If you’re always feeling sleepy after morning workout, this article will show you how morning exercisers can stay alert and energetic after the workout.
Whether you’re a morning person or not, you know that exercising in the morning has many benefits. It boosts metabolism, encourages healthy eating throughout the day, and keeps you energetic.
One common problem most morning exercisers have (and one that I’ve had myself) is feeling sleepy after the workout. This shouldn’t happen since exercise is supposed to energize you. Therefore, it means you’re doing something wrong.
Before you give up on morning workouts, follow the tips below to avoid feeling sleepy after morning workout.
Ways to avoid feeling sleepy after morning workout
1. Get to bed early
You have to change your sleeping routine once you start doing morning workouts. Sleep a little earlier than you used to.
It’s also important to sleep deeply, you can be sleep deprived if you keep waking up in the middle of the night. Therefore, learn how to sleep deeply every night.
Get 7 to 8 hours of deep sleep every night. Sleeping for 6 hours or less will lower your workout performance and make you feel tired all day.
2. Eat bananas or apples before the workout
The body doesn’t have much energy in the morning since we’ve fasted for 8 hours. Therefore, eating high-carb snacks like bananas before the workout will replenish glucose stores and energize you.
Some experts recommend eating snacks 30 minutes before the workout. But I’ve found that eating a banana right before the workout doesn’t do any harm.
3. Drink 2 glasses of water before the workout
It’s never a good idea to exercise without drinking water. Dehydration causes fatigue, which may make you sleepy after exercising. Drink water 10-15 minutes before the workout.
It’s also important to drink water during and after the workout. In fact, doing this will prevent overeating in your next meal.
Feel free to squeeze in lemon juice into the water if you don’t want to drink plain water.
4. Reduce workout duration
Most times you will feel sleepy after exercising if your workout is too long or challenging. If you push yourself too much you’ll feel like going back to bed right after the workout.
Keep morning workouts short and moderately challenging. Don’t exercise for more than 30 minutes. In fact, it would be better to stick to 15 – 20-minute workouts. Short workouts will energize you without tiring you.
If you’ve been led to believe that you have to exercise for hours in order to stay in shape, I’m here to tell you that it’s all a lie. You can transform your body with short workouts as long as you stay consistent.
5. Drink green tea before the morning workout
Drinking green tea has two benefits. For one thing, green tea contains caffeine, which improves performance and fat burning during a workout, research shows. Secondly, caffeine can keep you awake after the workout since it increases alertness.
Coffee is also a great alternative. Avoid adding sweeteners to either of these drinks.
6. Take a break
When was the last time you took a break from your morning workout? Exercising consistently without rest can lead to overtraining.
You always have to give the body time to rest and recover. Get at least 2 days’ rest every week.
7. Eat more food
Are you maintaining a calorie deficit? Is it possible that your calorie intake is too low?
Low-calorie diets can make you feel drained even before you exercise. If you feel sleepy after your morning walk or run, try to increase your calorie intake. Maintain a deficit of about 500 calories.
Eating more food isn’t enough, get most of your calories from nutrient-dense foods like veggies and fruits. Sometimes lack of nutrients in your diet could be the problem.
8. Eat after workout
Skipping breakfast after morning workout can make you sleepy. Eat in order to refuel your body and stay energetic.
Make sure your breakfast contains proteins, healthy fat, and carbs. Note that eating processed foods for breakfast can lower your energy levels. So stick to unprocessed foods.
For those days you’re in a hurry or don’t want to eat anything heavy, drink breakfast smoothies.
9. Stretch after workout
Stretching for 5 minutes after your workout can keep you awake and energetic. Stretching helps reduce muscle fatigue and improves blood circulation. It can also help your muscles recover faster after a challenging workout.
Since stretching requires you to breathe deeply, it’ll calm your nerves and keep you relaxed. Do these upper body stretches after your morning workout.
10. Go for a medical checkup
Did you know that medical conditions like hypothyroidism or metabolic disorder can make you feel tired and sleepy after workouts? Talk to a health practitioner to see if you have any of these conditions.
But even before you talk to a doctor, change your diet. Start eating more plant-based foods and add herbs like turmeric and ginger to your diet.
11. Try working out at other times
The truth is, as beneficial as morning workouts may be, they don’t work for everyone. Some people are better off exercising in the afternoon or evening.
Research shows that you can get the same results regardless of the time you exercise. The important thing is to exercise consistently and keep your workouts challenging.
12. Listen to your body
Most people ignore what their body is telling them and do whatever they want to. Instead of forcing yourself to exercise in the morning despite feeling tired and sleepy, take a break.
Listening to your body will not only help you stay awake but it’ll also lower risk of injuries.
That said, learn to differentiate feeling lazy from being exhausted. Don’t use the excuse that “I’m exhausted” to skip workouts, even when you haven’t exercised for days.
Final word
It’s normal to feeling sleepy after morning workout every now and then. But if it happens every day, you’re probably doing something wrong. So make the changes I’ve suggested above.
How do you avoid feeling sleepy after morning workout?
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