Have my girlfriends noticed any disturbance in
their sleep patterns lately? Yes? No? Enough about you. Let's talk about me. My
sleep lately has been... well... how do you say it? It's been shit. This is not
for lack of trying my cybersisters for THIS girlfriend does love her bedtime.
I love the whole ritual of it all. You know, the
whole getting ready for bed. When the day is done and I can finally go
upstairs, into my closet (my happiest place on earth) and change into my
pajamas. It's like taking off the armour that I wear against the world and just
exhaling for about an hour or so. I love the removing of the makeup and
the washing of the face. It's as if I am rinsing my day's damage down the sink
and all will be well in the morning.
When I was a little girl, my mother used to tell me
that if I had had a bad day, I should go to bed early. I must admit it has been
perfect advice on many a day since. Needless to say over the years there have
been some days where I wanted to crawl into bed at about 2:30 in the afternoon
but for the most part, Mama's wise words usually insight an 8pm bedtime about
three or four times a year.
We’ve all had the days when we struggle to keep our
eyes open at about 8:30 or so in the evening, no? There you are lying on a
couch watching some America’s Next Top Model (no judgement my girlfriends- we
all have our paths in life) and you can barely stay awake to bear witness to
Tyra’s lunatic rampage. It does take so much away from the show when you can no
keep your eyes open long enough to yell obscenities at the screen.
Why just yesterday I was lying on the couch after a
30km run trying desperately to enjoy the “Say yes to the Dress” marathon I had
pre-recorded on my PVR and before I knew it, it was two hours later and I was
waking up from a 3 hour “nap” with drool down my cheek and no mouthgard in
sight.
And so I did what any self-respecting girlfriend would
do…. I went to bed. It was 7:45pm. On a Monday. There you have it my
girlfriends- this sister is anything but cool.
Fast forward 8 or so hours and there I was wide-awake
at 4 am on a Tuesday. Yes, too much fun. Thanks be to the fashion gods that there is internet shopping. Instead of spending hours staring at the ceiling, I
spent 2 hours planning my spring wardrobe.
How has this happened that now I have developed the
sleep patterns of a senior citizen? I am unconscious by 9 pm and wide-awake at
the crack of dawn.
Could it be the marathon training that is messing
with my sleep patterns or could it just be my 40’s fucking with me?
Turns out its likely a bit of both.
According to a study published in 1982 in the Neurobiology of Aging our
sleep is affected by our aging. The study took three groups of people of
different ages- one group was aged 20-23, one was 40-45 one was 60-65 and one
was 80-85. Each group had formal sleep studies and EEG performed on them. The
study showed that as we age our body temperature fluctuates less as we age
during our sleep. Furthermore as we age our REM sleep time decreases as does
our sleep wake cycle. This was found in both men and women. The authors
concluded that although menopause can account for some changes in sleep cycles-
the changes continue even after menopause.
Thrilled. So much to look forward to my sisters.
One bright shiny star, however…. Exercise. According to several large-scale
trials exercise does indeed improve sleep patterns in both men and women.
My own scientific studies have shown that yes…. Running 50km a week is
making me sleepier than usual.
And so, I may not know if it’s my age or my running that is messing with my
sleep schedule- only time will tell. My next race is in June 22. Of course by then I will be 6 weeks older. Only
time will tell…..
I have looked for so several posts about the blog lovers except this post is of course a nice one, keep on.
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