May 6th - Every Day in May

My personal sleep study continues, and I think I’m hitting my stride.

Health is Physical:

I got up and after it today with a run around the hood with a good friend. I was really doggy today, my left foot hurt a little, and I had no go in my legs. It was a slog and rather painful. I realized that I am probably at the point where I need to consume a recovery drink again if I want to do this daily running thing in a healthy way. So, my healthy action today was to get down a recovery drink after my run session. Seems trivial, but it’s not. Recovery drinks remind me of when I was training really hard, and since I stopped a lot of that, there are certain actions I associate with hard training and thus feel repellant towards. Recovery drinks, Normatec pants, my TT bike, massage, acupuncture and chiropractic work. All of that triggers in my brain the years of hard training and I find myself not wanting to think about those things. But, I would like to keep having fun runs on the daily, so I’m going to have to process some of those behaviors and recategorize them in my brain away from “things I do when I’m training hard” to “things I CAN DO to take care of my physical health.” I’m a work in progress!

Health is Mental/Emotional:

I finished Why We Sleep book today as my mental and emotional task and the end of the book was really awesome. Walker saved the best for last covering sleep disorders, including insomnia, what stops us from sleeping well, and sleeping pills. An interesting thing I learned about insomnia is that it is not the same as being sleep deprived. Sleep deprivation is having the adequate ability to sleep but giving oneself an inadequate opportunity to sleep. Insomnia is the opposite, an inadequate ability to generate sleep despite allowing oneself the adequate ability to get sleep. I can say for sure that the last 20 years of my life have been a state of Sleep Deprivation, not Insomnia. I often do not allow myself an adequate opportunity for sleep. How many of us can say that we do? That must change!

So, after finishing the book, here is what I am moving forward with as a framework for healthy sleep:

Lay off caffeine and alcohol. Alcohol can help you get to sleep but it destroys your REM sleep like mega big time. It’s not about getting sleep, it’s about getting the right kind of sleep and protecting that REM is uber important. Caffeine has a wicked half life and effects natural “go to sleep” sensations. When this guideline makes me want to cry it’s because I am missing something else in my life and therefore using stimulants and sedatives to numb.

Keep the bedroom cool between 60-65 degrees. Most of us have bedrooms that are too warm. The ideal is 65 degrees with jammies and covers. The body temp needs to drop a few degrees to go to sleep. I’ve noticed the last few days that I will feel chilled right before my sleep signals say “go to bed,” further evidence that if you know what to look for, all the signs are there. Besides turning the temp down in your bedroom, you can also wash your face with cold water to cool the body, or take a warm bath which flushes the body and then when you get out, allow yourself to get cold from being wet, which cools the body. Also complete all exercise 2-3 hours before bedtime because exercise warms the internal core body temp. Elite athletes need to understand that core body temp needs management through hard training periods. (wowah…the old coach in me just rose to the surface there for a second)

Limit night light. Modern light can delay our circadian rhythm and keep us up later than is good for us. For those who wake up early, this is no bueno as you will end up falling asleep later and chopping off the REM sleep at the end of your sleep cycle. Turn on settings for the blue light filters on all electronics, keep the lights low in the evening, try to take pre bedtime walks in the dark.

Go to bed when you get tired. This means experimenting with ones natural rhythms, know thyself, embrace thyself (talking to you night owls), and watch for the signs, namely sleep pressure, circadian rhythm, and getting chilly. If you are a lark, leave the room and go to bed when you need to, you won’t miss anything. Pay attention to your first signs of sleepiness and be willing to crawl in bed when it presents itself. It’s a gift for a job well done for the day. Also, be accepting of others in your household and their personal sleep patterns, especially teenagers, we are all different.

Wake up naturally. This takes a leap of faith and it may take months for some night owls to shift work schedules, quit morning engagements, etc, but the name of the sleep game is to NOT shortchange REM sleep and that means no cutting the end of your sleep cycle short in the morning. Ditch the alarm clock, not only do they tend to truncate our sleep in the REM cycle….which is 80% of the beneficial point of sleeping…. but they take a toll on your health with a spike in blood pressure and an explosive burst in heart rate. How about waking up every day in the middle of a fight or flight response… welcome to alarm clocks.

Similar to the quote by Dr. Sukhraj Dhillon “You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes everyday - unless you are too busy; then you should sit for an hour” I think sleep is similar, you should give yourself eight hours a night for the opportunity of sleep, unless you are too busy, then you should give yourself nine”

Health is Spiritual:

Back to studying Emmanuel’s Book today. This time in search of thoughts on health, and illness.

So much can be gathered

in that time of quietness, of introspection

that illness forces upon you dear souls

who are always outer motivated

Such times can be used

for the alchemy of taking the clay of physicality

and breathing the spirit into it

that will change that clay into gold

For me it can sometimes take what feels like forever to turn clay into gold. I hold tightly to certain aspects of my inner illness, primarily emotional illness. Which is strange because my physical body is quite bomb proof. But my emotional body can be a fragile flower. The irony of that dichotomy is not lost on me. At times I have been so angry, why such a solid body who is emotionally effected by everything? And at other times I think about what would a fragile physical body and also a fragile emotional body look like here on Earth? More pain, more suffering. I don’t think I was ready for that level of challenge.

Insights

I feel a sense of accomplishment with the sleep topic after finishing the book today, like I got what I needed to move forward in a positive direction. Great guidelines that resonate with me, and I feel heaps better about being a night owl and embracing it fully.

Until Tomorrow, In good health…