Training Challenge - podcast part 1, nutrition discussion

Certainly an interesting read. I thougt I was the only one who was wired after a game of hockey. I play 10-11 pm on a Friday night before the two hour train/tube/bus ride home. By the time I walk from the station (10 minutes) I am wide awake for another 30-40 minutes before I want to go to sleep. Whats the solution here?

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Those who say it's only a game don't understand the situation.

Tan go to the website Alex is linking to above. There's a heap of food choices and recipes there. Food has to be preplanned and personalized to your needs in order to work for you.

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No solution to that SouthernPuck.
Except make UWH more popular so you can get pool time earlier.

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Slayer of Trolls amongst other things.
Made for the Love of a Good Woman, and not a bad little player too ;-)
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Professional Hair Stylist

The problem could be caused by body temperature. Normal people start to shed body heat in preparation for sleeping. Serious physical activity in the 2 hours before bedtime mucks this up by generating a whole lot more. The trick is (following the logic) to dump body heat somehow. They are working on this with some insomniac patient groups who have been shown to not drop body heat like everybody else.

I used to have this problem getting to sleep after hockey too. In Dunedin I used to get round it by walking home in a t-shirt after hockey (air temp was probably about 4 degs centigrade). This might work well for people in the right sort of climate. Now I live in Sydney -forget about it. A cool shower might do it?

ok then nat, can you explain to me why rigorous activity late at night can also help people fall asleep? god forbid, some people actually have been kno0wn to fall asleep DURING vigorous activity... well maybe not that vigorous. but activity none the less.

??

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench

Or it could be that you're eating a boat load of food (inc sugars) post game.

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Slayer of Trolls amongst other things.
Made for the Love of a Good Woman, and not a bad little player too ;-)
Chumba Concept Salon
Professional Hair Stylist

nope eating food post game isn't a problem [for me]
i find playing/training to be an appetite suppressant.
maybe that's a learned/conditioning response? maybe just the constricted gut, post exercise, gives feeling of fullness?
Dr. Nat; your thoughts?

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And we're talking about vigourous activity, Liam. So it's true. Liam is lazy in bed.

I don't know about conditioned responses etc. Consuming stimulants would cause a reduction in your ability to get to sleep but then meals in general are slightly soporific (sleep inducing). Meal with high GI have also been shown to be slightly more soporific than low GI meals. So food could be having an effect, but it seems to be small and it seems to be in the wrong direction to Carl's argument that food is keeping you awake.

Small changes in body temperature on the other hand are closely related to the ciracdian cycle and to sleep propensity.

On a personal note I usually had the same problem as AMC. I could eat much after training as my stomach seemed to fill up too quickly. Full stomach- but still hungry. Just couldn't eat enough. That's what it felt like anyway. Couldn't tell you for certain whether it was really happening.

Go deeper Nat...
food increases the body temperature, so i am going st it the same way as you.
The type of food hasn't been disclosed. Most adults know not to indulge in caffiene, sugar etc (yet many do).
But other foods can also act as stimulae, or as Nat says, increase the bodies temperature.

So if you put both theories to the test;
Don't eat, jump in an ice bath and you'll sleep (or die!)

I'd assert that that isn't going to be too popular.
So late night games are hard to manage around - thats life.

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Slayer of Trolls amongst other things.
Made for the Love of a Good Woman, and not a bad little player too ;-)
Chumba Concept Salon
Professional Hair Stylist

I wouldn't go as far as an ice bath -that might have the opposite effect to making you feel sleepy.

Having uncovered arms/hands/feet in a cooler climate may well be enough (so 'dress' like Benson) and hence my Dunedin example. Somebody who has this problem and lives in a warmer climate might want to try putting their feet and or hands in cold/cool water (i.e. not freezing cold) or having a cool shower after hockey and report back to us?

Eating food does have a short term thermic effect on body temp. I don't know whether the dumping of this heat might be part of the post meal sleep propensity increase? I'll try to remember to ask the guy whos doing the sleep propensity and high and low GI meals what he thinks might be going on with this.