Stop Looking at the Clock

-
One of the things I really like about the group I now run with on weekends is they are punctual. We start early, and we start on time. With my other training group, we started an hour later and still people would show up really, really late. These late-comers tended to be younger, though not always.

In listening to an NPR report earlier this week, I think maybe now I know at least one reason why these groups are so different. Members of my current running/walking group are all middle-aged; the other group had a lot of 20- and 30-somethings, and they operate on a different circadian rhythm.

You see, as we age, our bodies still require the same amount of sleep but not necessarily at the same time. Our circadian rhythm is triggered by a natural fall and rise in body temperature. When we are younger, the core drops later in the evening but doesn't rise until later in the morning -- thus, as teenagers, college students and young adults, we tend to stay up late and sleep in on weekends. As we age, that rhythm changes and we move closer to an 8 p.m. bedtime and 4 a.m. wakeup.

Now, that doesn't mean we actually abide by our internal clocks, but my guess is if you are in your 50s and 60s and beyond, you start yawning around 8 and start tossing and turning around 4. In your 80s, you sleep maybe four hours nightly and make up the other four with daytime naps.

And speaking of clocks, one of the best tips in the NPR piece for those of us who wake in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep (provided caffeine and stress aren't the culprit) is to cover the clock. See, when you look up to see what time it is, you engage your brain -- you have to turn and/or lift your head and use your vision to see the numbers, then you have to register the time and calculate hours slept versus hours ahead. All of this leads to a level of alertness you might avoid if you just noticed it was still dark out and rolled back over and let your alarm do the rest.

Popular posts from this blog

I Leave You With This

-
Image
There's this social media post some guy put up on Instagram. I almost scrolled past it, but I'm glad I didn't. It asked what question we should ask ourselves when we die. In retrospect, ChatGPT's response was basically pulling from Eastern philosophy, but, still, I couldn't stop thinking about it in the hours and days since I first heard it. Here's a partial transcript I cribbed using -- what else? -- AI. Some guy set up the prompt, which was long and convoluted. The following picks it up from there.  Some guy : I'm assuming most people would ask, 'Where am I going? What's next?' Something like that. Is that a good question?  ChatGPT : No, because they don't matter. Some guy : W hy don't they matter?  ChatGPT : If there's a heaven or hell or some next phase, you're likely already heading there. Asking won't change your destination. It's a wasted question.  Some guy : That's a good point. Um, what about 'Did I do en...
Read more

What's Your Slavery Footprint?

-
I just came across an app that immediately intrigued me because it brings awareness to something way too often overlooked in this country. It's called The Slavery Footprint , and I found out about it this morning courtesy of this post . Living in California, and traveling regularly through the Central Valley where a bulk of everyone's U.S.-bred fruits and nuts are produced, I became keenly aware of how poorly farmhands are treated in this country. I even blogged about it several years ago . Some of us tend to feel morally superior because of the foods and lifestyle choices we make. After taking this "test," perhaps that piety will recede a bit. After you take it, you can share your score if you wish. Personally, I'm embarrassed by mine.
Read more

Do Mom and Dad Make You Run?

-
I know of a lot of middle-aged running friends who are motivated by their parents to run. Their mother or father was in poor health for many years and it ultimately cost them their lives (or at least a higher quality of it), and so one reason they initially put on a pair of running shoes was to avoid the same fate. However, that's not the sort of parental connection outlined in a provacative post about the link between exercise and genetics in this morning's Daily Beast. It reflects a couple of scientific studies that show we may be genetically encoded to favor workouts. That means some of us will never enjoy exercising like others, nor will our children. If this is true, then those of us modeling good behaviors by eating well and exercising in moderation may merely be passing along the endorphin baton to those with our "exercise gene." And that might also explain why some parents who push their kids into sports end up disappointed that their child never "takes...
Read more