Restless/difficulty sleeping after riding?

Sewinman

I wondered if anyone else had experienced this - I seem to have trouble sleeping after a long ride. My legs and arm muscles seem restless and I feel like constantly moving around. It can last for a few nights if I follow up with commuting. I was dead tired last night but my legs were all over the place!

It does not happen when I hit the booze, but am trying to avoid that.

Aidy

I actually have the opposite problem.

I find it very hard to sleep unless I'm physically tired - one of the reasons I took up commuting by bike.

TimeEventParadox

Straight after a ride it's probably just adrenalin, why it should last a few nights is a mystery.
I too am a terrible sleeper, I have tried all the so called sleep aids out there, most of them just give me a dry mouth and make the sleeplessness worse.
Any recommendations welcome.

I have found that taking an anti histamine just before I go to bed helps a little, but I wake up groggy as a result.

essex-commuter

I sleep really easily...except after a long ride. Anything over 100 miles or so at a decent pace and my legs twitch and I constantly find myself moving around in the bed. I'm always the same for a few days after running marathons too.

More stretching, recovery drinks...maybe that would help? Thinking aloud here, not talking from experience.

jonginge

When I used to do evening TTs it would take several hours to come down from the adrenalin/endorphin high. Similar thing happens if I do an RP 3LC of an evening.

Twitchy legs suggests either you're undertrained for the level of exertion you've just put in or your muscles could be on the verge of cramping. You could try upping your salt (and other micro-nutrient) intake a touch in the evening...

MonkeyMonster

from a biological point of view - you'll have lots of waste products from all the exercise - sorry toxins, silly me - and likely a reduction in some/most of the micro let alone macro nutrients from the long ride. Everyone is different and I hate the idea myself but perhaps try a multi vitamin along with stretching, drinking water an all - have you tried having a hot bath after?
I am going to presume that you drink lots of water at least post ride - do you also replace salt etc? Thinking out loud as to why alcohol (presumably beer/guiness) stops it from happening - the beer does have lots of little odd ions and things in it.
Personally I have a big hot bath and that I find always relaxes the legs otherwise I find they cramp up more easily.

/2cents

essex-commuter

JonGinge wrote:

Twitchy legs suggests either you're undertrained for the level of exertion you've just put in...

In my case I would say it wasn't that. It's just pushing myself to the limit in race situations or simulated training.

Headhuunter

I find it hard to sleep the night after a killer ride. I sometimes find that my heart rate remains relatively high for the rest of the day (not absolutely pounding away or anything but up at around 50 odd bpm rather than down in the low 40s as it usually is). I don't particularly find that my legs are twitchy.

Twitching legs suggests a lack of salts I think or I heard somewhere that it can be caused by lack of vitamin B..... B12 I think more specifically.

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Neurology/ ... how/642495

http://www.diagnose-me.com/cond/C254143.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restless_legs_syndrome

notsoblue

Big Ride + Big Feed = Out like a light

For me at least...

EKE_38BPM

I've recently discovered the benefits of having a shower after a ride instead of a bath.
When in the shower I alternate the temperature between hot and cold (mainly on my legs) for a few minutes. Maybe not as good as the pro's ice bath, but I've heard that it speeds up the process of getting the lactic acid out of your muscles.

I find it really refreshing, but I can still sleep afterwards. Seem to recover much quicker and the recovery ride the next day is easier to face and easier to do.

Sewinman

Thanks for the tips, I had better look into 'recovery' as I currently have a few glasses of milk and that is it.

I just think the beer/wine makes me comfortably numb.

rjsterry

EKE_38BPM wrote:

I've recently discovered the benefits of having a shower after a ride instead of a bath.
When in the shower I alternate the temperature between hot and cold (mainly on my legs) for a few minutes. Maybe not as good as the pro's ice bath, but I've heard that it speeds up the process of getting the lactic acid out of your muscles.

I find it really refreshing, but I can still sleep afterwards. Seem to recover much quicker and the recovery ride the next day is easier to face and easier to do.

+1 This works a treat for sore legs and gives a pleasant tingly sensation to the legs, although it may make you catch your breath the first time you switch on the cold (needs to be properly cold to make the blood vessels near the skin contract). Hadn't connected it to a good night's sleep, but that's not to say it doesn't help, and I think it does help the twitching (I sometimes get this in the evening after a fast ride home - a sudden urge to kick my legs out while eating my dinner).

jonny_trousers

Sewinman wrote:

I wondered if anyone else had experienced this - I seem to have trouble sleeping after a long ride. My legs and arm muscles seem restless and I feel like constantly moving around. It can last for a few nights if I follow up with commuting. I was dead tired last night but my legs were all over the place!

Never really had it from riding (probably hadvn't done enough yet), but I sometimes get the exact same symptoms after a really big workout in the gym. Never really sorted it, but lots of good ideas to try above.

essex-commuter

rjsterry wrote:

a sudden urge to kick my legs out while eating my dinner).

Wehey!

lost_in_thought

Yeah, I get this sometimes too, not sure exactly why.

I will definitely try all the things above, my current tactics are to drink a whole lot of water and see what happens, but that's my go-to tactic for all ills really!

Headhuunter

Perhaps also cut down on caffeine drinks. I had a friend who used to get a twitchy eyelid. The doctor said give the coffee a break for a week or 2 and hey presto, the twitch was gone...

lost_in_thought

It isn't really like a twitch though, more a feeling that I must move my legs now. Like, NOW.

Aidy

Presumably it means your body wasn't done cycling yet, and you should get out and get some more miles in?

My cure-all tactic tends to be to hop out on the bike

Sewinman

Headhuunter wrote:

Perhaps also cut down on caffeine drinks. I had a friend who used to get a twitchy eyelid. The doctor said give the coffee a break for a week or 2 and hey presto, the twitch was gone...

I get a twitchy eye lid too. Will try the no coffee thing....but ahahaahah! :evil: :shock:

suzyb

lost_in_thought wrote:

It isn't really like a twitch though, more a feeling that I must move my legs now. Like, NOW.

I get that as well, regardless of whether I've went out for a ride or not. I think it's restless legs syndrome.

rjsterry

I think it is very similar to cramping - perhaps a kind of pre-cramp. It certainly feels similar to me, and seems to coincide with those rather dramatic cramps where you wake up in the middle of the night with your calf muscle trying to pull your foot off at the ankle.

Headhuunter

suzyb wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

It isn't really like a twitch though, more a feeling that I must move my legs now. Like, NOW.

I get that as well, regardless of whether I've went out for a ride or not. I think it's restless legs syndrome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restless_legs_syndrome

dodgy

I get this after a longish ride, too. I call it 'dancing legs', I just have to keep moving them. I've tried a couple of things, Nocte powder may have helped me, not sure - perhaps a coincidence that it wasn't that bad last time I did a long ride and drank some.

lost_in_thought

Headhuunter wrote:

suzyb wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

It isn't really like a twitch though, more a feeling that I must move my legs now. Like, NOW.

I get that as well, regardless of whether I've went out for a ride or not. I think it's restless legs syndrome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restless_legs_syndrome

That sounds kinda like one of those made up diseases.

Interesting that they cite low blood sugar levels as a possible cause though, I often get it when (like last night) I've failed to have dinner.

Headhuunter

lost_in_thought wrote:

Headhuunter wrote:

suzyb wrote:

lost_in_thought wrote:

It isn't really like a twitch though, more a feeling that I must move my legs now. Like, NOW.

I get that as well, regardless of whether I've went out for a ride or not. I think it's restless legs syndrome.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restless_legs_syndrome

That sounds kinda like one of those made up diseases.

Interesting that they cite low blood sugar levels as a possible cause though, I often get it when (like last night) I've failed to have dinner.

But it's on Wikipedia! It can't be made up! Don't you have any respect for the font of all knowledge? Seriously though, it's definitely something I've heard of, even before looking it up on Wiki

rjsterry

RLS sounds a bit more serious than what most are describing here, especially as it correlates so well with hard/sustained exercise. Having said that, there might be a related mechanism creating similar but milder symptoms.

MonkeyMonster

it is genuine but while due to statistics there might be 1 or maybe 2 at a push people on here who have it as a genuine condition - the rest of you have "restless legs" because you just used em quite ferociously... stop being such a bunch of lilly livered hyperchondriacs - and drink more than a few glasses of milk after training hard - sewy you should know better! LiT has her magic hair - the rest of us need to be more sensible

snailracer

My legs can get mildly inflamed after a hard ride, which irritates them enough that they fidget when trying to sleep. Aspirin fixes it, for me.

Headhuunter

MonkeyMonster wrote:

it is genuine but while due to statistics there might be 1 or maybe 2 at a push people on here who have it as a genuine condition - the rest of you have "restless legs" because you just used em quite ferociously... stop being such a bunch of lilly livered hyperchondriacs - and drink more than a few glasses of milk after training hard - sewy you should know better! LiT has her magic hair - the rest of us need to be more sensible

There we have it. The doctor has spoken. Now get back to work.

suzyb

MonkeyMonster wrote:

it is genuine but while due to statistics there might be 1 or maybe 2 at a push people on here who have it as a genuine condition - the rest of you have "restless legs" because you just used em quite ferociously... stop being such a bunch of lilly livered hyperchondriacs - and drink more than a few glasses of milk after training hard - sewy you should know better! LiT has her magic hair - the rest of us need to be more sensible

Well the one will be me then. I've had the problem for a lot longer than I've cycled

rjsterry

Got it tonight after my extended commute into a headwind. Sat here on the sofa having to keep lifting my legs up

EDIT: No trouble getting some shut-eye; fell asleep on the above mentioned sofa :oops: .