Does anyone else have trouble sleeping after an evening workout?
I got a new trainer for Christmas and I’ve done a few workouts of about an hour in duration ending around 8:30 pm. Later in the evening I’ve had trouble falling asleep, well after my heart rate is back to normal.
Any non-pharmaceutical suggestions? Should I just work out earlier? Should I eat dinner before or after?
Maybe Power Cranks would help? 
No problems here. I do late night workouts all the time, varying between 30 min. and 3 hours. I often finish just before midnight, sometimes later. Hot shower and sometimes a protein drink and then maybe 30 minutes of surfing the internet and I am primed for sleep.
I sometimes have problems sleeping after running or biking late. I have no problem sleeping after swimming, in fact I sleep easier and better after a swim workout. I don’t know why this is because I was a competitive swimmer in my youth, so it’s not because it’s a hard workout. The bike and the run are harder workouts for me, so you would think this would work better for sleep. Also, I think it’s harder for me to sleep as I get older. I used to sleep easy and like a rock, now, not so much.
yes! Due to work schedule all my training is at 7PM and sleep quality is very bad even with a 4 hour sleep the day before it is really hard to fall asleep. Also i can sleep really good on rest days and weekends where I workout earlier.
An interesting study just came out that said working out before sleep does not affect (effect?) sleep. I have no idea what intensities they were talking about but I suspect if you do a search on the New York Times website you’ll be able to find the article I’m talking about. It’s only a month or two or three old. I bet it was only lower intensity exercise. But who knows.
John
I’ve found that eating before (2 hrs+), then having something small/light for recovery works best. I never feel like I sleep as deeply if I sleep on a full stomach.
I experience this on sunday nights sometimes if I had a big weekend of volume which I normally do. It seems if I finish training after 3:30 or 4 PM and don’t take some time to lay down and relax late afternoon I have trouble sleeping that night. Otherwise I get a 2nd workout in almost daily after work usually 1-2 hours but never have trouble sleeping during the week.
Until my HR drops below about 60, I find it harder to fall asleep. Being tired is not enough – maybe the HR causes my mind to race. I never train hard after 7pm.
Our masters swim workouts are rather late in the evenings - 7:45 - and we swim hard for an hour and a half. Interestingly, if we do speework I sleep really well when I get home (which is 9:30 - 9:45pm). If we do endurance workouts, I’m pumped and I can’t get to sleep. This is troublesome because I go to spin class at 5:30am the following morning 
This is probably the article that Trihanrahan was referring to: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/13/health/nutrition/13Best.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=exercise+and+sleep&oref=slogin.
It does mention a difference in the effects of low intensity vs high intensity exercise.
and then maybe 30 minutes of surfing the internet and I am primed for sleep.
could it be the “Pojrn Solution” that helps with the sleep?
Andrew