Possible affect of changing time of day for workout

[GoingtoRAW]

I have been exercising since mid January. I started working out about 3 days a week and now I exercise 5 to 6 days per week. I began with all cardio (treadmill and stationary bike). My workouts were done in the mornings - all before Noon. I also progressively raised the incline on the treadmill workout and increased my time as well.

I walk 30 minutes on the treadmill at the start of each workout and I am now at a level 10 incline. I love it. It's a great workout and it gets me sweating. Three weeks ago I added strength training to my workouts and I added the StairMaster 2 weeks ago 3 to 4 times per week and I don't get on the StairMaster on the days that I do lower body strength training. My legs can't take it. I just ride the bike for 10 minutes at the end of my workout. l felt great after each morning workout and I had a lot of energy.

The reason I am giving all of this background information is because some things have changed. I am now working and I can't get my workouts in the morning anymore. No problem - I workout after work and I still have the energy to get through my workouts. Problem is that since I started working out in the evenings I have absolutely no energy when I get home. I get home no later than 7:00 p.m. and I have a hard time staying awake til 9:00 p.m. Then I fall asleep and wake up at one or two o'clock in the morning and I'm awake for several hours. Then I have to get up and go to work!

I need help! I simply can't workout mornings with any regularity so this is not an real option. This is the second week that I have been completely exhausted at the end of my workout and I am afraid that something is not normal. Has anyone else experienced this?

Thanks.

[christinajade]

It sounds like you are exhausted from working and maybe not getting enough QUALITY sleep. If you are waking up around 2am and then going back to sleep, your sleep is then disrupted and that can definitely affect you. I don't know what time you have to get up but depending on the hours you work, I would probably be tired too if I had to workout after 7pm and I was working full time, in combination with having broken up sleep. That combination would exhaust me personally. I'm one of those people that needs 8 hours of sleep. If I don't get that, I can definitely tell the difference.

It also sounds like you are stressed and that would be why you are waking up at 2am. When I have a lot on my mind and I do too much thinking, I have the same problem. I don't think there is anything wrong with you, I just think maybe your stress is getting to you.

One more thing: how's your diet? Tell me what your typical day of food is. That could also be the problem.

[GoingtoRAW]

I may just be exhausted from just starting back to work after being laid off nine months ago. I did just go back to work a little over 3 weeks ago. My diet has been great. I'm not 100% raw yet, but pretty close. I make sure that I am eating mostly raw and I don't eat after 7:00, which I started a few months ago. This actually helped me to sleep better even before I started exercising.

My problem now though is that I am falling asleep too early, like 8:30 or 9:30 p.m. because when I get home after my workout I am exhausted. Then I wake up about 4 or 5 hours later and can't get back to sleep for about 2 hours or more.

I may be over reacting. I just felt that after 3 weeks my body would be adjusted to this change in my exercise schedule. I got a little concerned.

[christinajade]

I don't think your body is going to "get used" to not enough quality sleep. I'm not promoting you do this because this is a raw site but I drink camamile tea and I take a nice hot bath before going to bed. That has helped me out tremendously. Usually it isn't advised to exercise right before going to bed because your body is still cooling down and so for most it is harder to get to sleep in until that time. That doesn't sound like this is your case, however, just getting back to work after not working for a while can do it. I wouldn't worry about it being 3 weeks already because you need to focus on getting a more restful sleep and then you will start to feel rested and have more energy. Start a bedtime ritual, something you only do right before going to bed. Something relaxing, no TV right before bed because it stimulates the brain into thinking. I honestly do not think anything is wrong with you. You are describing how I felt. I work from home now but about 2 years ago, I was out of work for like 6 months and then I had to get back to work and I remember being tired and having a hard time to adjust and stuff.

[GoingtoRAW]

Yeah I think my body just needed to adjust to the change - going back to work and working out in the evening instead of in the morning. It just felt really wierd because I don't remember being so exhausted after working out before....to the point of passing out by 8 or 9 o'clock every night. I've actually started feeling a little better and I think I was able to stay awake last night until midnight and then I had a great night's sleep - til 7:00 a.m. Now it's after 8:00 p.m. and I'm still kicking (I'm a little tired but I'm still upright!)...so we'll see.

[christinajade]

Oh, I'm so glad to hear!! That's good news.:)

[GoingtoRAW]

oh, i'm so glad to hear!! That's good news.:)

thanks!!:)