One of the things that I have been conscious of for the last several years is the amount of sleep that I get (or do not get). I really want to get at least seven hours of sleep a night, but there are a number of nights when that just doesn't happen. When I make my trips up to ND, I go to bed about 8:30, so at 3:30 AM, I have seven hours in. One of my biggest problems, though is that I sometimes go through periods when I wake up in the middle of the night and then can't get back to sleep. That hasn't happened for the last week or so, but Tuesday night/Wednesday morning was a 5 1/2 hour sleep event and yesterday afternoon about 5:30 I fell asleep at my desk.
Last night, I went to bed about 10:45 and got up at 6 AM. I slept very soundly, so I should be good today. But, yes, sleep is important and it's something that I have to work on.
Day 45
Weight: 262.0
Total Loss: 22.5
Loss in last ten days: 3.2
have you tried taking mini-naps during breaks at the office? there is some research suggesting that these are very effective.
I have done that on weekends or when I'm home and it does help. I'm a big proponent of naps. However, some folks might not understand this in the old office.
i am also a big proponent of naps, though i rarely get to take them anymore (i wouldn't have survived college without them though). i've found the key to a good nap is the length. .5 hours is key, and if you need more than that, go to 1.5 hours. anything in between and you'll just feel more tired than before (i think this came from my psychology class; something to do with the bodies decent and ascent through the different levels of sleep).
The railroad has a nap policy (very good idea not to have tired engineers!), and they don't recommend more than 20 minutes, after which you can wake up groggy. When I worked in a cubical, I bought a small camp pillow and kept it in my overhead, and at lunch I'd set my cellphone alarm and lay my head on the desk. Worked like a charm.
if a railroad company can encourage naps, then surely a heavy equipment company could do likewise. right, SBG?
I've been surviving on a mixture of naps and just straight up daysleeping lately.
On your point about the length of nap and it corresponding to your sleep cycle. I saw an article on Wired about this brain wave skullcap and app that essentially turned your smartyphone into an EEG. I want to combine that with an alarm app where it wakes you up at the most convienent brain time. Set it to say "6:00 AM" and if you're at a prime waking-up point in your brain cycle at 5:45, it wakes you up instead of letting you get 15 minutes into the next cycle. That would really help you keep from feeling too groggy first thing in the morning.
Here's the article I read. It has to do with using these brainwave scanners to try to divine PINs and other sensitive data via brain activity. I think the apparatus is adaptable for my purpose
I want one of those so that I can find out what the heck my daughter is thinking some of the time.
There are already some really interesting alarm clocks out there for smart phones. I use one called gentle alarm that uses a "pre-alarm" at low volume that'll wake you up early if you are at a prime waking point. The main alarm starts at a low volume and ramps up, too. Back when I was less sleep deprived, I routinely woke early feeling more refreshed.
Linds and I are terrible about this, which is bad, because I find it to be the building block to a healthy life. If we're getting the right amount of sleep (not too little, not too much), we find that we eat better and we rely less on stimulants like caffeine and whatnot to get through the day.
In order to wake up at 6:45 like I ought to, I should be getting to bed around 11:30. That happens maybe once a week.
When I started seminary, I found that the only way I could get everything done was to get up very early in the morning. Now, my body clock has apparently reset itself to where I can't sleep in. I'm awake for the day at 5:00 or 5:30 regardless. So, every once in a while when I need a catch-up night, I go to bed about 7:00 in the evening.
I've found that my body will tell me when I'm in need of that catch-up night. If I don't listen, it's going to find a way to force me to catch up, and I'm not likely to enjoy the way it finds.
Over the past several years, I've noticed a pattern relating to illness and sleep. Most of the time I get sick, the symptoms are virtually identical - sore throat and swollen glands, fever, cough, bronchial and sinus congestion, ish. And it always happens after I've let myself get totally run down from lack of sleep. My theory is that this is the same illness caused by the same virus that only becomes active when my immune system gets weak from extreme lack of sleep.
Sounds to me like the first symptom of the illness is lack of sleep 😛
Cause and effect is so confusing.
Take a nap. This.
My wife has terrible sleep patterns and has absolutely refused to do anything about it for all the time we have been married. Now, though, with the daughter required to be at school by about 7:50, my wife has no choice but to get up before 7AM. I am hoping that this will force her to get to bed at a reasonable hour.
Sleep is one thing I'm a stickler about. I'm very consistent about getting to bed at a decent time, making it easier to wake up at the right time. I think this comes from having to wake up at 3:30 AM for work for several years. Getting to bed too late just made the first few hours hell.
I'm going to alter this thread a bit to echo someone else's trepidation about posting specifics in the fitness thread. I've been following along, and recently started to get my diet back under control. I started examining what I eat in earnest about 5 years ago and decided to cut out fast food (except for traveling... airport McDonald's is pretty gross, but it's a small comfort), and to eliminate as many processed foods as possible. We cook almost 6 nights a week, and take left overs and sandwiches(!) for lunch, and treat ourselves to some sort of dinner / lunch out once a week. When we left Texas I was in pretty excellent shape because I worked out 5 days a week (45 - 60 minutes of cardio, 30 minutes lifting, and an hour long walk with dr. chop 3-4 times a week). I needed to lay off the big meals a bit, but I was in good shape. Since we spent the summer in California, and since the move, i haven't worked out with any regularity and have started eating pretty horribly. I went back to the diet a month ago, and then got the call to go to la (which added stress, threw off routine, and created an excuse to go out...) and then a hurricane hit which offered an excuse to drink more, party, and to eat our fridge before it rotted. Yeah. I'm not too happy. This week, and last, I've been back on diet, and have settled into my pre-move weight. It's a small victory, but it's extremely hard to get to a gym with a 2 hour commute.
Good stuff. I understand the trepidation and I really don't expect people to give the grisly details. I decided to put my stats out there and admit to the world what I weighed to offer encouragement to the folks around here. If I can do it, you all can. I'm getting close to 50 years old and I was 42 pounds north of what is considered obese for my height. That sounds hopeless! But, I'm quickly heading to merely "overweight" and hope to be there in six more weeks, on my way to a healthy weight and an altered lifestyle. I know I can do this thing and I want to show folks it can be done if you work really hard.
I, for one, appreciate how you've taken the lead on this, Bossman. But everyone should remember that this is just a baseball blog 😉
People should feel free to contribute as much or as little detail as they wish. It's the conversation that's important.
The events of the week have pretty much ruled out exercise, and keeping to my diet has not been easy, either. We all have weeks like that sometimes. The good news is that we can always start again next week. The trick is to not let one week become two, and then a month, and then all thoughts of diet and exercise are out the window again.
My parents are very pleased with my progress to date. As you know, the schedule I keep is difficult to maintain a good workout schedule, especially starting next week, when I go back to the eight day trips. Butch, noting this, suggested that I should start using his exercise bike. I will work that in starting the end of next week. What this process has taught me is that rigorous calorie counting does work, even without exercise. But, there are days, including yesterday, when can be hard. Part of what I think the problem yesterday was that I was so tired. That really made it tough and I went over a little. I'm not too upset about it, I do have to take care of myself and if I sacrifice a day here and there, well so be it.
I am heading to a cabin for a guys' weekend. There will definitely be too much food and drink.
On the plus side, I am bringing my running clothes and hope the host will go on a run with me. I am also coming back early Sunday to do the st paul bike classic.
This boyo doing 10 clicks in the morning. Wish me luck.