Training & Nutrition - Sleep issues after race/intense efforts

Hey All.

I'm just back from a week long training camp. I had a good week, and rode well, but had major issues with sleeping at night after 4-5hours on the bike each day. It seems my mind was still racing/adrenaline flowing every night I went to bed. I also get this after races, so I thought i'd post on here to see if anyone had any suggestions.

I tried all the meditation/relaxation techniques, counting to 100 etc. The only thing that seemed to work was getting up, reading a couple of chapters in a book, getting something to eat then going back to bed after an hour or so, but by this time my sleep time was completely reduced, probably negatively affecting my recovery.

Any suggestions? Herbal sleep aids? I limit caffeine (1 cup of coffee or tea typically) to the a.m so I don't think that's the issue.

Racing and hard efforts stimulates your sympathetic nervous system so much, you really have to make an effort to relax (effort to relax, ha) long before its bed time.
For me, after long days and hard efforts, I try to start chilling out at around five. Eat alot of food, read, write, hang with friends, but most importantly take deep breaths and RELAX. You are correct in assuming that keeping one system over activated and the other underactived would negatively affect recovery. There has to be balance or this no improvement, something I learned the hard way.
Try to keep relaxation in mind the moment you are done with work, riding, etc, to try and promote a good sleep. It is so, so important that we rest, it is responsible for so much, and isn't something that should be taken lightly.

Yet again (yeah I know people are getting sick of this) I am going to suggest that inability to sleep after a hard effort is a mild symptom of magnesium deficiency. The hard exercise has depleted your magnesium stores somewhat and you cant relax when you want to go to sleep. Seriously I use magnesium as a sleeping tablet which WORKS quite well but without the unwanted effects of proprietary drugs.

Find a high quality magnesium formula which DOESN'T contain magnesium oxide or heavy magnesium and don't take too much because excess magnesium consumption has a laxative effect.

Anthony

Thanks for the replies folks. Food seems to be the main culprit so i'll try cramming more down next time and see what happens.

AnthonyG - i'd like to agree with you about the MG deficiency but i'm taking MG Citrate every day which does help me relax somewhat and aid recovery but doesn't seem to solve the problem when it comes to race/intense efforts like this.

Amazingly enough, the sleep deprivation I accumulated at the camp over the week didn't seem to affect my performance. If anything, I was getting faster every day (either that or everyone else was going slower!). Never slept so well the week I returned home though!

AnthonyG - i'd like to agree with you about the MG deficiency but i'm taking MG Citrate every day which does help me relax somewhat and aid recovery but doesn't seem to solve the problem when it comes to race/intense efforts like this.



Try taking some more magnesium just before bed. Just because your taking some doesn't necessarily mean that your taking enough. Not sleeping is a symptom that you need more. DO listen to your body and if your bowel moves too much then you need to back off.

Anthony

I keep some books (in addition to what I'm currently reading) for when I can't sleep. Something that's rather dull yet interesting enough to read is ideal. If it's too exciting I'll stay up late reading.

Lack of sleep doesn't seem to hurt my performance either, so I don't worry about it too much. I catch up eventually.

Ok guys, thanks! I will try an extra MG before bed and see how it goes. Won't be racing for a few weeks so will find out then.