Sleeping Late
Over the past month or so I have noticed several changes. To begin with, my daily workout schedule, mixing gym training twice a week and swimming the other days, intermingled with an abundance of yard work has all made me much more physically solid. I notice that my belly is rock hard from all the core work and that my arms and shoulders are much more muscled than they used to be. My legs are also much stronger and going up and down stairs and sitting up from a seated position is all much easier. I would still not qualify for the fireman’s calendar or anything, but it is quite noticeable to me and while I have never been so inclined to reach for physical perfection (that should draw a few chuckles from the crowd), it does all make me feel better. This change probably relates to the fact that while I am lower by about 10 pounds than when I started all this exercise a few months ago, I have not really continued to drop weight, but rather have seemed to stabilize at this level. I suspect that since I am unlikely to go to a place that has me exercising too much more, I will have to find ways to reduce my intake to drop any further. I’ve already pretty much eliminated breakfast other than in unusual circumstances. Lunch is usually about 500-600 calories, so I don’t think that is a particular issue even though the quality of the food might be better. I suspect that the problem is less about dinner and more about that late afternoon snack that I usually have. It usually connects to finally sitting down to watch the news of the day and it is clearly not the healthiest part of my day since it usually involves some salty snacks like chips. I don’t tend to be a big evening snacker, which is good, and I think its even better that I have a good bead on where my problem is. Now I just have to figure out how to address it.
The other thing I have noticed, which I am going to take as a good thing, is that I am sleeping much better. It is hard not to connect that with getting more exercise. While I still usually get up in the middle of the night for up to an hour, I am able to keep good track of my sleeping hours on my CPAP machine. It tell me that instead of struggling to keep myself in the 6+ hour range with occasional step-ups to 7 hours, I am now tending to get 7+ hours most nights and occasionally tipping into the 8 hour zone. I grew up my whole life thinking that we are all supposed to sleep 8 hours per night. I had also learned that I was a guy who tended to max out on most days at 7 hours and always considered that my goal. That has certainly been my goal during my retirement phase of life. So, now I am thinking that my exercise regime has made my body adjust to sleeping a bit longer. For the longest time, I was a person who wakes up at 6:30am, but now I am far more likely to arise at 7:30am and occasionally getting up closer to 8:00am. Rather than feeling that to be abnormal, I tend to think that I am finally normalizing my routine and “coming home” to where life has intended me to be. That means that it is more a good feeling than a bad feeling about my lifestyle change.
I have known for many years that Kim needs at least an hour more sleep than I usually get. While I tend to think that on average she sleeps more hours in a night than I do (she usually falls to sleep before me and she rarely gets up for extended periods of time like I tend to), we more often get up at the same time now with only occasional days when she stays in bed for a considerably longer and lazier morning than I do. I still like to get work done in the morning, so I don’t think I am any less a morning person than I have ever been, I just tend to start my morning a bit later.
I have always thought that older adults sleep less than younger adults and I have attributed that to their respective bodily needs. But I also remember my mother in her older years, sleeping longer and longer. I could hardly miss that our sweet old Betty Girl used to sleep most of the day until she was sleeping 20+ hours per day. That has to be a sign that it is simply taking ones body longer and longer to recuperate from whatever activity we are able to muster during the day. It is said that we shorten our lives if we do not get enough sleep and that it is a key element of a sound long life. I have never fully believed that enough to let it change my instinctive habits. But the older I get, the more aware I am of the benefits of a good nights sleep. Actually, it would be more accurate to say that I am more aware that the lack of good nights sleep has a distinct impact on my energy level during the day. I tend not to be a happier, but I certainly have done my share of yawning.
I recall when I went to Duke for a month back in 1997. There was a young man there who had a bad case of sleep apnea. At any time of the day you would see him sitting there falling asleep in the middle of whatever he was trying to do. It was very tragic because it was clear that he could not really function on the low amount of good sleep he was likely getting each night. I was lucky in that my pal Deb gave me a suggestion when I was about 40 years old. I would go out to Utah during ski season (which meant I was getting a higher than normal amount of daily exercise while out there) and was having the hardest time sleeping, mostly due to the altitude, which was between 7,500 and 8,500 depending on which of my homes I was in at the time. Deb offered me her father’s new-dangled invention called a CPAP. I tried it and despite the awkward nature of having a mask with a tube attached to your head all night, I found that it greatly improved my sleep. Ever since then, I have been a committed CPAP user and have probably owned more than a dozen machines over time. I literally NEVER am without it other than perhaps on an overnight plane flight. In many ways, I think that CPAP has saved my life.
Based on the rough statistics that 40% of adult men either have sleep apnea or snore enough to have their sleep disturbed, and that inadequate or interrupted sleep can lead to early hart failure, I have long thought that CPAP has contributed mightily to the extension of male longevity. I know that I feel that my CPAP have both lengthened my life and greatly improved the quality of it. I very rarely walk around in a haze or get caught yawning deeply during the day. That is entirely because of my CPAP and its ability to keep my airways clear. There is anew device like a pacemaker that you can imbed in your shoulder and turn on when you go to sleep that supposedly keeps the airways equally open. Our friend David uses that and while I gave it a moments thought, I am so used to my CPAP that I saw no need to try something else at this stage.
So, as I approach age 70 I am pleased to report that I am finally getting more normal and finally learning that I do not have to awaken at the butt crack of dawn to enjoy a full and productive life. Thanks to my CPAP, I get good quality sleep and thanks to my increased exercise schedule of late, I’m particularly glad to report that I am finally sleeping late.