Sleep or Exercise...That is the Question

In the windows between feedings when Ellie's dad is home, I must decide between exercise and sleep. In most cases, I opt to escape to the gym for a little sweat. Exercise gets me out of the house, hugely helps me manage stress and even when I'm feeling exhausted, a little sweat perks up my energy and outlook. However, I know that these extended periods of sleep deprivation are playing with my moods and physiology too! When researchers deprive rats of sleep they die....just think what's happening in the human body...yet mom's all over the world seem to cope! According to the National Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation compromises memory, reaction time, motor skills (that's why I'm tripping on the treadmill!), immunity and increases the risk of diabetes and obesity. Alas...this is why the last ten pounds remain! Yes, I'm burning those extra calories by getting to the gym but the the lack of sleep is causing my bod to hang on to the flab. Oh joy!

Regardless, it feels good to by moving! I'm following a run/walk program so that I'll be ready to take Otis with Ellie in the jogger by the Tim leaves for his course. I'm doing an adaptation of the Sport Med BC's Walk Run Program. Jeff Galloway was the original inventor of the walk/run method as an injury-free method of running a marathon and I'm using it as a means to get back to continuous running. It's been a slow process but I'm now up to 5 minutes running (okay, slow jogging) and 1 minute of walking. I ran for a total of 30 minutes this week and that was a big achievement! I'm still feeling quite a bit of discomfort in my pelvic area but there are no lasting effects so I'm taking that as a go to keep gradually increasing my running time.

Sleep

Oh how I love thee. My love of sleep makes my alarm clock my greatest enemy. As much as I truly wish to rise early, I blindly and frantically press that snooze button at least four or five times before I can will myself out of bed. This morning, I slept past my alarm for one whole hour! How can I wake up feeling good when I’ve already failed on my first goal for the day?! My sleep is not all that restful so when I am in that dreamy space, the intrusive sounds of overly cheery morning radio show hosts only remind me of all the millions of things I have to do during the day. As I visualize the foreboding ‘list’, I press my snooze button again snuggling deeper under the covers.

I have tried multiple alarm clocks and set them up in various locations in the house. This strategy has proven unsuccessful. I have tried changing the alarm sounds from the horribly obtrusive beeeep beeep beeeep to the softer sounds of morning radio. Neither make a difference.

I wasn’t always a “snoozer” and I’m not exactly sure how I came to be one. Maybe it was when my life became consumed with sitting in front of a computer screen day and night. Or maybe I just have no discipline. Could it be my iron levels? Or could it possibly be age? Rising at 5:30am used to be be part of the daily routine for several years - to go to swim practice, do yoga or fit in a morning run. Why is this so difficult for me now? Could I be so sleep deprived that I am constantly in a state of sleep debt?

If that is the case, why then will a sunny vacation allow me to be free from alarms and rise with the sun? Hmmmm......