Anxiety and sleep

[Ivegottheruns]

I've always suffered from phases of anxiety, to different extremes, and in my 20s my sleep was terribly disturbed. Since having my first child 11 years ago the sleep has actually been fine. I have 4 children now and assume I'm so tired I just drift off easily and only wake when they need me, which is still frequently ha ha!

I started c25k at the end of march and completed it yesterday, but the confusing thing is that since starting my anxiety and sleep has got noticeably worse.

Has anyone else experienced this?! As you can see I'm knocking in the door of 40 and so I know all kinds of issues can arise at my age (boo!) But I believe this is quite hereditary and my mother didn't go through menopause until at least her late 50s plus the onset of this change exactly coincides with c25k!!! So my gut feeling is it isn't perimenopausal.

I was expecting my mood etc to be much improved. I'm not planning to quit, just confused by it.

[drl212 Graduate]

I'm really sorry you are having these symptoms and can't really give you much advice. These feelings aren't familiar to me.

Perhaps start keeping a symptom diary and note how you feel each day/when feelings occur/any associations? This would be good information should you decide to seek assistance from your GP or other health professional.

[Oldfloss Administrator Graduate]

Oh gosh. Well... this is tricky. One thing will impact on another. Anxiety usually equals poor sleep.

The time when child care is prevalent is a time when we often are able to sleep, as you say, pure exhaustion.

Maybe.. since doing C25K there's a bit of guilt creeping in...too much time spent out running, fitting things in, overthinking things?

Hormonal changes as you've mentioned before?

A body not used to regular exercise, now fired up and buzzing?

It could be anything...so..what to do.

First

Relax...many of us have had periods similar to this.

Mine...? Overthinking on a massive scale after Mr OF had his heart attack last July.

Loads of my past posts on that subject, on the S and F forum.

This one, just might be helpful to you?

healthunlocked.com/strength...

What I would suggest...ease back now some gentle relaxed runs...some lovely walks...take a look at the yoga for relaxing, posts on S and F...and try to begin to focus on the positive awesome things you've done and achieved.

We're here for you and I feel together, we can weather this .

Just breathe....you can get through this x

[Yesletsgo Administrator Graduate]

Congratulations on completing C25K! What an achievement especially as mum to four little ones

Can I ask what time of day you're running? I'm sure I've read that if you run too close to bedtime you'll be all fired up when you should be winding down.

If you can't fall asleep, one little trick I do to help myself is that I get really comfortable then imagine it's morning and I've woken up just before the alarm goes off. My bed is soooo comfortable and the outside world is so uninviting, I'll just grab a couple of extra minutes......zzzzzzzz

Good luck!

[BahamaMama1 Graduate]

As mentioned above - I used to swim with a club in the evening and would never sleep after a swim set. I run in the morning and that seems to work for me.

[Sandraj39 Graduate]

It’s more usual to feel less anxious and sleep better when introducing exercise, I think. What time of day are you running? I have read that exercising in the 3 hours before bedtime can affect quality of sleep (for some people) as running increases our heart rate, body temperature and adrenaline levels (as well as the feel good endorphins, of course🙂). I think this is probably more likely if you are doing lots of speed intervals and very vigourous workouts so Oldfloss gives good advice when she suggests slowing things down and enjoying the ride!🙂🏃‍♀️

As someone who has struggled with anxiety, I cannot over-emphasise what a difference running has made to my life! I think it helped through the menopause too for me (I am 59 now).

Good luck🙂