Day 21 — Pain, Personal Power, & Practices
Blogtober — Day 21, “we’ve only just begun…”
Today was a fascinating day! Started with ANOTHER poor sleep of less than 6 hours… and finally, even though I’ve been so proud, almost arrogant, about the HRV biofeedback breathwork program I’ve been subscribing to which has been keeping me in such great emotional, physical, mental and social shape….
I WAS IN THE DOLDRUMS! This sucks!!!
However, with a few nights of poor sleep compounded by a very sore neck muscle strain I found myself tanking hardcore this morning. Pain. With most movements. Pain, just getting out of bed… not jumping out of bed… NO. Struggling to lift my own head off the pillow without massive pain running through my neck. I’d somehow done this to myself during push ups one morning…
…working out is supposed to be good for you!!!
Well, unfortunately, this time it went bad. Couldn’t sleep on my side like I used to.. so I took a bunch of panadol and ibuprofen and stayed up so late that I just zonked out with some numbness. I tried myofascial release through using rad roller balls (peanuts some call them) to put pressure on those areas, so blood flow and release might occur.
I admit today it wasn’t as bad as yesterday, but the ware and tear of too many nights without sleep finally caught up with me which was compounded by the neck strain, and that I played almost 3 hours of beach volleyball with that strained neck. Yeah I know, DOH!!
So I want to take this writing session to reflect upon habits, routines, and how I can improve my sleep scores after working physically, socially, mentally and emotionally in the hospitality sector quite late into the evening.
How can I get to bed earlier rather than coming home around midnight and then end up getting to sleep from 2am-3am?
- Do I really need that cool down time?
- Do I really need to eat that meal prior to going to bed?
- Are there other practices, habits, routines I could use to down regulate myself faster, quicker, more efficiently so I could be asleep in 30–60 minutes once I get home?
I doubt that 30–60 mins challenge as I’m in a bright restaurant, and it does take time for the brain to release melatonin, 2 hours generally, once the brain stops receiving bright light. That’s why I’m sitting here in my office with only my Target Light red light and red lit keyboard glowing.
I want my brain to think it’s night time… and start to release that melatonin.
Next, should I be consuming food before bed? As digestion increases body temperature and one of the things we want to do to assist with sleep is lower the body temperature, and often accomplish that with a hot shower prior to bed (yes it does help the body sweat off excess heat.. cold showers often make us hotter… I tried it the other night… felt horrible!!), and having a cool and dark bedroom to sleep in.
I wonder if a lack of magnesium, a key mineral for melatonin, is an issue? I recently started using magnesium and saw strong gains in HRV and recovery… but I stopped for a few months.
When I started taking magnesium twice daily I felt an immediate sense of calm..
…heck the product I use(d) is called CALM. Ha! So perhaps that missing ingredient could be an easy habit or routine to add in? I already had some this morning as it’s been on my mind of late.
Then, the kind of food I have prior to bed… once I had a big chicken curry and rice and boy was my sleep in the pits!! I do like to come home and enjoy a meal.. or snack… although it is the wrong time in the day as most of the vital organs for digestion are already asleep and those enzymes needed to do digestion aren’t at the ready.
Plus, eating late may put my body into a dysregulated routine where it doesn’t know what time of the day it is… maybe a protein shake or pudding or mousse before bed? Not too many carbs.. not too much liquid… nothing too hot to raise my body temperature.
Then, as I’m this brain and performance coach, what tech do I have to switch off to turn my brain into sleep mode? Well I have the TENS device with ear clips to send 2Hz pulses into the brain stem. 2Hz is the delta rhythm found in brains which are asleep. That’s the main thing I can think of. I also have the breathwork practice, while is definitely worth doing a third time for the day if it helps me calm and turn down better.
Another concern is Tetris playing…. Some say don’t do anything too cognitively stimulating before bed… the other night I played Level 19 Tetris, which is super intense.. until the WEE HOURS OF THE MORNING… and I was actually finally starting to feel like I was getting the hang of it. But damn…. that’s eating into my sleep time bro!!
I also noticed when I’ve played Street Fighter V online gaming late into the evening… the adrenaline rush I get from that is intense… I often get shaky hands!!
So clearly, while Tetris is great for helping to relax, tune out any crap from the day… perhaps at slower speeds… with some chill music… like the Brain.fm founds I’m listening to right now… to get the brain waves to slow down and be closer to that delta state for sleep.
So that’s a conversation, exploration and reflection for today. Written at 11:50pm… after work as I was feeling super crummy today… brought to tears as I sought to power up listening to my upregulation playlists… but committed to get it done… and this time, unlike last time I left it to the last minute…
