How can I exercise without getting insomnia from it?

Post Reply New Topic

I've been wanting to loose weight, but when I exercise, especially cardio exercise, which I was told to, to help loose weight, causes me to get insomnia. Even if I try to do it earlier in the day before the evening, I still get insomnia from it. Is there anything I can do to sleep but also be able to exercise to loose weight?

I am in the same situation but I recently learned what causes this. You would think that the more strenuous the exercise but better you would sleep but that is not always the case.

I found out that I have what they call histamine intolerance. Certain foods can cause an over-abundance of histamine in one's system but unfortunately physical exertion can also trigger such a condition. I will leave it to you to research the subject online for details and to determine if you have it too.

I recommend you start doing some not-so-strenuous exercise but resolve to do it daily so that you still burn some extra calories but are able to avoid a major release of histamine. The best exercise that fits that description is walking. I have been walking for over 30 years so am very used to it. I generally walk 2 to 2.5 miles a day. Granted I am retired now but even when I worked I would walk on my lunch hour, taking 15-20 minutes to eat and then the rest of the time walking.

I hope this helps.

I would think exercising would actually help you sleep better ...

Nick007: In reading about this online, sources vary on the effectiveness of an antihistamine. Some say it was no help while others say it helped at least somewhat.

Green0star: Yes, one would think but that is not always the case. I found if I bicycled 30+ miles including climbing some challenging hills, I slept poorly. But if I bicycled less than 20 miles on a more moderate course, I slept much better.

Histamine intolerance is not recognized by western medicine as a legitimate concern, similar to their response to hypoglycemia and fibromyalgia. Which means, bottom line, they can't prescribe a pill and make any $$$ off of it.

Oh okay thanks, I haven't tried antihestimines yet. I tried the tea before actually, and it worked. But I would wake up about four hours into the night having to pee from it though, and couldn't back to sleep after, the nights when I tried it before.

Good news! I just found out that consuming ginger will help to eliminate the accumulated histamine. Whether its in the form of the spice (ground ginger) or a tea, it seems to help. Unfortunately I have not had an opportunity to test it around exercising. I pulled a muscle in my hip area about a month ago and have not been able to go cycling or walking since. But I can tell you I have been sleeping 8 hours a night since I began having the ginger tea at breakfast and I haven't done that since I was a teenager. And with no exercise. That is why I took up walking in my early 30s, to try to sleep better.

Can you stagger your workouts? I do two a day workouts. I do cardio/bodyweight in the AM, and compound lifting or circuits in the PM. It doesn't keep me up at the end of the day.

Diamond Dallas Page offers a form of yoga that is meant to operate in the cardio/fat burning range. On dvd.

I need to bring up the concept of the histamine bucket. It helps to visualize the amount of histamine in your system as if it filled a bucket to a particular point. And of course the objective is to keep the bucket as empty as possible altho it will never get completely empty. The amount of histamine in the bucket we can tolerate varies from person to person and over time within one person. Signs of intolerance to histamine are insomnia but also skin maladies (itching, rash, etc), nausea, even muscle stiffness and pain.

What puts more histamine into the bucket? Some foods contain a lot of histamine, such as red meat (beef and pork) while other foods may trigger the release of histamine by the body even tho they do not contain much histamine themselves. These triggers vary widely from person to person and you have to identify your own. Thus the need for keeping records of what you eat. Other triggers besides food include exercise and possibly intense mental activity. Oh and alcoholic drinks are a common trigger too btw.

What reduces the amount of histamine in the bucket? Left alone an excess of histamine will be processed and eliminated over 24-48 hours. Consuming ginger hastens the elimination somewhat.

How can you avoid filling up the histamine bucket? As you would expect, avoid foods that either contain histamine or that trigger its release for you. And days you exercise, have a vegetarian (or at least fish or chicken) supper. If necessary, eat as little red meat as possible or eliminate it entirely as I have done.

If it overlooked anything, let me know. I will check back in soon.