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Has exercise helped your mental health?
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this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2024
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This is really frustrating to type out, but honestly no. I've been working out consistently for 2-3 months now, and if anything I feel more tired and irritated throughout the day than I did before. I've got a lot on my plate right now, so it's possible that the extra activity minus a little bit of sleep is to blame rather than the exercise itself. I look and feel much stronger than I did before, and I'd like to think that my mental attitude has improved, but honestly ever since I started working out I just always want to be in bed.
I think you’ve identified the issue. Sleep is just as important. Substituting one for the other won’t get you anywhere.
That said, personally I find it much easier to sleep when I am exercising adequately.
It's really just the time aspect of things. Working out when I get home means everything else I need to do gets pushed back at least an hour. I'd love to get a better sleep schedule, and I've been trying to focus on it the last week or two, but I've just got so much crap to do and having no time to decompress between activities is wearing me out. Sometimes I have to eat dinner and go straight to bed, which my body does not like. I'll figure something out eventually, but right now things just kinda suck 🤷🏾♂️
My watch pointed out my HRV suffers if I eat right before bed. It shows how "restful" my sleep is and if I eat in the last two hours before bed, the sleep barely gets into "rest" levels. Like equivalent to sitting down in a chair instead of sleeping for the first couple hours.
I know it sucks but maybe consider a larger lunch and just a light protein shake or something before bed if you really need calories then. I'm still figuring all this out too, but that really makes a big difference for me
I have had a very similar and frustrating experience where I've been exercising regularly since the beginning of the year pretty much but my insomnia honestly felt like it got worse so I was just exhausted all the time, plus frustrated that I wasn't able to do as much stuff that I actually enjoyed because working out would take up extra time in my day, and on top of that I haven't seen any weight loss from it (despite also dieting). In the past I never had this issue and I'd be able to work out regularly and feel better and healthier so I'm not sure if it's just my worsening mental health or new stressors or what but it's awful.
Yup definitely feel you on the "not having enough time" aspect of things. I think that's one of the major factors to my situation, at least for my general mood. My schedule is pretty much wake up, go to school/work, come home and work out, get some stuff ready for my DnD game, then go to sleep. Outside of the DnD stuff, I've barely had any free time to just chill or play videogames. Since working out, my days have had to be planned damn near down to the minute and it's so exhausting feeling like I always need to be doing something.
Exercising just does not work for everyone. If your stress levels are extreme, it might not benefit you. You might need to find another way to reduce stress first.
I feel like when I do a good workout I need about an hour MORE sleep to recover. If you are getting less, I feel like that will cause a significant struggle.