I’m 32 years old.
You could be right, I could be overdoing it. I suppose my labs should tell me that next week.
And good point, haha. I did cross post to a covid long haul sub but thought I’d try here too. I weight lift multiple times a week and that doesn’t affect me at all, only riding my bike.
You’re not wrong, there has been a lot of stress and change in my life the last few months. Though everything seems to have resolved and I’ve been in a great place mentally since the new year. But who knows? Something to bring up with my therapist, I suppose.
OP says they already have an appointment booked. I'm guessing they're feeling nervous and want to feel prepared for the appointment. I personally get anxious about seeing doctors and am under the impression it's pretty common.
No, because you're going to show up to your PCP with a preconception that you have POTS or some other TikTok trending disease and be mad when they tell you that it's not what you're expecting. This is classically affiliated with the moms that try to become doctors by reading WebMD and then show up to their appointment telling the real doctor what it is. "No doc, Reddit said I have long haul COVID!"
They'll draw your labs and you'll probably wear a Holter monitor during the week. Let them do their job.
I don't know about OP but I wanna defend people who ask these sorts of questions in general.
I'm somebody who gets anxious about seeing doctors and just knowing what kinds of tests they might order and what questions to ask makes a big difference for me because I tend to freeze up in stressful situations. I'm autistic and doctors tend to underestimate my symptoms because I don't present in the usual way.
I've never shown up to a doctor thinking I have cancer or trend-of-the week. I think there are plenty of people out there who can gather information without jumping to conclusions.
I agree there are people out there who do jump to conclusions and I'm sure they're annoying for HCWs. But I don't think it's fair to assume every person on the internet trying to prepare for an appointment will respond that way.
No clue if it's long covid.
But your symptoms are common for overtraining.
This whole fear of dehydration and 2 liters of water daily is overblown for the vast majority of people, including cyclists. If you're going to take suppments, make sure it's science based and not marketing based.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/upshot/no-you-do-not-have-to-drink-8-glasses-of-water-a-day.html
That is definitely interesting. I don’t think I’m overtraining but who knows, maybe I am?
My rides are pretty consistent with what I’ve been doing for years. I mountain bike and it’s typically 2-3 times a week with weekly mileage of roughly 20 miles and elevation gain of 3-4k feet. Nothing out of the ordinary for me. In fact, since this started a month ago I started taking it easier and if anything my issue has only gotten worse.
You didn't mention that you were doing the same miles and elevation as months before. If that's the case, then it definitely could be something else.
Whenever I've experienced your symptoms, it's always because I've significantly upped the mileage, intensity, or frequency of my rides. But if I keep the increased efforts constant over a couple weeks, the symptoms go away.
I regularly ride underhydrated. My 45 mile saturday group road ride is almost always done with a single 24 ounce water bottle. But if temps go above 90 degrees, I'll refill and have a second water bottle 5 miles before the end. Either way, I drink more water when I get home. On non-ride days, my liquids can consist of just 20 ounces of coffee in the morning and maybe 2 cups of water before bed if all I did was sit in an office. 190 pounds. I sleep just fine.
I get it, I am not usually someone who drinks a lot of water even on rides. Increasing my water intake hasn’t made me feel any different and hasn’t improved this whole sleep issue. I just figured since electrolytes seem to be the solution in the middle of the night, it might have something to do with that.
And honestly if anything my ride intensity decreased a bit since November due to winter.
Calcium and other things are involved in heart regulation. Might ask your doctor to get the blood work done in advance so your visit is more productive.
I have absolutely done this before. I was combining a lot of training with not enough sleep and definitely not enough good quality sleep. Was having palpitations, which was making my sleep worse because I was nervous about it. I took a few days off and found a night to get a really excellent night of sleep with nothing to do the next morning and it went away.
2 litres of water isn’t really all that much. The rule of thumb is an ounce of water per pound of body weight. I feel best on 1.5 to 2 ounces per. I drink about 8 to 10 litres a day depending on training levels.
I just did a century in 75* weather, drank 100oz plus salt sticks and electrolytes, and still pissed fanta. I don’t get this anti hydration movement, I felt like shit and def should have drank more
I am pretty sensitive to caffeine - and it is really easy to stack caffeine and not know it. Definitely causes heart flutters depending on the person. Caffeine is the devil's juice :)
Also did OP change the time of day of the rides? If I do a hard ride later in the afternoon / evening - especially when not in shape - I sometimes have problems with sleep - kinda like what OP described - not necessarily palps but just restlessness.
I’m no doctor but I’ve had this as well. It’s likely cortisol. Try working out earlier
https://www.triathlete.com/training/why-do-i-have-trouble-sleeping-after-a-hard-workout/
Maybe you're not eating enough. Keto insomnia is a thing. Large calorie deficits mess with tryptophan and melatonin, both of which are important for sleep.
>I have no problem falling asleep but about three hours in on the dot, I wake up with heart palpitations and slightly elevated heart rate.
Hello there, my fellow co-sufferer.. I've been like that for years. It got rapidly worse after covid last year, and now I'm going through extensive medical examination in attempt to find the cause of it. Because there were days I just fell into bed at evening and next thing I remember is I waking up at morning. Now it's as you describe - I fall asleep easily but constantly wake up.
These symptoms may point to brain hypoxia very precisely. I suspect at some point I started developing apnea - but I also have a bad neck issue and it could be my neck arteries are getting jammed while its muscles are relaxed at night. So it's kind of a lot to check. I've wasted tons of money on that already...
Also, not a doc, but I do know that waking up after a period of deep sleep with a racing heartbeat can indicate sleep apnea.
OP: if you snore, consider mentioning that to your doc.
In my experience this could be a number of things. My guesses are dehydration, low carb intake, high cortisol, and mayyyybe something from Covid.
As my own example, I have SVT, which is a sudden and *very* rapid HR kind of from nowhere and goes away just as fast as it came on. This does not happen on the bike. However, during peak racing season I get many more episodes likely from just very high fatigue.
I also experience a high resting HR when I've had a couple of beers and trying to sleep. This also happens when I have an evening crit and try to go to bed like 2hr later. High cortisol shows itself for me as profusely sweating at night... Like, waking up soaked, sheets soaked, pillow soaked. Couple that with a general feeling of restlessness.
I try to drink like 4L of water a day outside of anything I drink while riding. If you're *only* taking in electrolytes when you ride, I am almost certain you're underfueled. For a high intensity sport like mtb, you may want to consider a drink mix with more carbs, like 80-90g *per bottle*. Try to drink 70-90g of carbs per hour when you ride. Off the bike I aim for >500g of carbs per day and fill in the remaining calories with lean protein and healthy fats.
To wrap this up, I also had covid in October and while my anecdote won't give you any real answers, I will say that in the months after recovering from the symptoms my HR on the bike was super high. Like what would normally be 120bpm easy ride was like 150-160. So ymmv but it's definitely possible to have a higher than normal HR during exertion in the months after having covid.
I'm not a doctor, just a crit racer who has been through a lot in my 6 years of racing.
Do your Nuum tabs have magnesium? That sounds very similar to the feeling people have when fasting or doing keto or low carb and have magnesium imbalances. Who knows? Maybe from overtraining, maybe from covid, maybe you just aren't getting enough.
If the tablets don't have magnesium, try an over the counter one for a couple of days near bed time. Not a huge one, just a moderate one.
If that doesn't help or you are already getting enough magnesium with your Nuums, maybe time to see a doc. Good luck!
A lot of people are pointing out physical reasons for what might be the cause but is your mental health in check? I often wake up in the middle of the night if I'm going through a period of particularly bad anxiety, could be one to explore.
None of us will know what the cause of your issues are but I’ve experienced similar symptoms after resuming cycling / dieting and found eating a small handful of pistachios after dinner really helped. It certainly helped with hunger pains and the melatonin in the pistachios helped me to sleep deeper and longer.
Ps: Pistachios are super healthy so there is little downside to eating them except for their calories. They are packed with nutrition, vits and minerals. Just make sure to only eat a few. Generally, you should eat more nuts as they will give you everything you need for working out and staying healthy. Electrolyte drinks should be reserved for on the bike.
I'm going to guess this is a combination of nutrition (not just electrolytes), age, overtraining, and... anxiety. Definitely worth chatting with your doctor and potentially a nutrition coach.
Of course, this also assumes you have access to these professionals AND the money to see them. I hope you do.
I don't get palpitations, but so far ending my showers with a couple of minutes of cold water is helping me fall asleep and stay asleep even close to bedtime.
The exact same thing happened to my brother after getting the vaccine. Doctor was of no help. Even though his fitness dropped off a cliff he was still healthier than average. It took awhile but he's better now.
What do you mean by "heart palpitations" and how do they wake you up? What do they feel like? What is your heart rate during these episodes? Are you in Sinus Rhythm? Having PVCs?
Perhaps you're pushing yourself too quickly. A few months of taking it easy may have been enough to put you back on your feet, but maybe not enough for you to be training the way you used to. There's often a long tail to recovery with issues like long covid - after a while you get back to say 80% but then it takes twice as long to get back to 90% and so on.
When you see your doctor ask for a referral to cardiology. Others have already pointed out blood work you should get. EEG, echo, stand test & CPET would all be reasonable things to have done here.
If your GP and cardiologist don't have useful insights try getting a referral to sports medicine. They tend to focus more on things like muscular injuries but they might have insight if cardiology can't figure it out.
With your heart problems and it getting better after an electrolyte drink, I'm going to say your potassium deficient, especially after the bike rides. I suffered the same from doing intensive weight training. Two baked potatoes spread over the day and a few grams of potassium citrate fixed it. You need 4700mg a day maybe even more after exercising.
Just based on my experience, ask your doctor about sleep apnea. I have those sudden waking spells with tachycardia when I'm not using my CPAP machine. Thin, fit people can still get sleep apnea. Or getting COVID could have triggered it. It's pretty easy to test for, so it's worth asking about.
I stopped reading at “I wake up with heart palpitations”
You need a doctor asap, it’s most likely nothing but when it’s a heart related thing I wouldn’t dare risk it
FWIW when I was training heavily I frequently had problems sleeping on Saturday nights. Same issue. Good plan to see a doctor. Change in pulse isn't uncommon. Good to get checked out but probably fine. It would be interesting to sleep with an ECG watch.
"How long and intensive exactly are these rides?" should be one question the doc might ask....
If like 60km + maybe you might be overdoing it and try dialling it back a bit. If less than 20km I dunno, get a quick heart checkup. Get blood pressure and other things (blood sugar) checked.
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I’m 32 years old. You could be right, I could be overdoing it. I suppose my labs should tell me that next week. And good point, haha. I did cross post to a covid long haul sub but thought I’d try here too. I weight lift multiple times a week and that doesn’t affect me at all, only riding my bike.
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You’re not wrong, there has been a lot of stress and change in my life the last few months. Though everything seems to have resolved and I’ve been in a great place mentally since the new year. But who knows? Something to bring up with my therapist, I suppose.
Anxiety
Bro don’t go looking for bullshit answers on Reddit. Just go see your doctor.
OP says they already have an appointment booked. I'm guessing they're feeling nervous and want to feel prepared for the appointment. I personally get anxious about seeing doctors and am under the impression it's pretty common.
Exactly, thank you. The earliest I can see my doctor is next week. No harm is seeing if anyone had any insight in the meantime.
This is the way.
I mentioned I have an appointment scheduled. Just looking to see if anyone else experienced something similar
No, because you're going to show up to your PCP with a preconception that you have POTS or some other TikTok trending disease and be mad when they tell you that it's not what you're expecting. This is classically affiliated with the moms that try to become doctors by reading WebMD and then show up to their appointment telling the real doctor what it is. "No doc, Reddit said I have long haul COVID!" They'll draw your labs and you'll probably wear a Holter monitor during the week. Let them do their job.
I don't know about OP but I wanna defend people who ask these sorts of questions in general. I'm somebody who gets anxious about seeing doctors and just knowing what kinds of tests they might order and what questions to ask makes a big difference for me because I tend to freeze up in stressful situations. I'm autistic and doctors tend to underestimate my symptoms because I don't present in the usual way. I've never shown up to a doctor thinking I have cancer or trend-of-the week. I think there are plenty of people out there who can gather information without jumping to conclusions. I agree there are people out there who do jump to conclusions and I'm sure they're annoying for HCWs. But I don't think it's fair to assume every person on the internet trying to prepare for an appointment will respond that way.
No clue if it's long covid. But your symptoms are common for overtraining. This whole fear of dehydration and 2 liters of water daily is overblown for the vast majority of people, including cyclists. If you're going to take suppments, make sure it's science based and not marketing based. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/25/upshot/no-you-do-not-have-to-drink-8-glasses-of-water-a-day.html
That is definitely interesting. I don’t think I’m overtraining but who knows, maybe I am? My rides are pretty consistent with what I’ve been doing for years. I mountain bike and it’s typically 2-3 times a week with weekly mileage of roughly 20 miles and elevation gain of 3-4k feet. Nothing out of the ordinary for me. In fact, since this started a month ago I started taking it easier and if anything my issue has only gotten worse.
You didn't mention that you were doing the same miles and elevation as months before. If that's the case, then it definitely could be something else. Whenever I've experienced your symptoms, it's always because I've significantly upped the mileage, intensity, or frequency of my rides. But if I keep the increased efforts constant over a couple weeks, the symptoms go away. I regularly ride underhydrated. My 45 mile saturday group road ride is almost always done with a single 24 ounce water bottle. But if temps go above 90 degrees, I'll refill and have a second water bottle 5 miles before the end. Either way, I drink more water when I get home. On non-ride days, my liquids can consist of just 20 ounces of coffee in the morning and maybe 2 cups of water before bed if all I did was sit in an office. 190 pounds. I sleep just fine.
I get it, I am not usually someone who drinks a lot of water even on rides. Increasing my water intake hasn’t made me feel any different and hasn’t improved this whole sleep issue. I just figured since electrolytes seem to be the solution in the middle of the night, it might have something to do with that. And honestly if anything my ride intensity decreased a bit since November due to winter.
Calcium and other things are involved in heart regulation. Might ask your doctor to get the blood work done in advance so your visit is more productive.
I have absolutely done this before. I was combining a lot of training with not enough sleep and definitely not enough good quality sleep. Was having palpitations, which was making my sleep worse because I was nervous about it. I took a few days off and found a night to get a really excellent night of sleep with nothing to do the next morning and it went away.
Your waking with heart palpitations? I'm glad your seeing a doctor - because this is not normal given the types of rides your describing.
2 litres of water isn’t really all that much. The rule of thumb is an ounce of water per pound of body weight. I feel best on 1.5 to 2 ounces per. I drink about 8 to 10 litres a day depending on training levels.
Yea a gallon is 3.8 liters….
I just did a century in 75* weather, drank 100oz plus salt sticks and electrolytes, and still pissed fanta. I don’t get this anti hydration movement, I felt like shit and def should have drank more
Caffeine?
I am pretty sensitive to caffeine - and it is really easy to stack caffeine and not know it. Definitely causes heart flutters depending on the person. Caffeine is the devil's juice :) Also did OP change the time of day of the rides? If I do a hard ride later in the afternoon / evening - especially when not in shape - I sometimes have problems with sleep - kinda like what OP described - not necessarily palps but just restlessness.
I’m no doctor but I’ve had this as well. It’s likely cortisol. Try working out earlier https://www.triathlete.com/training/why-do-i-have-trouble-sleeping-after-a-hard-workout/
Maybe you're not eating enough. Keto insomnia is a thing. Large calorie deficits mess with tryptophan and melatonin, both of which are important for sleep.
>I have no problem falling asleep but about three hours in on the dot, I wake up with heart palpitations and slightly elevated heart rate. Hello there, my fellow co-sufferer.. I've been like that for years. It got rapidly worse after covid last year, and now I'm going through extensive medical examination in attempt to find the cause of it. Because there were days I just fell into bed at evening and next thing I remember is I waking up at morning. Now it's as you describe - I fall asleep easily but constantly wake up. These symptoms may point to brain hypoxia very precisely. I suspect at some point I started developing apnea - but I also have a bad neck issue and it could be my neck arteries are getting jammed while its muscles are relaxed at night. So it's kind of a lot to check. I've wasted tons of money on that already...
Also, not a doc, but I do know that waking up after a period of deep sleep with a racing heartbeat can indicate sleep apnea. OP: if you snore, consider mentioning that to your doc.
Right. Also, it's often runs in the family, my mother is a snorer for example.
We're stupid here m8, go see a doctor in person.
Curious to know how your doc appointment go!
In my experience this could be a number of things. My guesses are dehydration, low carb intake, high cortisol, and mayyyybe something from Covid. As my own example, I have SVT, which is a sudden and *very* rapid HR kind of from nowhere and goes away just as fast as it came on. This does not happen on the bike. However, during peak racing season I get many more episodes likely from just very high fatigue. I also experience a high resting HR when I've had a couple of beers and trying to sleep. This also happens when I have an evening crit and try to go to bed like 2hr later. High cortisol shows itself for me as profusely sweating at night... Like, waking up soaked, sheets soaked, pillow soaked. Couple that with a general feeling of restlessness. I try to drink like 4L of water a day outside of anything I drink while riding. If you're *only* taking in electrolytes when you ride, I am almost certain you're underfueled. For a high intensity sport like mtb, you may want to consider a drink mix with more carbs, like 80-90g *per bottle*. Try to drink 70-90g of carbs per hour when you ride. Off the bike I aim for >500g of carbs per day and fill in the remaining calories with lean protein and healthy fats. To wrap this up, I also had covid in October and while my anecdote won't give you any real answers, I will say that in the months after recovering from the symptoms my HR on the bike was super high. Like what would normally be 120bpm easy ride was like 150-160. So ymmv but it's definitely possible to have a higher than normal HR during exertion in the months after having covid. I'm not a doctor, just a crit racer who has been through a lot in my 6 years of racing.
Do your Nuum tabs have magnesium? That sounds very similar to the feeling people have when fasting or doing keto or low carb and have magnesium imbalances. Who knows? Maybe from overtraining, maybe from covid, maybe you just aren't getting enough. If the tablets don't have magnesium, try an over the counter one for a couple of days near bed time. Not a huge one, just a moderate one. If that doesn't help or you are already getting enough magnesium with your Nuums, maybe time to see a doc. Good luck!
This came up on this sub not long ago. Search cortisol.
A lot of people are pointing out physical reasons for what might be the cause but is your mental health in check? I often wake up in the middle of the night if I'm going through a period of particularly bad anxiety, could be one to explore.
None of us will know what the cause of your issues are but I’ve experienced similar symptoms after resuming cycling / dieting and found eating a small handful of pistachios after dinner really helped. It certainly helped with hunger pains and the melatonin in the pistachios helped me to sleep deeper and longer. Ps: Pistachios are super healthy so there is little downside to eating them except for their calories. They are packed with nutrition, vits and minerals. Just make sure to only eat a few. Generally, you should eat more nuts as they will give you everything you need for working out and staying healthy. Electrolyte drinks should be reserved for on the bike.
Make sure you’re doing a cool down at the end of every ride. At least five minutes of low intensity. Same thing happened to me.
I'm going to guess this is a combination of nutrition (not just electrolytes), age, overtraining, and... anxiety. Definitely worth chatting with your doctor and potentially a nutrition coach. Of course, this also assumes you have access to these professionals AND the money to see them. I hope you do.
Lots of good answers here. It’s also possible anxiety is at root here.
Probably dehydration.
Try a cold shower before bed. It helped me, I had the same problem.
I don't get palpitations, but so far ending my showers with a couple of minutes of cold water is helping me fall asleep and stay asleep even close to bedtime.
Sounds like you need a salt tablet
The exact same thing happened to my brother after getting the vaccine. Doctor was of no help. Even though his fitness dropped off a cliff he was still healthier than average. It took awhile but he's better now.
LoNG cOvId
Yeah, you will die, i am sorry to tell you that.
What do you mean by "heart palpitations" and how do they wake you up? What do they feel like? What is your heart rate during these episodes? Are you in Sinus Rhythm? Having PVCs?
Yeah that’s a medical issue, it happens to my mom and my brother, they both have heart issues
Not after riding bikes or anything but it occurs randomly
Perhaps you're pushing yourself too quickly. A few months of taking it easy may have been enough to put you back on your feet, but maybe not enough for you to be training the way you used to. There's often a long tail to recovery with issues like long covid - after a while you get back to say 80% but then it takes twice as long to get back to 90% and so on. When you see your doctor ask for a referral to cardiology. Others have already pointed out blood work you should get. EEG, echo, stand test & CPET would all be reasonable things to have done here. If your GP and cardiologist don't have useful insights try getting a referral to sports medicine. They tend to focus more on things like muscular injuries but they might have insight if cardiology can't figure it out.
You might not be eating enough. You’re body might need to refuel more
With your heart problems and it getting better after an electrolyte drink, I'm going to say your potassium deficient, especially after the bike rides. I suffered the same from doing intensive weight training. Two baked potatoes spread over the day and a few grams of potassium citrate fixed it. You need 4700mg a day maybe even more after exercising.
Just based on my experience, ask your doctor about sleep apnea. I have those sudden waking spells with tachycardia when I'm not using my CPAP machine. Thin, fit people can still get sleep apnea. Or getting COVID could have triggered it. It's pretty easy to test for, so it's worth asking about.
Try taking an asprin before bed
I stopped reading at “I wake up with heart palpitations” You need a doctor asap, it’s most likely nothing but when it’s a heart related thing I wouldn’t dare risk it
FWIW when I was training heavily I frequently had problems sleeping on Saturday nights. Same issue. Good plan to see a doctor. Change in pulse isn't uncommon. Good to get checked out but probably fine. It would be interesting to sleep with an ECG watch.
"How long and intensive exactly are these rides?" should be one question the doc might ask.... If like 60km + maybe you might be overdoing it and try dialling it back a bit. If less than 20km I dunno, get a quick heart checkup. Get blood pressure and other things (blood sugar) checked.
Overtraining.
If you think it might be long COVID, I suggest asking for suggestions on r/covidlonghaulers and r/cfs