I can't sleep . . .

[CalicoCat]

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I never have trouble sleeping. After a hard workout, I usually take an afternoon nap and still have no trouble falling asleep at night. But tonight, I JUST CAN'T SLEEP!!! I have been training/racing pretty consistently for the last couple of years, so it is not as if my body is suddenly trying to adapt to new training stresses that it hasn't experienced before. This weekend was nothing out of the ordinary. I got in a long endurance ride on sat, and a shorter, moderately intense, group ride on sunday. No races, and little by the way of really hard efforts, but still some good volume. So why can't I sleep tonight? I tend to attribute these types of problems to training/diet, but I haven't changed anything, so maybe it is something totally different. But do any of you ever have this problem? What causes it? How do you fix it?!?!?!

 

[swampy1970]

Afternoon nap.... Hmmmm. Did you forget your blankey?

It happens. Sometimes you can't sleep.

Maybe your subconscious is fretting over the lack of hard efforts, eating away at your psyche like maggots on roadkill... feeling guilty about that extra bit of ice cream... that half a days worth of calories in that Starbucks latte with whole milk... a secret fear that someone will break into your house in the middle of the night and install PowerCranks on your favorite ride.

 

[CalicoCat]

Originally Posted by swampy1970 .

Afternoon nap.... Hmmmm. Did you forget your blankey?

It happens. Sometimes you can't sleep.

Maybe your subconscious is fretting over the lack of hard efforts, eating away at your psyche like maggots on roadkill... feeling guilty about that extra bit of ice cream... that half a days worth of calories in that Starbucks latte with whole milk... a secret fear that someone will break into your house in the middle of the night and install PowerCranks on your favorite ride.

LOL! That's gotta be it!!

 

[lanierb]

For me it's usually either:

(1) Diet: caffeine (can come from lots of places you might not think of), diet soda (not sure why but it makes me unable to sleep), etc

or

(2) Doing something that causes an adrenaline rush close to bedtime such as video games, watching certain movies, planning out my attack in the race the next morning, etc

 

[scartissue22]

I had the same problem. With me I had too much stuff going on in my head, it helps to just have 1 hour of doing nothing before sleep, and sleeping tabs can help for the first few days.
atb alex.

 

[An old Guy]

I never used to sleep well. Tough time falling asleep. Waking up in the middle of the night.

300 mcg Melatonin pills. One 20 minutes before bed. Sleep like a baby. I can even fall asleep without them.

 

[gman0482]

+1 on Melatonin. 3mg of it will do wonders. It's natural, and not like a sleep aid. I've actually started to see some drinks and sweets sold with Melatonin in them.

Another way that worked for me was just picking up a book for one hour in my bed. My eyes shut very quickly.

Hope you get some sleep.
-Greg

 

[An old Guy]

Important note:

Melatonin comes in 2 different dosages 3mg and 300mcg. 3mg is stronger. It might not matter.

 

[gman0482]

Originally Posted by An old Guy .

Important note:

Melatonin comes in 2 different dosages 3mg and 300mcg. 3mg is stronger. It might not matter.

Yea 3mg = 3,000 mcg. So taking 300mcg is not much at all, only 0.3 mg. You can usually find 3mg Melatonin tablets (as a dietary supplement) in any vitamin shop, or GNC. Also, what I mentioned before, alot of companies now sell drinks and brownies with it inside. "Lazy Cakes" are brownies that have 4mg of Melatonin, and are delicious.

 

[jpr95]

If it's just one night of insomnia, I wouldn't worry about it or change anything, or take anything for it. You'll probably sleep just fine the next night, so it's a self-correcting problem.

I'm the same way--I work hard physically most days, and the vast majority of the time I sleep well, but every once in a while I'll not get a wink. By the next night, I'm toast. Sometimes, if I can't sleep, I'll just get up and watch TV for a couple hours (I'll find something boring and keep the volume low), and that will knock me out, albeit on the couch.

Jason