Exercise at night
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Anonymous
| I am switching to a new role at work and I now have pretty much no convenient time to exercise. For various reasons early morning doesn’t work. So I guess I’m looking at evening after my kids are asleep. I have done this before for yoga and chill exercise but not my main workouts. Unfortunately I will need to go to sleep no more than 90 minutes after finishing up. Does anyone do this? Any tips? Is this a bad plan? I really don’t know what else to do. |
Anonymous
|
Are you always in the office? I would really suggest fitting it in during the workday if possible. If you WFH, there should be opportunities. Even if you're in the office a lot, there can be opportunities (gym in the building? Bike to work?).
Evening can work (and I'm also not an early morning person so I empathize) but it may be an uphill battle. There will be likely many days where you are too tired and push it off. |
Anonymous
| Yep, do not love it. But it is better than not exercising because anxiety will hurt your sleep also. |
Anonymous
| I wish I had some tips but I just can't sleep within hours of exercise at night. |
Anonymous
| Yes I work out at night after my kids go to sleep. I think I spent so many years sleep deprived that something as small as a workout doesn’t stand in the way of my shuteye. I just work out, cool down for a few minutes, shower and bed. NBD |
Anonymous
| Thanks guys, this is OP. Exercise during the work day is not going to happen regularly anymore, though I’ll try to be prepared to grab opportunities if they do arise (like a day when I can actually take a longer lunch break!) but this may have to be a something is better than nothing approach at least for a while. Tonight I did a barre workout- lets see if I am able to sleep… |
Anonymous
+1 here. I find that if I go to sleep within about an hour to 90 minutes of night exercising, I'm able to sleep okay. If it's longer than that it can be a little hard to actually fall asleep. I do sleep better if I don't exercise within several hours of sleep, but the choice is no exercise or exercise at night-- late it is. At night, I'm much more physically tired so I'm not exactly at my best/strongest. If I'm able to exercise during the day, I can really feel and see a difference in terms of endurance etc. (I mean I just ran on the elliptical for 30 minutes between 10:00 and 10:30 today... It was not great but it was better than nothing) |
Anonymous
| My exercise at night is playing drums. I hit 300% of my mice goal today. |
Anonymous
| Mice lol … obviously I meant move! |
Anonymous
| When I was in my singleton thirties, living in DC, and losing weight I used to run around the Mall at night after dark, around 9 or 10 pm often, or even after around midnight. It worked, I never had any problem sleeping (and at the time 10-20 years ago it was pretty safe and well lit with lots of security guards around). There were lots of other runners doing this, so I wasn't the only night exerciser fwiw. |
Anonymous
Me too. I can't do morning workouts bc I have little kids and their wakeup times are too unpredictable. Give it a try OP, it might work for you. |
Anonymous
| I have heard that if you start exercising at night regularly your body will adjust and get used to it and you eventually won't have trouble falling asleep afterwards. So, if it doesn't work at first keep it up for a little while to see if you adjust. For me, I don't have trouble falling asleep afterwards but I just lose all motivation to make it happen as the day goes on. Good luck! |
Anonymous
Same. When I’m done, I have a 20 minute drive. Then i do quiet things like pack lunch for the next day. |
Anonymous
| Its fine. I used to be a night exerciser. Your body will adjust. In the meantime, try something like melatonin or unisom to ease the transition. |
Anonymous
| I can be on the treadmill from 10 to 11, shower, drink a double espresso, and fall asleep at midnight. But everyone is different. |