Been struggling with insomnia after overtraining

[AtLeastTry]

Hi there,

Im not over 35. But im posting here because people on this forum have hopefully more experiance on things like this. The teen section has alot of breast feeders that think they know everything and trying to convince me i never came close to overtraining, which i obviously did.

So I was wondering if there is anybody who knows about overtraining. I had a case of overtraining where i took a couple weeks off and my sleep got better but this time i feel like i damaged my nerves somehow and have no clue how long its gonna heal. I read that it takes 6 months to 2 years with true overtraining syndrome. Ive had insomnia for a year. I went to doctors, did blood tests, all is great. But nobody knows whats wrong with me. I even did the sleep behavioral therapy. but my insomnia is more connected to overtraining than bad sleep habits.
Anybody have any information, tips, experiances? I would appreciate it.

Read Below, I describe my training, where i went wrong.

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Ive worked out since 2013, 4days a week, 1 hour sessions. 2800calries, and lots of carbs/proteins. That was fine until...

A year ago while the last 3months of college. i started working out with a friend who showed me the way he works out.

It was high volume. I was spending 3.5-5 hours in the gym every day. Also no rest days, we worked out 7 days a week.. Yeah now i know.
3 weeks into this routine, plus constant deadlines on homework and projects, 7 hour classes 5 days a week.

Then one day on the third week, Was a really stressful and busy day.
Went home did my project, and as soon as i went to bed and released that stress, i started having all the symptoms, Restless legs, agitation, anxiety, etc. Couldnt sleep all night and every night since, for more than 2-5 hours per night.
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My Restless legs, extreme agitation, anxiety, etc. All of these continued til about 2-3 months ago.
Because 3months ago, I stopped going out anywhere just sat at home, and my symptoms improved.

But at this point if i go out for a walk longer than 10 mins i feel the same symptoms, and i wont fall asleep all night.
If i stay home and relax, i get 3-5 hours sleep, and i can just exist, but cannot work and its even hard to drive.
Really hoping that i can recover whatever the time it takes.

[BillPhoto]

I had issues sleeping after training at night and it turned out to be the protein shake I was having about an hour before going to bed. So I swapped to Cassein protein and that's seemed to fix the issue

[Garage Rat]

When are you training?
Training in the evening can possibly cause that.
You metabolism and nervous system are still active after you train even if go to bed an hour or two later.
It happens to me when i do cardio in the evening.
Advise like using casein from above is good and could try ZMA also which has magnesium that can help you relax.
Also don't eat to later in the evening.
The answer to your above question is yes super intense training can be the issue as well as just pre sleep habits.

[Cantplankwell]

I work out mostly in the evening right now, its a fairly intense routine...for me anyway. most of my workouts take 1 to 2 hours. I also play hockey late on one night, often not getting off the ice till 11pm. All of these nights I have no trouble getting to sleep but often wake after about 2-4 hours and have trouble getting back to sleep, I know its because of the effect the activity has on my CNS, I can't explain why.... when I wake up I have a feeling of restless agitation and sometimes even a faster heart-rate. During the holidays and some of January I missed some time in the gym and hockey and I generally slept better. Pretty soon I switch to mornings mostly, my sleeping will probably improve with the change. This sleep issue has been generally a problem for me in the last 3-4 years, my Dr. had me stay over at a sleep clinic, they wired me up like a stereo, tomorrow I go and get the results. My guess its stressful life situations that have been occurring, the evening lifting is no doubt making it worse....and I think I have just fallen into a bad pattern.

[OldFartTom]

Different things work for different people, you've got to try things intelligent systematically and work out which help.
Try going for a slow gentle jog (*not* a hard run that will generate endorphins!) jog at geriatric speed for 30 mins, you need to go slow enough that you feel really self-conscious about how slow it is, do that near to bed time.

[hunter2001]

You could try melatonin. I work out at like 8 pm every night where I usually injest a copious amount of pre workout, but melatonin knocks me out by like 1.