Hi everyone!
I've had some big realizations this month, and have basically gone backwards a little bit to go forwards.
Here are my previous tracking reports...
Figuring out the overuse injuries (Aug 2024)
Overuse injuries – 2 weeks later… (Aug 2024)
Overuse injuries – First month… (Sept 2024)
Overuse injuries and general fitness (Jan 2025)
Managing stress, exercise and diet… (Feb 2025)
As I mentioned in the title, the biggest realization I've had completely centers around sleep.
Basically... the past few weeks I haven't been sleeping well.
I fall asleep pretty quickly, but most nights a week I've been waking up 5 hours later. I'm usually quite awake... although sometimes I would then fall asleep again right as I would normally be getting up.
Not only has this been interrupting my routine of exercising in the morning... but I'm spending my days with such low energy that I have not been productive at all.
I'd be really frustrated if I had enough energy.
So.... what to do?
My first step has been in just realizing that it's been a consistent problem... and not just a series of one-offs that mess me up for a day or two.
Second step has been deciding not to eat after 6pm.
I've actually had made this decision a long time ago.. and then with all the stress of the past 5 months I just completely forgot.
I don't know why, but I sleep better and for longer when I'm not digesting a lot of food. So I'm back to making lunch my main meal, and then trying not to have anything, or maybe just a couple of pieces of fruit between lunch and 6pm.
Third step is getting back to being very consistent with my bedtime. I used to be in bed, on the dot, at 10pm every night... and then again, the stress of the last few months had disrupted that and I've been a bit all over the shop.
The fourth step is reteaching myself to sleep on my side.
This is an interesting one...
My lower back pain came from my standing desk... but is exacerbated by stomach sleeping. A year or so ago, my Physical Therapist recommended that I sleep on my side to help my lower back pain... it was a rough transition but I eventually got there, and even preferred it for a minute, but again fell out of it.
Last night I just could not fall asleep on either side... and as soon as rolled onto my stomach and got into my army crawl position I fell asleep within a second... and then woke up 5 hours later with a very sore lower back.
My sleep position is almost exactly like the image above except my right arm is straight and touching the left-top corner of the bed... and my head rests on both my right shoulder and left hand.
Basically, by not using the standing desk, my back got well enough to even consider sleeping on my stomach (for a while the pain was instant) but I think sleeping on my stomach has brought the pain back.
Lastly... I have to be strict about my rehab exercises. My rehab exercises help with my lower back, my Hypertonic Pelvic Floor muscles and my Plantar Fasciitis (heel pain)... and the Hypertonic Pelvic Floor muscles have been so uncomfortable on my side that's kind of forced me onto my stomach.
It's all linked and it's all very annoying.
I haven't been doing rehab because I've been too tired and I'm not sleeping well because I haven't been doing rehab.
(I think... there's still so much guesswork in all of this).
Here are my reasons for rehab:
1.) Golfer’s Elbow in both elbows
2.) Plantar Fasciitis (heel pain)
3.) Stiff neck headaches
4.) Lower Back pain
5.) Hypertonic Pelvic Floor muscles
Alright, let’s go through all the things.
So, ah, looks like I've aged two years in a month. Awesome.
I legitimately expected to lose weight this month. I thought I had a little less of a belly when I stopped having dinner, so I'm not sure if my eyes are deceiving me, or this Renpho thing is wrong or if my body fat is just less obvious.
I know BMI is not a good measurement, but it has me right on the cusp of Normal and Overweight. My Muscle Mass, Bone Mass and Protein all went up slightly... basically everything went up a little.
It wasn't good for most of this month.
I do suspect that not only is late eating causing me to wake up too early... but eating sugar may also (or instead?) be contributing. As I've been stressed and tired, I have been more likely to grab myself some sweet snacks - and so in the last week or so I've cut that out completely.
I'm just going to have to drown my sorrows in water.
Being tired and stressed meant that I was eating out a lot more too... and so I've really tried in the last week to put a huge pause on that... for my weight, my sleep and my wallet.
I have every intention of cleaning up my diet this next month to hopefully improve my sleep and energy levels.
Halfway through the month I upgraded the hammer curls to 15lbs dumbbells. The rest is the same...
2 sets:
- 10 pull ups
- 10 lbs dumbbells side press 10
- 10 lbs dumbbells front press 10
- 15 lbs dumbbells hammer curls 10
- 15 lbs dumbbells shoulder press 10
- 40 lbs dumbbells bench press 10
- 15 lbs dumbbells bench fly 10
In the last month I've done this routine 6 times.... not quite twice a week... but nearly.
I have been very bad at these guys...
2 sets :
- calf raises (x20)
- step ups (x20)
- 35 lb x 2 kettle bell squats (x10)
- lunges 25 lb. Dumbbells (x20)
- jump squats (x10)
In the last month I've done them twice. Not twice a week... twice a month.
Bad.
Last month in the comments, @new.things suggested 'zone 2 endurance' so I've been giving that a shot. I think ideally you should be doing it for 45-60 minutes at a time... but I've really struggled with that, I've mostly been doing 30 minutes.
I've attempted it 15 times this month... with some at 20 minutes, most at 30 minutes and 1 at 45 minutes.
I think I'm aiming for a heart rate of 135. I couldn't quite get it on the treadmill, I'd go way over or way under... but on the elliptical I can get it pretty spot on, or least varying between 131 and 140.
Even though I'm not actually doing it properly (yet) my speed has improved.
Once a week I've been banging out a 5K on the treadmill, and these were my times:
26:22 three weeks ago
27:06 two weeks ago
26:33 last week
26:15 this week
Last month 26:55 had been my fastest time.
1.) Golfer’s Elbow in both elbows
I might be able to get rid of this one... I maybe felt slight twinges once or twice this month, but other than that the ol bows have been totally silent. Win!
2.) Plantar Fasciitis (heel pain)
On the other hand... this has been worse than ever.
I think it might be as bad as when I used to play indoor soccer 3 times a week and then started also training 3 times a week.
I think the problem is my lack of rehab exercises... so I'll go from doing it once a month to 30 times a month and see if there's any difference.
3.) Stiff neck headaches
This has also come back with a vengeance in the last couple of weeks, and it has been disruptive to my work. Again I think consistent rehab exercises will bring this back under control.
4.) Lower Back pain
I don't know if this has been the reason I've been waking up way too early, but it's definitely not helping.
I don't actually have rehab exercises specifically for my lower back... I think it is driven entirely from standing desk usage and sleeping on my stomach. However, if I do the rehab for the pelvic floor then I'll be more comfortable sleeping on my side.
Since I've been so tired and so unmotivated this month, I've been more time away from a computer and just hanging out on a couch, and I think that increased non-moving time has made both these issues worse. I might be one of the few people in the world that physical rest might not be ideal at this exact point in time.
5.) Hypertonic Pelvic Floor muscles
Huge problem at the moment... but I think I can get on top of it. I've also got a big 16 hour flight coming up in a couple of months that will be so uncomfortable if I don't get my back and pelvis floor under control... so I'll have to use that as inspiration, even when I don't feel like I have the energy to tackle it.
So overall, I'm not in a great spot... but I do have a plan!
I hope your health and fitness is going well!
Thanks for reading!
Also posted to my blog : https://lifebe.com.au/fitness/it-all-comes-down-to-sleep/
It's good that you already have good consciousness on your status.
If I may suggest few things:
Hope this helps. If you have any question, I am more than happy to help you and the community 🙏
Your comment is upvoted by @topcomment
Info - Support - Discord
Thanks Mike! This is very helpful.
I normally read my book on my right side... and lay there for a moment after I closed my book, but then I rolled over to my left side and fell asleep straight away.
I did wake after 4 hours though, which was frustrating, and basically drifted in and out of sleep for the next 5 hours.... so I've woken up feeling very groggy and fatigued, and probably didn't hit REM properly.
I've decided that I won't eat after 6pm, and I go to bed at 10pm... so I'm getting a good 4 hours of no-eating before bed... so thanks for that advice, glad I'm on the right track.
I've never heard of the breathing with the belly while keeping the chest still... I'll have to try it out next time I struggle to sleep.
Thanks for all of this! Super appreciate it!
Indeed!
Also from an Ayurvedic perspective (which I recently started studying), the belly breathing is considered the "kapha dosha" breathing, that is the "most relaxed one" across Doshas (fundamental constitutive types). This also helps the diaphragm to move and get relaxed, helping energies moving more freely in the body.
Aside that all what you are doing is good. Take care of not "somatizing" eventual stress you have during the day, as that would become partially unconscious, and it would be a little bit harder to remove afterwards. In general, it will be great if you observe yourself how you react to different things in your life and that will create an awareness filters of what will really go into your subconscious.
Thank you for the appreciation. Very glad to support (and hopefully help)
Sleeping and eating are the areas I struggle with. Sleeping is roughly equal parts insomnia (I'm a night owl and apparently that's set in stone, I can shift it with a lot of effort but it takes nothing at all to reset back) and revenge bedtime procrastination and eating is a glitch (I don't always feel hungry, will capitalise if I do or if I just "feel like" eating, otherwise if J didn't shove lunch and dinner in my face I would keep forgetting til I hit the head spinny/perpetual confusion point and realise I may have forgotten something important).
Hope you're able to reduce whatever is causing you stress (of the type you don't want XD) soon!
I think my partner is a lot like you... she'll do anything but go to bed because she never wants the day to end... and I think she might be most productive at 9-10pm which is when I am absolutely not.
Thank you! There is so much going on in my life at the moment, but it should all calm down in May.
I don't mind the day ending, I just need less nonsense I don't care about so I have enough time to do the things I want to do XD
Yay at least there's an end in sight!
Man, you got a handfull there! Think of it on the bright side though, you're probably fitter than most people at your age! Potato couches don't have that much overuse injuries, but they have a host of metabolic stuff that you're probably rid of. Sleep is paramount for sure, especially for rehab! I can't talk much on most of your injuries, but I can tell you what worked like a charm for plantar fasceitis: get a golf ball, and roll it under your feet while you're sitting. You can do it multiple times a day, it normally helps to relax the foot very quick, and in my case the fasceitis was gone really fast!
PS. check a book called Outlive, by Petter Attia: a ton of useful information health related, especially as our 20s seem farther away.
Get well soon! !BBH
Hahaha, it's so hard to strike that right balance of fit without being injured... but I'd certainly prefer to have overuse injuries than metabolic stuff for sure.
I've heard of the golf ball trick for my heels before, but I didn't actually realize it was supposed to be a relaxing thing, I thought it was more like a painful massage, so I had only tried it once while I was standing. I'll try it again while I'm sitting and see how that goes. Thanks!
It can be relaxing or painful, depending on how hard you do it! :)) For me the advantage is that is a really easy fix, and one you can do almost everywhere. Let me know if you try it!
Have you tried red lights only for the last couple of hours before bed that or blue light blocking glasses. I if nothing else the red lights helps calm me down and feel ready for sleep.
Funnily enough, I was literally just reading that the study that started the whole concern about blue light wasn't a reliable study... the lights were very bright and not representative of screens, etc.
I'm usually pretty good about not looking at my phone or computer in the last hour before bed, but I am usually watching TV in that last hour. That said... I'm not having any trouble falling asleep (except on my side). It's the waking up a few hours later that's causing problems.
Congratulations @aussieninja! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 21500 replies.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP