Trouble Sleeping

[Cmprentice]

I am currently on day 13 of the Whole 30 program.  In  general I feel great! My energy levels are consistent through out the day,  I don't have any real sugar cravings and meal prep isn't that difficult anymore.  However, this is the first week I've added high intensity exercise to my routine.  During the first week, I stuck to cycling/yoga- my energy levels were still all over the place and I didn't want to over exert myself.  This week, because I've been feeling stronger, I added crossfit to the mix (3x/wk).  My workouts have gone well but now I  have problems getting decent sleep at night.  I generally do my crossfit workout around 6pm.  I'm usually in bed by 9, read for a bit and fall asleep (I haven't watched TV in the evening since I started the program!).  After that I tend to be restless and wake up several times through out the night.  I finally got over 7 hours last night, but the previous 2 nights have been in the 6 hour range (I'm going off my fitbit data).  Over the last weekend I was sleeping great, about 8 to 9 hours a night without waking up.  I'm not sure if its totally related to adding crossfit or maybe a combination of that and the "stress" associated with having to get up and go to work (since the weekend sleep quality was excellent).  Any one else having the same issue or have some advice on how to get better quality sleep?   I would rather not cut crossfit out from my work out regime because I find it fun and challenging, but I'm open to suggestions! 

[Tom Denham]

With trial and error over several years, I figured out that I sleep better if I eat some starchy veggies like sweet potato or plantains within a few hours of going to bed. By adding the stress of CrossFit to your mix, you may have increased your needs for carbs. Maybe you should try eating a sweet potato before bed.

 

There are literally dozens of discussions of sleep on the forum. You might want to browse through them for ideas by googling "Whole30 sleep."

[ladyshanny]

If I do a hard workout in the evening I get what I like to call "Post Gym Chill" which comes on 2-3 hours following the workout, usually when I'm trying to sleep.  I find that making sure I have warm jammies on and an extra blanket helps for sure because once I wake up cold I have a hard time going back to sleep. I also find that making sure I've had protein following the workout helps make sure I don't get chilled.  Maybe it's just a "me" thing....but thought I'd throw it out there.