Exercise and sleep issues

I've been trying to lose weight witch so far has been going well. I started out just using MyFitnessPal. I'm starting to add in exercise by going to the gym, my problem is that I'm finding it to be kind of activating for lack of a better word. Yesterday I went at around 1030 am and went to bed at 1030-1100 pm and slept horribly. This has been how it goes everyday that I go to exercise. Thought exercise was supposed to tire house out not make you sleep bad

So confused, maybe I should take up yoga or tai chi.

I find exercise to keep me up as well. Still I feel better overall when I'm physically active. I don't know if there's a good solution. Maybe yoga or tai chi is worth trying. I do stretching before bed and I find that relaxing.

Now that I've thought about it for a while id really like to do tai chi, I think I'd be better at that than yoga. If I can get up and make it to the gym as early as possible, it works out well bc it wakes me up and then I can slowly chill once I get home. I'm just happy bc I'm getting up and doing something that helps me and my health.

I do need to figure out a nice quiet place I can sit at home without be bothered. Quiet time helps a lot.

I do prefer yoga. It is really very helpful to stay fit. It also keeps your mind calm and more energized.

I also struggle to sleep after exercising. I feel I have to be ambitious and active during the day to keep off the severe weight gain from Abilify (although I'm going on Latuda next). I may be "hyper-vigilant" at night and therefore sleep less. I was told a simple Tai Chi routine may help. That is the direction I'm leaning in. However, I'm not completely giving up running.

Watch out for seroquel. I lived through this problem and was blind to it. Sleep skimming. Increased weight gain even though energized beyond what I could normally accomplish with exercise. Girl in plastic bubble couldn't see or stop problem. Work load production also incredibly accomplishing. Careful o.k. It took me a long time to get out of this bind. Up to size 14 now a size 5 pants down ... cut out sugar and eat more healthy. I do believe innocent people can get addicted. Keep fighting for your healthiest you. No matter how hard the monster raises his head inside you. Good luck to all of us.

bluedragon do you dance?

Oliver,
Ha not in public but one of my favorite games is dance revolution. I don’t have a tv at the moment so I can’t really play :(

I think me and my Dad are going to try and go to TaiChi classes. I really enjoy group glasses and martial arts is always a good way to keep your body and brain engaged.

Hi, Bluedragon,

I take Seroquel 25 mg and Xanax 2 mg before sleep. I mention this because, if I take the medication earlier than 11:00 PM, I wake up at 5:00 AM feeling unrested and desperate about not being able to sleep longer and get rested.

If we were simple machines, we could sleep three hours earlier, awaken three hours earlier. But, we're incredbly complex, at least some of us, paricularly when we take medicine.

I've gained weight on Seroquel, in spite of exercise and a no-sweets, low carb diet.

And, since I started taking 40mg effexor, Infeel calmer and less depressed, but I don't feel like getting up and leaving the house.

I think the idea of finding the perfect medication regime to go with the perfect exercise regimen and perfect eating habits is probably a fantasy.

Nothing and no one is perfect and I really doubt I can adjust mself perfectly, any more than I can adjust my motorcycle perfectly.

If my motorcycle works, then it's good. If I knew what my motorcycle felt, subjectively, all over its "body", that would probably be an overwhelming nightmare.

Both Tai Chi and Yoga are fun once you get how to do it. I bought DDP Yoga and I really like it. It is so hard for me to stay on a regular schedule, I used to have BIG trouble doing hard cardio exercise. I would wind up in a big depression afterwards. DDP Yoga recommends using a heart rate monitor and keeping yourself inside your target zone. This way you burn the calories without overworking your body. I found a great monitor, and when I do exercise, I am able to have a great experience. I have learned that life is one big game of trial and error. Sometimes things work out great, then other times something new is needed. Nothing is wrong with that. Keep trying, and believing in yourself.

Hi bluedragon,

Wow! If you can motivate yourself to get up in the morning and do some form of physical exercise - I'm impressed. At the very least you are definitely off to a good start for the day. It is common for men anyway, to have peak testosterone levels just after waking up. Still, I cannot motivate myself to get up and go in the morn. I have terrible sleeping patterns & I think it would probably help if I did. Often times I end up going to the gym at 11 p.m. or midnight bc I can't sleep anyways. Unfortunately, Ambien (zolpidem), Restoril (temazepam) and any kind of anxiolytic or sedative/hypnotic (which are mostly benzodiazepines) are out of the question for me due to tolerance and dependence issues. Totally NOT worth the risk...

Tia Chi would be awesome I think. I'm going to try it...

I wonder how hard you are working out and if a more intense or lengthy workout would let you sleep better at the end of the day. Research shows a little exercise can cause people to overeat because they think they burned calories and became hungry - but didn't actually burn that many. That is my line of pondering. Maybe a little exercise is activating and more is tiring? You could try it out.

I can't say I notice exercise making it harder for me to sleep.

Exercise promote sleep? It doesn't for me.

Yesterday, I was very angry because, when I get depressed, I eventually get furious at feeling so depressed.

I took my motorcycle out for a wreckless ride toward the beach, and on the way I met my swimming buddy.

We arrived at the beach at sundown and my buddy urged me not to swim far out, but I had to.

I swam furiously toward the horizon and then langorously and then furiously.

Finally, I had some empathy for the (fearful) feelings of my swimming buddy, whom had I asked to stay on the beach with my stuff as I swam.

I swam back to shore, guiding myself in the dark by a mountain behind and beside me.

Once on shore, I had to walk the beach twice to find Manuel (who thought I was dead) and my motorcycle.

At 11:00 PM, talking to my therapist pastor, I din't feel sleepy at all. I could have talked with her until 3:00 AM.

Nothing makes me sleepy except quetiapine and Xanax, when taken together.

I've also found that if I run out of these medicines rhen I am not depressed, I eventually sleep some during the day and some during the night.

A psychiatrist told me I can't sleep because I think too much to sleep. The quetiapine and Xanax together slow down my Central Nervous System (CNS) and even my heart rate and breathing. Then, I sleep.

In September I went to a week long retreat to learn tai chi and qi gong. I went this direction because my physical therapist told me yoga is not really for me because I have some arthritis in my back. He recommended Tai Chi instead. I loved it. Absolutely loved it. However, while it serves to make you more flexible, gives you a better balance and some improved strength, it's not a cardio exercise. You need to do some cardio too.

I found the Tai Chi and the Qi Gong really helped to settle my mind. I felt really at peace that week and slept well. I was then whisked off to Thailand after that week where things got even more interesting.

In Thailand I consulted with an Indian naturopathic doctor. His wife has bipolar disorder and has been able to go off her meds. BUT it takes great discipline to be able to do this. He told me not to try it until I can learn proper breathing, meditating, some light yoga (only four poses), and spending time using a singing bowl. At least an hour a day of these things. Of course I need to have better nutrition, which for me meant drinking a lot more water and taking turmeric. He said maybe when I go back to see him in two years l could be ready. Of course I am not going to abandon a pdoc here-- I am in the middle of getting a new one. But I think western medicine fails us in so many ways. I think a combined approach might be beneficial.

I am also starting to read an interesting book called the Science of Belief. It is written by a cellular biologist and it centers around epigenetics. That is real science--however new agers have taken off with the idea and made it into a pseudoscience. The author has some misconceptions about Christian and Jewish beliefs, so if you are if a Christian, you need to read carefully. The premise of his book is that we are a complex system of cells that can be influenced by our beliefs. We'll see how wacky he gets with this.

Anyway, God gives us thruths in many different places. I am trying to break away from the clutches of the western world and am searching for different approaches to life. Not that being a Christian lacks anything, it's just that we live in such a bloated materialistic society of self centered people that are in love with their cell phones. It is hard not to be dragged down by that. It is refreshing to see how people live half way across the world.

I definitely think that eastern medicine has things to offer. The book sounds interesting, I’ve heard similar ideas before.

There is a Kung fu school here that teaches tai chi too. I’m hoping to eventually be able to go. I really need to get back into exercising, I kinda fell off the wagon.

Artista,

I'm glad you're exploring different places and cultures to see what they offer.

When I was about twenty years old, I knew I wanted to travel the world, but I was afraid I would just learn to be depressed in multiple languages.

That's basically what has happened.

I had a dream this afternoon that I intentionally reckless, after spending the morning doing intentionally reckless things on my motorcycle.

I'm looking (again) at a way to put an end to this, researching laws regarding one of the two most fatal methods. I don't want to experience 30 or more additional years of this.

I was researching flights to Asia this week, to spend a year or more bumbling around there, but I am too depressed (not hypomanic) to do it.

Can you take melatonin and sleepy time tea at night to get you to sleep? Works for me.

Hey Persistance—how are you doing? Thinking of Asia?

Bluedragon— are you doing a Tai Chi?

Artista,

No haven’t made it to Tai Chi yet. I finally have a date for my SSDI hearing, it’ll be January 29th. Hopefully that will go well and I’ll be able to pay for the classes then. I really need to think positive about it

Artista, I was in a place where I felt like I needed to do something radically different. Now, I feel calmer and more contented, so less of a need to *immediately* do something radical.

I still want to go to Asia, but I'll wait until the stars align, or until I once again feel like I will die or go insane (more insane) if I stay where I am.

Right now, I feel pretty well, not needing emotionally to do much of anything at all, besides communicate via FB and Twitter.

I started taking 40 mg of fluoxetine per day along with the quetiapine and alprazolam, along I have weight issues diing this, like most everyone else using these meds.

For right now, I'll just lay in bed and do nothing much at all, interspersed with the occasional walk on the beach with the dogs and swim.

I'd say don't worry about it unless you hit true hypomania. A lot of times new things - new lifestyle changes - might be "activating." Once you get used to it, it will probably be like second nature. Maybe it's just feeling good and being excited about a positive change in your life, which it seems like it is.

Personally I like brutal workouts that you feel the next day. It's particularly a great way to deal with anxiety. Instead of my head feeling like crap my muscles feel like crap. Take that, muscles.