Hi all -

I generally post down in the Atkins/Low Carb section, but I've got an exercise related question.

I have never been an exerciser, BUT, I started a serious diet on 1/2 and added an exercise routine on 1/13. I go to the local Y. I had a session with a personal trainer on 1/11 (she ran me though about half a workout that day) who has me working out 5 times a week. Three of these days are 30 minutes of cardio plus about 45 minutes of weight machine workouts. Two of the days are just 30 minutes of cardio.

I started regularly working out on 1/11 and have done 2 full workouts and 2 cardio days since then.

Suddenly I am having trouble getting and staying asleep. I am so sleep deprived right now I'm getting desperate. I work out from 4 - 5:15 pm - so I don't think it's an issue of working out too close to bed time (11 pm).

I've also discovered that my hot tub is too hot for me at 104, now and I"ve had to adjust down the temperature by 2 degrees for it to be tolerable.

DH and I are wondering if the sudden exercise routine is upping my blood pressure and causing these problems. I usually am 90/60. Haven't had a chance to get it checked yet - not sure how to do that without making a DR appointment, anyway.

Anyway - just wondering if anyone has any insight into what might be causing this.

Thanks!

The hot tub sounds like you've increased your metabolism. Metabolism increase often produces more heat (personally I'm the other way round.. cold all the time!). Which is a good thing!

You could try working out in the morning for a week and see if that causes better sleep.

If you've gone from no exercise to your current exercise plan, you're body's probably in shock and is trying to cope! Hopefully it will settle down in a week or two once it's used to being used at the gym!

I'm no expert, just speculation... But do try changing the time of your workout, some people can be very sensitive to afternoon exercise. Personally it makes me want to sleep more!

Your body should have plenty of time to recover by bed time....so I wouldn't worry about BP issues.

Are you experiencing any extra stress? Have you accomodated for the schedule change in your daily routine from devoting 90 minutes to exercise? How late in the evening are you eating?

I don't *think* I'm under any extra stress. I've actually cleared out my schedule a bit so I have time to devote to working out. I have made getting fit my priority and have turned down doing things I normally do (stressful volunteer work).

I generally don't eat after about 6 PM or so. I actually skipped dinner last night because I was so worn out from the workout. I just wasn't hungry.

I will do today's workout at 4 and switch to going in at 5:30 AM for the rest of the week and see if that makes a difference. I hate getting up early, but I hate losing sleep even more.

Thanks for your input!!!!

is it that you find it hard to FALL ASLEEP or to STAY ASLEEP? if its staying asleep you might try taking 3 ibuprofen about an hour before retiring. sometimes your body hurts and you cant sleep well. at least it was that way for me. now i sleep a solid 7 hours no problem.

Both.

I usually read in bed until I'm nodding off and then just switch off the light and sack out. Last night I read 188 pages of "Scarlett" and never got to the nodding off point. I figured I would nod off for sure since I've read the book about 5 times before.

Hubby is a cuddler and throws and arm or leg over me or just touches me many times during the night. Usually it momentarily brings me partially awake and I fall right back to sleep. For the past several nights it has fully jolted me awake and then I've had a hard time getting back to sleep.

I'd say I'm sleeping a LOT lighter than usual.

I'm thinking of taking some Tylenol Sinus tonight to help. I have the night time version that I mistakenly bought and took a few weeks ago. Wound up having to take a nap for several hours - so I know it will make me drowsy. I just hate to rely on stuff like that.

Sleep disturbance is one of the signs of overtraining. What was your activity level previously? Was it a sudden increase? It might be a question of too much/too soon. Not to scare you, but I do see alot of injuries in January due to sudden high levels of activity in previously sedentary people (new years resolutions etc). Good luck on getting it sorted out.

I'm definitely no expert on this, so merely an observer's opinion. It sounds like you've been doing this for about a week. I've noticed with anything (diet, exercise, especially both!) you need to give your body at least a couple weeks to get used to it. It's probably nothing serious, maybe just your body adjusting to all the changes in your life. If you aren't waking up in pain or anything, you should be fine. There's lots of tricks people use to fall asleep/stay asleep, maybe just try using those for a couple weeks, and try not to STRESS about not getting enough sleep! Give it some time and I'm sure you're body will be okay with it, probably by about the time you've forgotten you're having trouble sleeping...

My thought for what it's worth is "too much, too soon." When I started a walking program last year, the advice was to start slow and increase speed and distance incrementally. Otherwise you risk injury. When I started walking, my blood pressure started going down, not up. I would suggest that you ease back a tad on the cardio -- maybe do 20 minutes each time for a week and gradually build up. My experience with trainers is that they think everybody can and should be able to do what they can do.

Sometimes when I workout around 5ish I cannot fall asleep either, but it's not all the time though, and it may be because I am not used to it either. I would give it a chance, 4-6 weeks, if you still can't sleep, maybe you'll have to change the routine and go in the morning... I used to go at 5:30am and boy I guarantee you, you will sleep after a couple of days of getting up so early

Another thing that I was thinking of is your age, I know I have a very difficult time if my schedule changes, as I'm getting older (49) ....It really sucks!! Hot flashes are fun too when you are just dozing off.... I'm a bit off topic here, I'm going to bed ....

I did not know about sleep disturbance being a symptom of overtraining. Verrrry interesting.

My activity level before this was extremely sedentery. I didn't do anything. Sit at a computer all day and park it on the couch at night.

Thanks for replying to my questions, everyone, I truly appreciate it. I'll relax the workout schedule a bit to give my body a chance to catch up with the change & go from there.

Thanks!