I find myself more tired these days. I’m actually getting about 7 hours of sleep per night. Finding time for work isn’t a problem but the quality is nowhere near as high as I’d like. I’m drinking more water, and that seems to help, but I’m starting to think that the sleeping issues are more hormonal.
As I’ve said in the past, when I was younger I was overweight. That’s when I first started noticing that having extra weight also made it harder to sleep as soundly and on schedule. I’d be fine for awhile, then I’d see a change where I was more irritable and sleeping in for 12 hours at a time for a day, maybe two, then weeks where I was sleeping 2-6 hours and waking up for no reason and being unable to go back to sleep.
Part of #NNN is that I am exercising and writing everyday. Honestly, if you had told me I’d be able to put out as much written content as I have this month prior to starting the challenge, I would’ve laughed. I’ve always liked writing, in a way. It’s a form of expression that I find comes easily enough. Even in my sleep addled state, I’m having no real issue with writing this blog post. This is one positive I’m glad for; the great amount of written productivity that comes as easily even whilst tired.
Perhaps I’m just used to functioning with bags under my eyes. Maybe I’m just dramatic. Either way, I have noticed that the water is helping so perhaps I’m just far more dehydrated than I thought. I’ll be upping my water intake further within healthy limits to experiment with energy.
One other thing I’ve been doing to stay energized is exercising. Outside of my normal routine, if I feel that I’ve hit a slump or slogging along I’ll go for a quick jog or a sprint or two just to get the blood pumping and get me moving and fresh again. This works well enough, but if it is truly the water intake issue, sweating so much might just be contributing to it.
Another issue with exercise is the temperature outside. When it gets down to below freezing, the problem with exercise becomes that it is hard to determine how hard we are actually working. I find that a majority of people tend to feel how hard their workout was based on the amount of sweat they’re producing. The caveat being that in winter, you don’t often sweat to cool down as much so it’s hard to tell when you’re overworking yourself or actually operating at a body temperature that is too high to remain at for long.
I haven’t had any problems in short bursts but when it gets that cold, working dehydrated and with a body temperature several degrees above normal is quite unhealthy. Though, as I said, small bursts should be fine. I wouldn’t recommend doing it repeatedly and strenuously because it’ll lead to worsening dehydration and a detriment to your overall health. For those who exercise to be “healthy,” working out to the point of weakening your body is counterproductive.
Outside of my exercise, I did get quite a bit of work today done as well. Not just for my #NaNoWriMo work, but for initial planning for another Legends of Men post. The two I’ve worked on so far were quite a lot of fun and I hope to do more in the same vein next.
On top of increasing my exercise regimen on schedule, I also incidentally doubled my projected word count for my fiction novel. I’ve felt great physically and creatively today, but the fatigue is still an issue. I’ve only been awake about 16 hours, so to be feeling as groggy as I do seems odd. It’s honestly more irritating than anything.
I haven’t even reached middle-age yet and I’m already feeling the effects of it, it seems. For the most part I’m kidding, but a quick nap sounds good right about now. So, with that I think I’ll wrap things up for today, even though I’m having quite a bit of fun. Oh, and if I should forget, remind me to move onward in that pdf I’m making my way through.
Everything so far has been good today and I’m hoping to finish today out strong. Given that, today’s scores are as follows
1) Foregoing of mindless media consumption. 10/10
2) Having a clear daily plan and deadline goals to meet. 10/10
3) Exercise and write everyday. Period. 10/10
Daily Total: 30/30
Yesterday’s Total: 29/30
Total To Date: 362/420
Legends of Men 