[Bird]

Just wondering if this is unusual.This has happened three straight weekends,rode hard sunday with lots of steep climbs then found myself wide awake til 1:00 am this morning.
I really pay for it the next day.
Can anyone shine a little light on this and is there anything i can do short of taking sleeping pills.

 

[JimC.]

me too

only if I really stress myself though. There are some articles on "over training", apparently if we don't ride so hard we will sleep better, but there are those Sundays when damn near killing myself riding is the right thing to do.

Jim

 

[Picard]

do light physical activity at night time.

You always find it difficult to sleep at night if you do strenous physical activity. It is best to do short ride about 2km and go home to bed. You were rididng for too long at night causing your body to produce elevated levels of adrenaline. this hormone kept you awake.

 

[JimC.]

Lol

You always find it difficult to sleep at night if you do strenous physical activity. It is best to do short ride about 2km and go home to bed. You were rididng for too long at night causing your body to produce elevated levels of adrenaline. this hormone kept you awake.

Right you are, 2km it is. That oughta take me a minute or 7. Jim

 

[Tracerboy]

Same thing

I also play ice hockey and our games are usually between 8 and 10 p.m. After a good hour of hard skating, I also have a hard time sleeping, though a beer or two afterward often helps.

 

[BruceBrown]

Just wondering if this is unusual.This has happened three straight weekends,rode hard sunday with lots of steep climbs then found myself wide awake til 1:00 am this morning.
I really pay for it the next day.
Can anyone shine a little light on this and is there anything i can do short of taking sleeping pills.

It doesn't sound like over training if your rides are only on weekends. Usually one is able to go asleep, but with overtraining they wake up in the middle of the night which doesn't sound like your problem.

Do you sleep in pretty late on Sunday AM's? Best if you get up at your normal time on Sunday as if you were going to a normal workday to keep the body clock in check. Are you drinking or eating some kind of energy drink/bar that has any sort of extra caffeine boost in it? What about your Friday and Saturday nights? Are you going to bed at the same time as you do on work nights? Keeping the body clock schedule as routine as possible helps even if hard exercise is taking place on Sundays.

Outside of that, I guess we need more information to figure it out.

Toss in a nice hot bath and the requisite night cap of a glass of wine or a beer followed by some good reading - and the snooze machine should kick in at your normal bedtime.

Best to talk to your doctor about it and see what he/she says...

BB

 

[brado1]

No problem

It's usually the night before a big ride i can't sleep...Can't get the brain to shut down! thinkin about the ride to come!
Post ride beers usually take care of my sleep

 

[cbmtbr]

I also play ice hockey and our games are usually between 8 and 10 p.m. After a good hour of hard skating, I also have a hard time sleeping, though a beer or two afterward often helps.

Way, Way too much adrenaline to sleep after hockey. I often have trouble sleeping after local races, which end around 7 or so. I am usually still jacked for awhile, and sometimes I relive moments from the race (or hockey game) that I wish I would have done differently. Sometimes I relive moments of glory, too. Either way, I have to force my brain to start thinking of something else before I can fall asleep. Reading helps for me.

 

[Guital2]

Hmmm... After my ride the rest of the night seems to be clouded due to MooseDrool, Killians, Bass, or whatever else is in the fridge....mmmmmmm....sleepy.....

 

[East Coast Bender]

After i ride i still have too much adreneline in my veins to sleep so i just lay there motionless...it sucks

 

[Christine]

I'm an insomniac anyway, but it's worse after a night ride.

I drive home totally blissed out, and go to bed with thoughts racing.

The only way a ride puts me to sleep immediately is if it's the Five Borough Bike Tour or a century or something. But the local 2hr fun-fests leave me almost ready for a little more.

Hence, the Ambien prescription which I tend to save for when there's an early ride the next day.

 

[DaveX]

Part of the reason I quit playing hockey was because I could never get to sleep after playing in games that were pretty late to begin with.

Oddly, riding puts my lights out better then anything. In fact I'm struggling to stay awake as I type this.

 

[Once_Upon_A_Time]

It's normal...

Just drink beer afterwards...you'll go to bed. I do .

 

[LyNx]

Usually one is able to go asleep, but with overtraining they wake up in the middle of the night which doesn't sound like your problem.
BB

Well thanks, guess I just figured out why the hell I have been waking up in the middle of the night for the past 2 weeks Too much riding and not enough good food intake. Started back with my morning banana/fruit shakes w/ PB&J sandwiches and slept through last night, also had 2 days off with no riding.

 

[Lighty_]

For me it's if I do something physically strenuous before going to bed. I think I've had that happen on night rides or when I go to gym and have a long workout before bed time. Maybe it's the residual adrenaline?

 

[bmateo]

I had the same problem and posted about it a year or two ago.

A couple things that have helped:

-Don't eat any food after about 8PM. Especially avoid high-fat foods, as they are harder to digest and they keep you up.
-Do some unwinding. Like another said, a hot shower or bath is good, or just some monotonous activity to slow your brain down.
-I've discovered Melotonin. It really works for me. Helps me to sleep, but does not make me groggy in the AM. (Some people on this forum have suggested it is habit forming, in that if you take it every night, it wont be effective. I don't know if this is true or not, but just to be safe, I only take it on nights when I anticipate, or actually have difficulty sleeping.)
-When all else fails, put on some crappy syndicated TV like TVLand, old classic movies, or CNN or reruns of I love Lucy or something. They are boring, and the background noise helps your brain to shut down a little. (It removes focus from the wonderful ride you've had.). I don't have to do this very often at all anymore, due to following suggestions above, but it is my "last resort" and works for me. (You might have to adjust the idea to your own personal preference...).


Hope these help. Especially focus on the food thing, that really helped me a lot. I don't know why, but digesting food can really keep you awake at night.

Good luck.

 

[bmateo]

I forgot to mention.... If you have a willing partner, then Sex usually does the trick. Only problem with that is that I'm ready to sleep within about 5 minutes after, and now she is all awake and wanting to talk...

 

[Walt Dizzy]

Insomnia sucks!

Just wondering if this is unusual.This has happened three straight weekends,rode hard sunday with lots of steep climbs then found myself wide awake til 1:00 am this morning.
I really pay for it the next day.
Can anyone shine a little light on this and is there anything i can do short of taking sleeping pills.

I tend toward insomnia, nothing works in all cases, but:

Agree with the point about eating too late, also a very heavy meal earlier is sometimes troubling. Try to break up your eating so you get the same calories, but don't overload your stomach. Easier said than done when you are working your body hard.

Try starting your ride earlier in the day, if feasible, to give yourself more time to unwind.

I don't sleep well when I'm warm. Heavy exercise tends to increase your metabolism for many hours after you're done. Try fewer blanket layers or even air conditioning. My $0.02 is this will help you more than anything else.

Start your bedtime routine early. Agree with the point about bedtime reading or TV. Computer or console games just get me pumped. Don't do anything that requires you to think or move much for an hour before bed, but doing something to channel your mind away from going over (and over and over) your ride is useful.

Agree with the melatonin use. It works for me. It can cause nasty nightmares on occasion, and if I wait too long to take it, I'm pretty groggy in the AM.

Listening to quiet music on the earbuds can put me to sleep sometimes. Enya rules!

Moving from bed to the couch sometimes makes the difference. Sometimes I find myself suppresing some needed thrashing to avoid waking my wife. Then I can tense up and not be able to fall asleep.

If the night is going totally to waste, getting up to read or snack in the first half can work, but in the second half, you are generally better off lying quietly. Insomnia is very deceptive and you may actually doze off a few times and not realize it. Getting 2 or 3 hours sleep sucks, but no sleep is a killer. I met a guy who had different, worse sleep issues, and he was trying to change jobs after rolling his car the second time.

Can you tell from the length of this list that I've had problems? Good luck. See a doctor if it doesn't get better soon.

Walt