Hi BBM Team,
I’m dealing with sleep problems after working out. After going to the gym I have problems falling asleep, wake up several times and have a bad sleep quality. Some nights it feels like I don’t sleep at all. This is not only the case on the day of the training session but sometimes also the day after (at least reduced sleep quality).
My sleep hast not been the best for several years now, but it seems to get worse. The last time I remember my sleep was good while following a regular training schedule has been in 2018. At that time I followed a pretty exhausting Bodybuilding program 3 times a week. Despite the main lift, every set was taken to failure. That program was combined with a diet that included intermittent fasting and limited carbs (200 grams at 100 kg BW). Before and after that time my sleep quality has always been poor, when following a training program (and that’s what I typically do).
A lower carb diet seems to improve sleep quality a bit but I can’t say that that’s the issue. Also I find it pretty tough to follow a low carb diet as I do not eat meat and do not tolerate a lot of foods.
The last weeks the effect of training on my sleep was pretty clear to observe. I got sick at the beginning of december and had to pause training to the end of the year. My sleep was fine the whole month - I fell asleep pretty fast and slept up to 9 hours without any break - no matter what I ate . As I started back into training with low volume and moderate intensity (I started the bridge v3), my sleep went from really nice to really bad from one day to the other.
Do you have any idea how to approach this problem? I would like to train and sleep, not only one train or sleep 
As it may be helpful, here are some facts of me:
- Age: 38
- BW: 101 kgs
- Height: 190 cm
- About 20 years of training
- Were pretty overweighted at my younger years (140 kgs at the age of 14)
If there are any questions, just ask!
Kind regards
Kim
Hey Kim,
Welcome to the forum, though I wish it was under better circumstances.
While it is possible that sleep could be affected by recent training and/or nutrition practices, we should also not rule out other causes for insomnia. I think it would be reasonable to discuss with a sleep medicine physician to assess you thoroughly, rule out any other causes, and develop a plan to manage this. The reason I say this is that you’ve been training for 20-years and your sleep only recently has become compromised in the past few years per your report. It seems plausible something else may be going on, you know? Sleeping more when ill and a probable sleep debt sounds pretty normal to me.
Regarding training, I would strongly recommend AGAINST any program where most/all of the sets are taken to failure. Not saying this is responsible for your experience, but it’s definitively not necessary and certainly could be contributory from an overreaching perspective. The sleep issues upon retraining could be related to training time, e.g. if it’s late in the day, if caffeine is involved, etc.
I would also recommend against a low carbohydrate diet or intermittent fasting when training for performance and/or facing some sleep issues. Large intake of food before bed, as is typically performed with time restricted feeding/intermittent fasting, can certainly be stimulating.
Unfortunately, there are few easy answers here. Would recommend following up with your physician and inquiring about referral to a sleep medicine professional. Would also recommend limiting caffeine after 12pm, training before 4-5pm, and not doing intermittent fasting.
Hey Jordan,
thank you for your quick and detailled answer!
In my first post I wanted to say, that my sleep has not been great all the years I’m training, but has become even worse the last years. To be honest, I’m a bit confused, what maybe the reason. I’m a person that is pretty sensitive to stress and everything that surrounds me, so I thought about different possible reason for my sleep problems the last years. But when getting back to training last week, it seemed so clear to me, that the only factor that changed was the training. No stress, no work, everything was fine 
Today I wouldn’t run this kind program again and I know that low-carb and intermittent fasting is not the best for performance goals (I didn’t know BarbellMedicine in 2018 ). I just know, that I never had a sleep as good as in that period in my whole training career even though running that kind of program and diet - I don’t know why and thought maybe I just missed some information that could explain it.
I think you made a good point! I will make an appointment with my doctor and ask for professionell assistance. I will keep you informed.
Limiting caffeine is no problem for me as I don’t drink coffe or energy drinks, only one or two cups of tea before 5 pm 
Kind Regards
Kim 
Heh, no stress, no work, and better sleep?! Sounds like a dream to me 
I do think that a thorough assessment and workup would be beneficial here. Let me know what comes of it, if you feel comfortable doing so.