The Less Obvious Tips For Beating Athlete Insomnia
How is ‘athlete insomnia’ different from normal insomnia? It isn’t really, just the training load can be a major contributor to insomnia when combined with other life stress. Athlete insomnia is remarkably common. For many athletes it's how their nervous system is telling them they've pushed it too far while others might have the opposite effect of not being able to stop sleeping.
It's important to keep in mind that over training doesn’t just occur because of the training load. As a pro I could do 30 hour training weeks at altitude, absorbing the work and sleep superbly well when solo on training camps. While my training limit at home with kids and a working wife was typically 20-22 hours before I would enter zombie fatigue land and the athlete insomnia dragon would creep up out of the ashes.
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So what are some potential ways to combat athlete insomnia?
I’ll do all of the standard Chat GPT tips in one sentence and then the less obvious Reedy tips that Chat GPT won’t cough up.
BOG STANDARD TIPS: No caffeine after 10 or reduce entirely over a week or two, dark room, not too hot at night, no screens an hour or two before bed and meditate my fellow stress heads.
LESS OBVIOUS TIPS
- WHAT YOU EAT in the evening or even throughout the day has a huge effect. Highly processed foods with preservatives and sugar really mess up sleep quality especially when consumed late in the day. So can certain healthy foods ‘for some’ individuals like tomatoes or blue cheese etc. Whenever I was lying awake until 2am staring at the ceiling I would write down what I had eaten that day and pretty quickly you learn the patterns of eating that can keep you restless.
- TRY LIFTING YOUR CARB INTAKE slightly with dinner. There are links to better sleep with more carbs but definitely choose more natural carb sources like starchy vegetables, as food high in sugar or other very simple carbs will hinder rather than help get back to 6-8 hours of quality sleep. Tracking your HRV is a great way to see which foods or even how the timing of meals affect your sleep.
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- HYDRATION IS KEY. Ever lie in bed and it feels like your heart is beating super hard and funnily enough you can’t fall asleep. Blood pressure is high and you’re likely dehydrated. If you’re sweating in the arvo or evening keep on dripping water in right up to bed to try to avoid the dehydrated half asleep feeling.
- REDUCE TRAINING INTENSITY. If you’ve suffered one shockingly bad sleep, reduce the intensity to zone 1-2 the next day. Most people who are not too deep in a sleep debt hole can still do some easy volume and get sleep back on track.
- REDUCE AFTERNOON TRAINING. If you can’t get sleep back on track after two nights, cull any training after 12pm (after letting your coach adjust the plan or know). Your cortisol cycle is out of whack and you need to help your cortisol sink to low levels as the evening approaches to aid sleep. Keep strength training to the morning where possible. There is a hormone surge following heavy lifting and for some athletes this fires them up and keeps them awake.
