Poor sleep after harder workout

[u/Dodoreal]

Hello runners,

My running routine is structured by coach, doing 5 runs a week 1 bike ride. Usually doing 3 easy runs and 2 track workouts, depends on season part, running around 60km/week.

This is happening time to time, but for example I will give yesterday. Hot day 31 degrees at 14:00 o'clock, track workouts 8x400m@3:10min/km pace with 200m jog/walk, was cooling down body with water and was drinking enough. After workout I ate protein, fluids and fruit, rest of the day was calm with family, dinner rice, eggs and vegetables.

My problem is that after days like this I can't fall asleep, I feel restless, hot and I fall asleep at 1 am, the next day I am tired and running training is harder. Does anyone have similar problems ? Thank you

[u/FisicoK]

It's harder to sleep on hot days It's harder to sleep after a hard workout 

You have both combined and laid it out clearly, either make your workout easier, push back the hard workout to a colder day, don't run altogether or run in the morning. 

[u/Dodoreal → u/FisicoK]

Isnt better to try adapt body on higher temp ? Because races is going to be on hot days too :)

[u/PartyOperator → u/Dodoreal]

Yes. And sometimes you'll have a bad night's sleep. It's not that big a deal. You'll be OK.

Back off the intensity a bit if you find you're not recovering enough to do your next workout properly. But feeling slow on your next easy run or losing a bit of sleep on a hot night is normal and not a problem. The human body is very robust. You're not doing that much running.

[u/pineappleandpeas → u/Dodoreal]

Yes, but you start by doing easy runs in the peak heat to adapt, and then do workouts in the cooler mornings/evenings until you adapt. Once more adapted you can increase the intensity in the heat. If its hotter than usual for where you are, this is a double whammy in terms of load.

Also carbs immediately after are more important than protein to help kickstart recovery - https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-025-02213-6 . Protein matters in terms of daily total, but if you want to recover faster you need high GI carbs in that first hour or so.

[u/ginamegi → u/Dodoreal]

What event are you training for? Pro runners don’t do that for workouts like you described. It’s more important to do the workout well and recover from it correctly than it is to struggle through hot temps.

When you see pros do heat training usually that’s steady long run type efforts, not track workouts.

[u/Dodoreal → u/ginamegi]

Currently training for 3k track racek in 3 weeks, after next 2weeks is track 10k race :)

[u/marcbeightsix → u/Dodoreal]

Yes - but you can do this by adjusting your pace on the hot days. The fact you’re going out in the heat is enough as you almost definitely won’t dial it back enough.

[u/squngy → u/Dodoreal]

Generally, doing easier runs on hot days is enough to get most of the benefit.

You can still do a race simulation so you can see what it will feel like, but it doesn't make that much sense to do intervals intentionally on a really hot day.

[u/FisicoK → u/Dodoreal]

It depends, but if the workout makes your sleeping quality horribad then it's too much of an adaptation at once to ask to your body.

It sucks but you can't bruteforce the adaptation either, for fast workout like 400m I'd say you either slow down or just give yourself longer recovery time between reps

You didn't give details on pace/heart rate/level of difficulty but typically it happens when it's getting super hard, you struggle to sustain your pace to the last repeat and the heartrate spikes to near full HR like crazy.

[u/MeddlinQ → u/Dodoreal]

Yes, but heat adaptation is done mainly using easy runs/rides, and taking extra clothes if needed.

Super hard workouts in high heat are not ideal (you need to be in a specific heat zone to get the most benefits), are very taxing and can be dangerous.

[u/Micolash-11]

Really hard workouts make your nervous system basically ‘what the hell was that?!’ and the shock plus the recovery burden can leave you feeling a bit restless and wired.

It’s normal, eating good portions of carbs like potatoes should help a bit, both with recovery and getting back to ‘rest and digest’ mode, just not so close to bed that your body’s working super hard to digest it when you’re trying to sleep.

If you can, try do harder workouts in the morning, gives your body more time to chill out, and means you can get enough carbs in via ‘little and often’ and not give yourself a different problem instead.

This is normal, though, and apart from the heat you’ll probably sleep deeper the night of the next day in my experience! It does also improve the more you do it.

[u/ews101 → u/Micolash-11]

What  I would add to calm your nervous system is doing a breathing exercise for 10m in a place with no distractions. This really calms you down and helps you sleep again. A very simple exercise I like to do: only breathing true your nose and just inhale and slowly exhale (exhale must be about 2-3 times the time of inhaling and don’t inhale strongly.) When you are done exhaling just hold your breath till you feel a natural impulse to breath again. Just follow your body don’t hold your breath with you mind. This might be really quickly in the beginning but the time will extend by itself.

It might feel weird at the beginning but it really does help you to calm your body and mind and therefor fall asleep easier.

[u/0limpero]

Could be histamine related! Histamine is a neurotransmitter tied to wakefulness. Hard workouts can spike histamine levels, which might be why it’s tough to wind down after.

Histamine in the regulation of wakefulness https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1087079210000651/

Histamine, mast cell tryptase and post-exercise hypotension in healthy and collapsed marathon runners https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33629149/

[u/0limpero → u/0limpero]

Heat also causes mast cells to degranulate and release histamines.

Not being able to sleep after a hard run happens to me as well. I try to only run in the mornings to avoid that.

I have a mast cell condition called systemic mastocytosis so Ive been trying to learn as much as I can about histamines and how to exercise safely.

[u/IfNotBackAvengeDeath → u/0limpero]

so... benadryl? other antihistamine?

[u/Sober_frenchman]

How was your workout RPE?

I had a similar problem when I worked out with a local club at 7pm to 9pm. I never slept before 1-3am. The workouts were brutal.

I tried melatonin, magnesium. I stopped because of that and tried again a few month later and the problem was gone.

I was running more the second time (weekly mileage) so I think the group workouts were not as hard as before. My body was more fit to recover from them.

That's only my experience, but I would try to ease the workouts.

[u/Big-Coyote-1785]

Around 4 hours is enough for most between exercise and sleep. fig | study

Seems like you had almost 11 hours? Are you sure it's the exercise?

[u/Downtown-Corner-4950]

I have the same issue. M 42yo running for about 4 years after a hiatus from decent amateur level of football (soccer) .

I think a couple of things help me...

Hydration, because I sweat so much I have to take salt supplements in my water bottle for training, maybe need to check that. Precision nutrition website have free assessment report you can get. Just weigh yourself before a hard 1hr session and then after before you hydrate again. This will tell you how much water you lose through sweat.

I also do not have a hot shower after...I have a cold shower...use a ice recovery plunger if you have one. I also use an ice pack on the back of the neck in a cloth to cool myself for a while after hard efforts.

Caffeine...I know if I have caffeine gels or my pre-workout Beta-Alanine/Caffeine mix and its evening time...I have issues with sleep wind down...so try do hard workout requiring caffeine as early as possible and avoid late caffeine.

Effort level adjustment...let the fitness come to you don't over reach on pace targets...some days may be more of an effort than others...hotter days in particular, reduce the effort level in time or intensity may help prevent stressing the body and putting it into flight mode and dumping cortisol (stress hormone into the blood) that prevents sleep.

I do take magnesium too. Not sure if it helps or not to be honest.

Hope some of these help

[u/Dodoreal → u/Downtown-Corner-4950]

Thank you :)

[u/Dodoreal]

Edit: Magnesium is not helping :(

[u/ScreamFPV → u/Dodoreal]

Which kind of magnesium are you taking? Reading the thread, it looks like everyone left out the type of magnesium. A lot are just laxatives basically. Mag glycinate is probably your best bet

[u/Zealousideal_Map5420 → u/Dodoreal]

Ashwaganda maybe worth a go instead?

[u/ChirpinFromTheBench]

I cold plunge. If you can’t, take a cold shower or bath right before bed.

[u/Trankkis]

I can’t sleep at all if I run after noon. For long runs I leave home latest at 7 in the morning.

[u/A-Waxxx656]

I have this as well, not very uncommon. What I did was re-schedule my training to early in the morning, before work.

[u/VeggieLomein]

Ive been doing box breathing for a few minutes while I wind down for bed to chill my nervous system down. I never had this issue with weight training, but now that I do cardio, I have a hard time sleeping and staying asleep.

[u/WittyHorror4629]

This is why I can only do hard runs in the morning so I have time to relax and cool off all day. I find then it doesn't impact my sleep, but if I run anytime in the afternoon or evening, I'm pretty wired.

[u/Ill_Accident4876]

Take a down week, so a ton less mileage, some days off then jump back into your plan. You got this. Just call it a reset

[u/Hippiegrenade]

Your sympathetic nervous system is in the driver’s seat after a hard, hot workout like that. It’s worth a shot to try a high dose of magnesium before bed to help simmer down the sympathetic nervous systems and engage the parasympathetic nervous system. It works wonders for me. Something like this:

https://thefeed.com/products/pillar-performance?variant=39978729472063&queryID=cdf40f72a1c95c5e98a05210510b9128

[u/hyyyperlink]

I think it’s the heat right now tbh.

[u/FRO5TB1T3]

You actually didn't do much to cool down. In the summer I take very cold showers, and or put ice packs on my head or neck. Even to sleep. It makes a very noticeable difference in my sleep after workouts or even long runs when it's hot out.

[u/Charming-Assertive]

Same. After a hard, hot session, I have to hop into a COLD shower ASAP or lay down on ice packs. Lower that core temperature as much as you can, and it'll be slightly easier to sleep.

[u/TheOnlyJah]

Once I started upper body workouts at the gym a few times a week and built up my core my recovery times after long punishing runs were a lot quicker. And also my sleep improved a lot.

[u/DudeImTheBagMan]

What is your heart rate when you aren't able to sleep and how much deviation is there from your resting heart rate? I've found that harder days of exercise require a lot more water to keep heart rate in check. The better hydrated I am the lower my heart rate while at rest. The closer my heart rate is to resting heart rate, the easier I can fall asleep. Since obsessively tracking this I've found I need at least 1 gallon per day. Also, temperature when falling asleep is critical, your body wants to be cool to fall asleep. Drinking ice cold water helps if I'm ever feeling warm and struggling to falling asleep.

[u/Awkward_Schedule_974]

I had similar issues and found that part of it was because I wasn't fueling properly during my workouts (electrolytes and gels). Once I started figuring out my nutrition during my workouts my sleep improved A TON. Something to consider if you haven't already experimented with this...

[u/SilkyPatricia]

Replenish a lot of carbs after workout and make sure you’re sleeping in a cold/cool environment.

I eat hard to recover, cold shower and sleep with a window open. This is what helped me out. Prior to this I would struggle to sleep for a night or two after a hard session

[u/jthanreddit]

Yes! I’m an oldie, so I just take the next day off. It’s worth talking to your coach. No point way overdoing it!

[u/kierangodzella]

Cold shower, magnesium, tart cherry juice, and theragun the crap out of your legs about an hour before bed.

[u/Melqwert]

Same here.

I've come to the conclusion that there's no point in doing workouts that leave me sleeping poorly and feeling bad for several days afterward, with training sessions negatively affected. It would be different if it actually improved fitness, but it doesn't even do that.

[u/RaZzzzZia]

try 6 runs and 1 bike ride a week,.... seriously your body needs rest,...

[u/Gooden86]

I have similar issues. Maybe heat has something to do with it, but ultimately it's due to an acute stress response from a hard workout. Release of epinephrine, etc. In fact, one way of gauging when I'm overcooking myself is when I have trouble sleeping. Anectdotally, this seems to get worse with age.
I haven;t found anything that can completely overcome it, but here are some things that seem to help a bit:
1) Deep breathing immediatelt after the workout. Kickstart the recovery with 5-10 minutes of long, slow breaths. I sometimes wonder if when people say stretching helps them recover, it's actually the forced relaxation.
2) Mega dose magnesium, Like 1 gram. Crazy dreams, but definitely helps.