[kafin8ed]

I was wondering if anyone had any experience or advice with sleep problems after long rides? If I got out on a 4+ hour epic ride with a lot of climbing (4000 ft+), all singletrack, superfun, etc... I have major difficulty sleeping that night, I'm usually REALLY tired but I feel so exhausted that I can't settle down (if that makes any sense at all?) and I toss & turn all night. If I do a 2 hour fun ride (typicall weekday ride) I sleep fine. If I work out with freeweights at the gym for 1-2hours I always sleep really well. I'm guessing it has something to do with being aerobic for such a long time but I'm not sure what I can do about it. I have at times taken some over-the-counter sleep aids to counter the problem but I'd rather not take route if possible. Anybody out there have any suggestions?

 

[-BB-]

Originally posted by kafin8ed
I was wondering if anyone had any experience or advice with sleep problems after long rides? If I got out on a 4+ hour epic ride with a lot of climbing (4000 ft+), all singletrack, superfun, etc... I have major difficulty sleeping that night, I'm usually REALLY tired but I feel so exhausted that I can't settle down (if that makes any sense at all?) and I toss & turn all night. If I do a 2 hour fun ride (typicall weekday ride) I sleep fine. If I work out with freeweights at the gym for 1-2hours I always sleep really well. I'm guessing it has something to do with being aerobic for such a long time but I'm not sure what I can do about it. I have at times taken some over-the-counter sleep aids to counter the problem but I'd rather not take route if possible. Anybody out there have any suggestions?

Tequila!!

Or warm milk...

 

[RideMonkey]

Long ride + 2 beers = long sleepy

 

[I Are Baboon]

Sorry man. Wish I could help. After I have a long ride, I'm out like a light that night.

 

[The Toninator]

Leg Rest and Restless Leg Syndrome

To Support the Energy in Circulation and Calm in the Legs

Restless leg syndrome induced insomnia is a very common complaint among people of all ages with over 12 million people afflicted within the United States alone. It is generally more prevalent among the elderly.

There are certain patterns in addition to just the restless legs that accompany this problem.

Among them are general pallor, Extreme cold or heat sensations, General indigestion, insomnia, Stress, Stupor, Etc.

From my own personal experience certain foods will aggravate or bring on this very irritable leg problem. If I eat a sizable amount of take out pizza, which at age over 40 can be almost any amount, this being followed by a lay down on the couch to watch television. It is hard to describe the sensation that follows. The feet start to become uncomfortably "itchy-come-irritated" to the point that they cannot just be left resting in place but must be moved. It would be misleading to call this an "allergy."

Of course pizza itself is not the culprit per se, because homemade pizza from good ingredients has no such effect - at least not on me. It is the ingredients however, that should be examined. The "cheap wheat" that is often used along with the artificial quick leavening agents used in commercial pizza making are suspect. Also, if the problem were strictly pizza, places like Italy would have been driven insane by this problem a long time ago.
It should also be mentioned that for some people other chemicals and food additives may provoke RLS. (One person who visited our site from the UK said that monosodium glutamate provoked it in her.) These type of substances are a little hard to cope with because foods naturally are easier for the body to deal with than a chemical. Chemicals are not digested by the body. That is why they are traceable after the fact. Once ingested their effects take their course and until eliminated herbs or anything else will not counteract their effects. Perhaps override them but not stop them until they are eliminated from the body. Sometimes they cannot be counteracted.)

For many simply ingesting too much refined wheat has produced restless leg symptoms. The reason is that the gluten does not break down completely after digestion into something the body can use. It is not the organism that is at fault but a substance that is indigestible. Even though the particle size is minute it still remains undigested, something that is out of place in the blood stream in this form. (When something is cleanly and fully digested it becomes your flesh and blood and is therefore untraceable. This is called assimilation - a concept not accepted by modern science as being plausible. In place of it the concept of absorption is used. These are similar but very different concepts.)

rest of the story http://www.amaluxherbal.com/restless_leg_syndrome.htm

 

[htrdoug]

Sometimes after a long day in the saddle I have trouble getting fully asleep too... but I start having these lucid dreams were I just freakin' downhill for hours(you know how dreams stretch time)I completely know I'm dreaming and can make choices and respond to the trail,It feels just like I'm riding,I wish I knew exactly what the circumstances that get me in this state were so I could recreate it at will.Also I can't seem to be able to introduce a scene were I come upon a group of girls camping in the woods ...

 

[Serial Midget]

4000 feet of climb!!! You the man and I want to ride with you!

I have similar experiences after running ultra marathons with significant elevation gains. If I am out running for 6 or 7 hours I will be totally spent with just enough energy walk. I’ve done 2 ultras this year with elevation gains in excess of 6,000 feet in 31 miles. Even though totally exhausted I will only be able to sleep for maybe 4 hours. My quads are just shredded and for some reason I feel forced to change position every few minutes. I will be running the Cle Ellum Ridge 50K in September; it has 6400 feet of gain – the first climb alone is 3000 ft. I don’t expect to get much sleep that night.

Aside from these temporary episodes, I sleep 8 hours straight without waking up, tossing or turning.

I say just deal with it – epic rides are so worth it and you’ll be back to normal in a few days.

And you’ll be so much stronger. Unless you are totally DH – races are not won on the down side, they’re won on the climbs. I admire those who get out there and make those painfully gruesome climbs.

 

[kafin8ed]

Thanks for all the input everyone, I'm just trying to figure out if I can sleep a bit better is all really, there's no way I'd stop doing epics. I'm gonna look into the restless leg thing it sounds like some dietary experimentation might be in order. Once I did a hiking adventure race the summited 3 peaks for a total of 52 mile hiked, 12,000ft climbed and 12,000feet descended in just over 20 hours, and I slept HORRIBLY that night, although it was on a bed of rocks on a sidehill so... maybe that's totall unrelated but here's a question does anyone know of any herbal remedies that are supposed to relax you and help you sleep better??? i'd much rather take some herb than tylenol PM... I always hear of ginko this and biloba that but never really knew anyone using them so I never tried 'em...

Serial midget - i loooove painfully gruesome climbs, they are the best :devil: in '98 i did the Vision Quest in SoCal: 11,500feet vertical climbed in 56miles, 7hours and 56 minutes. That was pretty sick, but now some of my friends have gone onto do trans alp and la ruta so they have thrown down the gauntlet do go higher. Ultramarathoners are pretty badass, i used to run a lot in highschool XC but not any more my body just can't take the pounding. Running around CleElum has got to be pretty awsome, I know the riding there is great!

 

[Serial Midget]

Originally posted by kafin8ed
does anyone know of any herbal remedies that are supposed to relax you and help you sleep better??? i'd much rather take some herb than tylenol PM...

Fire roasted herb from a little tiny bowl.

 

[The Toninator]

how about meletonin