Exercising in the evening, cannot sleep.

[MrZi]

Hi All, I normally exercise in the early morning - around 6am. I have recently changed jobs and this is no longer feasable. I now have to train after work, around 5:30-6(ish)pm.

This is giving me trouble sleeping. Heart palpitations, the shakes etc...

I had it so badly last week, I thought I needed an ambulance as I had never had it that badly before. I thought it was blood sugar related. But I have had that checked at the doctors - all fine. My doctor thinks it's an over-reactive thyroid causing this. I have had this before when training in the evenings, and the symptoms have only lasted a few days, then back to normal and I can training in the evenings again.

It's odd. Like my body isn't used to the new routine so my thyroid goes mad. The settles on its own.

It last (apart from last week) happened about a year ago.

How would I deal with this and has anyone experienced anything similar?

Thanks

[greygoose]

Do you have a thyroid condition, MrZi? If so, can you post your latest lab results, so that we can see what's going on? Very difficult to answer questions in a vacuum, like that, without any information.

[MrZi in reply to greygoose]

I have nothing diagnosed. I'm going to the doctors for blood work next week so they can determine what was going on.

[greygoose in reply to MrZi]

Good. Well, don't forget to ask for a print-out of your results. If you live in the UK, it is your legal right to have one. Then, you can post them on here, with the ranges, and let's see if we can spot something.

[humanbean]

Your cortisol level is at its highest in the morning and approaching its lowest in the evening.

If your body is not good at producing cortisol, and needs more as a result of the exercise, or it can produce cortisol well and produces too much as a result of the exercise, it could well affect you the way you describe.

I know there is a connection between cortisol and exercise but I'm not sure of the details, you'd need to look it up. You may need cortisol to do the exercise and/or your body may produce cortisol in response to the exercise.

There could be a blood sugar connection. Low blood sugar will increase cortisol if the body is capable of producing it (I think).

You could try doing the exercise after a meal instead of before (or vice versa).

[MrZi in reply to humanbean]

Is cortisol linked to thyroid?

[humanbean in reply to MrZi]

Yes. High cortisol will lower TSH and reduce conversion from T4 to T3. I'm not so sure of the effects of low cortisol on thyroid. I know they aren't good either though.