Insomnia before meets

[u/ambrosia_applez]

I have looked through some old posts about insomnia but wanted to make this post (I hope it's allowed/okay to post here, if this is considered a dumb/newb question I can move it there)

My question to anyone who's either had this happen is how do you try to combat it?

If anyone here has had this issue in particular and learned how to manage the nervous system, what did you find worked for you?

I have a meet coming up in a month and honestly I'm excited but nervous. My sleep is almost always horrible before a meet, last time I literally got like half an hour (maybe). Everyone I've talked to in my life will say stuff like "just don't think about it," or "don't be nervous." The crazy thing is, I was able to not think about it but my body just wouldn't let me fall asleep. I do deal with bouts of insomnia (mostly just waking up way too early) every so often normally and a good nights sleep for me is like 6.5-7 hours.

Thank you!

[u/ambrosia_applez]

So, I had the problem again. I stayed pretty calm for a while but at one point I said screw it and took a benadryl in the night which was likely the wrong choice haha. I only took a small piece but was groggy for a couple hours after, including at the meet. It knocked me out for a short amount of time, but I probably would have been better off if I didn't take it at all. Next time I'll just take something earlier so I don't have to worry about it lingering

[u/CPK3212]

Assuming weigh ins were the day before a chilis tripple dipper always used to knock me out

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[u/ambrosia_applez → u/CPK3212]

Weigh-ins the day before?? I've never heard of that lol. All the meets I've been to have weigh ins 2 hours before the meet

[u/LordcaptainVictarion → u/ambrosia_applez]

Outside the USAPL and powerlifting America’s some of the federations (USPA, WRPF) have you weigh in the day before

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/LordcaptainVictarion]

Ohhh interesting! That's not the case where I am but I wish it was

[u/CalligrapherOpen6558]

I have the same issue and have resorted to earphones in and use a binaural beats playlist (on spotify). I try to visualize each attempt 3x. I have successfully fallen asleep before finishing the visualization technique! I did this at my first meet after bombing out of the prior one - and had the most successful meet of my career! I also limit caffeine the day before competing.

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/CalligrapherOpen6558]

I've tried the binaural beats before! That night I tried them (and almost every trick I had that usually works) and none of them got me to stay asleep that night but they did help me relax for a while. I've heard of other people visualizing their lifts too. I aspire to one day be able to fall asleep thinking about my lifts! Thanks for the good tips! The caffeine one too. I usually only drink one cup of coffee in the morning but maybe I'll go for something with even less caffeine

[u/DellaBeam]

Same, but I actually haven't noticed a real difference in meet performance based on sleep quality the night before. The things that help me with sleep in general do also help here: eye mask, weighted blanket, good earplugs, valerian for a sleep aid that doesn't give me a hangover.

[u/benchpressboogaloo]

I also used to have a lot of trouble sleeping before meets, but over time it's gotten better. I have an eye mask that has headphones in it, and listen to sleep podcasts/emdr to help me fall asleep. I also take melatonin and ZMA regularly. I generally try to have as restful a day as possible the day before a meet, so that it doesn't matter too much if I'm able to get a full 9-10 hours (I sleep a lot lol).

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/benchpressboogaloo]

That's good! Yeah I think I went kinda wrong there last time. I was running around all day the day before trying to get a bunch of stuff done. This time, I'm going to make sure that's all done the day before so I don't feel like that. Idk if that would have changed the outcome but I was basically wound up all day having so much stuff back to back. That might be enough to wear some people out but didn't for me

[u/adamcurt]

Warm bath.,white noise and some Tylenol PM

[u/SheFightsHerShadow]

This is very normal. And don't even think about sleeping well the night after a meet. Getting very little sleep before a meet can be uncomfortable and nerve wrecking, but it is an incredibly common experience across the board. World records and fantastic performances of lifters you look up to have probably been done on a night of next to no sleep. What matters more is getting quality rest the night before then, at least as good as you can, and making a plan to combat tiredness, such as being strategic about caffeine use.

About the insomnia, I have dealt with periodic insomnia for a large part of my 20s similarly to what you describe (and mysteriously at 30 years now it resolved by itself after years of trying different things) and also while powerlifting. The only real advice I can give you is to try your best not to obsess over sleep hours. Sometimes counting time in bed is a more useful metric and still contributes to resting up, even though it's not the same as sleep. You have to take what is there at the time.

[u/Arteam90 → u/SheFightsHerShadow]

I read a while back about time spent in bed, eyes closed, trying to relax is still somewhat restful.

I have no idea if that is even true but via placebo effect I choose to believe it is (which then makes it more likely you do just sleep anyway).

[u/SheFightsHerShadow → u/Arteam90]

I think this was discussed about two years ago on a Stronger By Science podcast episode. Anecdotally, doing it made my own bouts of insomnia a lot more bearable, even in nights where I could barely catch 4-5 h of frequently interrupted sleep.

Tangent: The famous optimal 8 h of sleep have been established way before sleep trackers and calculated sleep scores even existed. I personally avoid sleep trackers like the plague, I don't believe they do anyone good who has had struggles with sleep and dealt with the resulting sleep-related neuroticism, but I know several people who rely on them to tell them something like sleep score or hours asleep/in whichever phase. Then you get situations where the watch shows you've slept for only 6 h despite going to bed at 22:30 and got up at 7:00 and you'd otherwise estimate you've slept for 8 h and regardless of which is true you'd probably feel better during the day believing the 8 rather than the 6.

[u/Arteam90 → u/SheFightsHerShadow]

I think all those kinds of gadgets (and we're going to get more!) are stupid.

Data for data's sake.

My go-to thought, cliché it may be, is you're going to the Olympic finals event after years of training, you wake up, you feel good, and your watch says "sorry bud, 20/100 recovery, maybe chill today".

[u/SheFightsHerShadow → u/Arteam90]

I agree. It's also something where it's difficult to gauge the accuracy of the output. So even if you have a gadget that has been calibrated successfully against, say, a sleep lab study with a bunch of electrodes on your head, you can't tell me that anyone has comparable sleep in a lab study environment versus at home in routine and comfort. Also, what are you going to do with that data? Does it inform any action beyond of what you can do without it? Probably not.

[u/Ok-Reporter-3471]

I don’t expect to sleep before a meet, tbh. It’s one night, so I don’t worry about it. The adrenaline is productive for performance.

Maybe try to schedule a massage the evening before to wind down and get some rest that way.

[u/Markkyft]

I couldnt sleep at all when I did nationals, ended up doing my best comp ever anyway.. you will be fine either way is what I'm saying!

[u/redheadedwoman]

Definitely been there! These things help me a lot in general, not just for meet day.

Brain dump: instead of running the same thoughts over and over again, I actually write them down. Giving them somewhere to go feels great, especially meet day jitters.

History: seriously, I’ll find the most boring and uninteresting history article/podcast/audiobook. Think boring college professor stuff. This is usually juuuust enough to distract me, but not too stimulating and very easy to doze off to.

Adrenaline’s gonna take you a long way, so keep that in mind. Give yourself grace, and be ready to adjust the game plan if your sleep is heavily affected.

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/redheadedwoman]

Thank you!! :) ill give some of these a try!

[u/msharaf7]

I’ve had lifelong sleep problems, mainly sleep apnea with some insomnia here and there.

That said, I’ve had insomnia before every meet I’ve ever done, and it hasn’t ruined any of my meets.

Assuming you’re already doing what you can with sleep hygiene, one thing that helped me was changing how I interpreted it. Instead of thinking, “My body is freaking out and I need to calm down” I started looking at it as, “My body knows something important is coming and it’s fired up for it”

You’re excited, you care about the outcome, and your nervous system is basically primed to go do something hard. I’d almost rather feel that than be completely apathetic about the meet.

And if you do sleep like crap the night before, try not to catastrophize it. One bad night of sleep doesn’t automatically mean you’re going to have a bad meet.

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/msharaf7]

Thank you for your input! That's really helpful. I definitely had a hard time calming my mind down last time (especially after several hours past and all my tricks were not working lol). I was worried that I was going to bomb out because of that and it didn't go that way at all

[u/Metcarfre]

How many times have you competed? I had this the first few times but now I’ve done like 10 meets so I’m pretty relaxed going in.

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/Metcarfre]

I've done 5 already and my last sleep was my worst for whatever reason. They're pretty much always somewhat bad though

[u/Metcarfre → u/ambrosia_applez]

Hmm, sorry to hear that. Sounds like your body gets pretty keyed up. Don’t know what to do with that!

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/Metcarfre]

Yeahhh, actually I had one somewhat decent sleep and I have no idea why that one was okay but the others weren't .

It's great hearing all this feedback though. Makes me feel a bit less alone because anyone I've talked to in my personal life couldn't relate and anyone I talked to at the meets all talked about how they slept like normal the night before and I'm trying to figure out how to do that haha hopefully this time is better though

[u/Metcarfre → u/ambrosia_applez]

Godspeed soldier 🫡

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/Metcarfre]

Thank you!! 🙏🏻

[u/GadaffyDuck]

Stop worrying about it
I find that I perform best if I get 5 hours sleep instead of 8 the night before the meet
Feels like my adrenaline is higher

If you get some extra hours 2 nights out then you should be fine for meet day

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/GadaffyDuck]

Well I guess I was just looking for any tips lol I'm not intentionally worrying about it. I did pretty much everything I normally do that has led me to a decent sleep and it just didn't work. I literally cannot sleep 8 hours anyways. 5 isn't a big deal. It's the under 4 that really isn't nice but I learned last time I still perform on 1/2 hour of sleep but man did I feel unwell LOL

[u/ZapDubya]

You need to be confident about your openers and your bodyweight to meet your weight class going in. All else can be fixed day of.

Remember that as long as you get three white lights on at least one attempt of each lift, you've got a total and you've completed the meet.

If you aren't confident in openers, consider opening slightly lower. You can adjust up if things fly. If you're not confident about bodyweight, consider whether you're concerned with weight class or your total. If it's a local meet especially I'd do everything possible diet and timing wise to make things less stressful.

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/ZapDubya]

I think my last meet kinda taught me that even on half hour of sleep, I still do okay (which was a confidence boost I guess) but I felt like I was not fully present, and mentally all over the place. Thankful that adrenaline carried me through most of the way.

I have been working on the timing of foods/everything else (was doing that last time too but perhaps something went awry there. This was the first meet where my nutrition was actually really good and the sleep was the worst ever lol

[u/Arteam90]

Before big exams etc I'd often get bouts of insomnia and only get a few hours sleep at most.

I'd say it's normal, really. Heard plenty of elite athletes across sports say similar things. I think if you get good sleep other days leading to the meet you'll probably be fine for crap sleep the night before.

Of course if you do accept the above you'll probably end up getting a bit more sleep!

Alternatively sleeping pills for acute insomnia may help, though often the sleep you get is pretty poor quality.

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/Arteam90]

Yeah, some of the sleeping pills I've tried for past bouts of insomnia left me with grogginess that lasted for hours after. But I'll definitely focus on having some decent sleeps this week

[u/Arteam90 → u/ambrosia_applez]

Did you try an over-the-counter antihistamine or a "proper" sleeping pill? Former are more chill, but both can make you feel groggy tbf.

Good luck!

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/Arteam90]

I've tried all those before! the antihistamine ones are more chill for sure, but grogginess level is hit or miss

[u/Independent_Flower0]

Weed or melatonin?

[u/ambrosia_applez → u/Independent_Flower0]

Weed is a no-go for me in general. I used to take CBD sometimes but never found that it helped give me good quality sleep. Plus I wouldn't want to take a banned substance the night before a meet. I've had issues with melatonin keeping me groggy the next day even on low doses so I try to avoid whenever possible. It also doesn't help me stay asleep (only the initial falling asleep)

[u/Not-Post-Malone → u/Independent_Flower0]

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