnosis recording..on anything that’s meant to relax and calm you. There are many on you tube. I don’t look at the screen, just listen through headphones. It is like guided progressive relaxation. I get worried about not sleeping..which adds to the problem, so I allow myself to read something.sometimes watching funny shows..I have some YouTube favorites and it may sound counterproductive because of the light emitted but the laughter overrides that and relaxes me. I do limit my time on electronics. I do not use sites which could create stress, which may not seem obvious, social sites are not a regular place I visit anyway but especially not before bed. I drop the indoor temp to about 68 because I will wake up feeling on fire. Lastly, I will take L-theanine which is an amino acid and blocks the excitatory. It has less of a hang over effect for me.

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  40. I usually have a bike race on Wednesday night 6pm-7pm and can never fall asleep that night. It’s a real problem this one.

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  42. Did the Thursday night MTB race series last night at 6:30 (and also used a decongestant before hand due to sinus issues.) No wonder I could sleep last night!! Now I know.

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  44. I struggle so much with exercise induced insomnia. Some nights I’ll fall asleep initially for an hour and then toss and turn all night long. Some nights I am up in the middle of the night wandering around the house or eating or wide eyed watching tv again or reading. Drives my wife crazy to the point she often just sleeps in another room. I’ve tried OTC products to no effect. My schedule for training and local events and races is so wacky, evening, mid day, evening, mid day, early morning, all day endurance, rest day thrown in. Been like this for years. Unless I travel for a training block where the training is similar every day for a week or two and the regimen is the same… A timely article for me. At least Chris explains some of the whys, which is always good to know.

  45. This is a common problem for me too. I also find I have ‘twitchy legs’ which adds to the overheating and brain racing, which stops me getting to sleep. I have found taking a taurine supplement before bed really helps. Its is a protein used widely in the body (immune system, nervous system, cardiovascular system and more). It calms my twitching muscles and my racing mind which helps me get to sleep more easily and sleep better overall. I prefer it to taking an anti-Inflammatory or sedative.

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  49. Unlike most of the people who have commented on the this site I am not very fit and this is partly due to the fact that if I train hard ,be it weight training or tramping were hills are involved I have a real problem staying asleep.i mostly get to sleep fine but will wake an basicly have a interrupted sleep. No one I have spoken to have even heard of this let alone have a remedy so it’s quite annoying. These effects can last for several days even if all I did was one heavy set with the weights. If anyone has any ideas I’m all ears,thanks Robbie

    1. For what it’s worth, which isn’t a lot, I’m in the same boat. I discovered when I stopped exercising that I felt a lot better, slept better, etc. The downside is, obviously, that after 4 or 5 years (now in mid-50s) my muscle has turned to fat–leaving me skinny but with a roll around my waist. My doctor and a sleep specialist said I could lose a few pounds, but if I exercise much I spiral downward. I’ve found that I can do a lot of walking and it doesn’t interfere with my sleep. So I’ve been doing about half an hour almost every morning and then incorporating it into my day. That has helped without hindering my sleep (I usually wake up at 3:30 if I exercise). I’m trying to very gradually build up to where I can get some real exercise, and will restrict it to the morning. Hopefully that will let me sleep.

      1. That is how it is for me Phillip,frustrated to the max. Seems the moment I over step the exercise I’m doing I’m stuffed for sleep. A chiropractor did help abit. I live in New Zealand an do
        abit of tramping,climed mt egmont this year so feel my fitness isn’t real bad road my Exercycle to hard a week back an had a shocking sleep so go figure. Not sure what to do next other than crack on with it a try to get fitter

  50. Been there last night. I could not sleep til about 3 am and my workout was around 6:30 to 7:30 pm. Was having hot flashes, tossing and turning all night. I think I will try next time some of the tips they mention in this article and from some of the replies. Some workout I push myself even further and don’t want to necessary cut back if I don’t have too. Usually I feel better in the morning besides feeling a little tired from less sleep.

  51. Back in the day…September of 2000…whilst (classy, eh?) on a cross country bike ride with PACTour, I found that one Celebrex with my vitamins in the morning and two Darvocet at bedtime helped me cope with the pain and suffering a 100-plus mile bike ride brought about. I slept just fine and was always rarin’ to go the next day. Of course, in the intervening years, both Rx drugs have been deemed unfit, unsafe and unacceptable for human use but they certainly worked wonders for me over the course of the 25 days and 3200 or so miles…though it probably didn’t hurt that I was in the best shape of my life and literally forced myself to stay hydrated (the gallons of Coke at the end of each day notwithstanding…hey, I’m nobody’s poster boy for good habits!). I wouldn’t change a thing.

  52. I don’t always have this issue. But I find that when I do, if I take just one 250mg Motrin right before I go to bed, it quiets things enough that I generally get a good night’s sleep. I don’t know what the dosage works out to be, but I weigh ~184-188 lbs.

  53. It’s more of an over load or overheating of the body running on the edge. For periods at a time longer than you normally do. I know if you are slightly dehydrated your heart rate will be up trying to cool off your body from stress. Your post seems right on. Just my thoughts.

  54. Great article. I’ve Done DK which is associated with all of the elements mentioned in the article. However, other events in which I’ve competed like LoToJa (206 miles to Jackson Hole) and Fireweed 200 (206 miles to Valdez, AK), the temperatures at the finish are quite cool and I find myself needing to warm up after crossing the finish line (and taking a hot shower soon afterwards), yet I still have the same issues falling asleep. This leads me to believe that, at least in my case, the hormones are the cause (I don’t use stimulants). Years ago, I discovered that I could address this problem by taking an ambien just before bed time. That’s my remedy for now, until I can find another to replace it.

    1. I ve been running long distance for a very long time most mostly on the Treadmill last night I ran for almost 14 km burned 1100 calories this is my routine for the past so many years then afterwards I really struggle to fall asleep I live in Srilanka it is so exhausting what am I to do

  55. Excellent article Chris!!
    As an endurance athlete who has competed in all the above mentioned events (thanks to Jane ) I find you are right on mark!! In addition to the adaptive responses you mentioned , I find with the restless sleep my sore muscles, legs and feet (on ultra runs) also keeps the sleep disrupted. I will occasionally take a Tylenol with my recovery drinks which helps at times.
    Thank you for all your informative emails !!

  56. WOW you have just answered all my questions! I have a problem with all these that you talked about Thank You!

  57. I had trouble calming to sleep after racing our local evening events. I have found the AdrenaCalm cream by Apex Energetics works well post race to calm the cortisol rush necessary to race effectively. FYI I have no vesting in the product, just a fan.

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