Do you notice a pattern between heavy exercise and light sleep?

“Wow,” said my housemate when I got back from my run last night, “you look wrecked. Your hair is kind of everywhere and… wow…”

I beamed at her, face red, hair frizzballed, sweating profusely and promptly slumped onto the counter. “I’m knackered!” I announced proudly, sitting up and guzzling my water like it was a drink of champions.

Five minutes later she told a joke and I laughed and laughed and laughed. Really loudly and for quite a long time. Everytime I revisited the joke in my mind it sent me into bellows of laughter again. This happened a number of times throughout the evening, including when I was clapped out on my bed and she threw my phone at my head (it was a helpful throw, I was too exhausted to move, I think that’s important to indicate).

Later, after a very ill-advised 10pm bowl of Sugar Puffs, I tossed and turned and giggled to myself as I tried and utterly failed to drop into a restful night’s sleep. Dozing I managed, a little bit of reading was achievable too, but other than that I lay on the bed and buzzed out of my head.

I’ve experience this kind of thing before after heavier than usual, strenuous exercise. I’ll return feeling exhausted and sure that a quick bath and some dumpy food are all it will take to send me off into a deep and satisfying sleep and actually the opposite happens. I toss and turn, feel playful and euphoric but cannot catch those much needed z’s. [Read more…]