Jiu-Jitsu And Life (2)

This aspect of Jiu-Jitsu is generic to many sports: it
demands health and fitness for those who are serious. For
this simple reason, I recently got over two old habits,
coffee and alcohol. I mean I have started to be able to 
control them (for the sake of my sport), not the other way.

About my good old friend, coffee, I only got serious since 
Memorial Day 2018, four weeks after sparring, and found out
that coffee-every-day elevated my heart-rate and over time
made me sick to the point I couldn't enjoy training. This
discovery turned things around right away. For three weeks,
I was able to drink one cup only on Sat morning. There were
no cravings on no-coffee days.

Alcohol was not new either. I had enjoyed a glass of wine or 
very small amount of hard liqor with supper for years. There 
were times when I had more than good for me and went to bed
not being able to sleep or getting up in the middle of the
night for water but afterward not being able to get back to 
sleep for hours. It was interesing I had ignored all these 
even after regaining my health after 40.

Sparring made me think. I quickly realized that, as long as 
I didn't enjoy being ground and submitted by my partners on
the mat all the time, I'd better recover quickly and sleep 
quality was a big part. The turn-around came really after I
read Matthew Walker, the author of "Why We Sleep." In an
interview, he offerred the following tips on sleeping
  
- Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even 
  after a bad night’s sleep or on the weekend.
  
- Keep your bedroom temperature cool; about 65 degrees 
  Fahrenheit is optimal for cooling your body towards sleep.
  Wear socks if your feet are cold.

- An hour before bedtime, dim the lights and turn off all 
  screens. Blackout curtains are helpful.

- If you can’t sleep, get out of bed and do something quiet 
  and relaxing until the urge to sleep returns. Then go back
  to bed.

- Avoid caffeine after 1 p.m. and never go to bed tipsy. 
  Alcohol is a sedative and sedation is not sleep. It also 
  blocks your REM dream sleep, an important part of the
  sleep cycle.

I have only done no. 2 and 5 and my recovery problem seemed
gone. I have stopped drinking only for the past week. But I
know I am getting over the habit because I haven't felt cravings.

Jiu-Jitsu is shaping my definition of health. In the pursuit 
of the sport, I have been able to keep good habits, rid of
not-so-good ones, and review things long taken for granted. 
I am so blessed. Thank You!

[7grizzly]

回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Old habits, like coffee and liquor, died for me the moment I learnt they affect sleeping and therefore my physical (and cognitive) performance.

[暖冬cool夏]

回复 '7grizzly' 的评论 : Interesting! I guess we all have problem of sleeping and eating. I bet there must be a book too called Why We Eat:)). I searched the online library the other day for Born to Run, and there seems to have a book with the same title but devoted to a rock band(?) or sth. No book cover in your picture is found in the library. Never mind though. I stopped running recently. It is far from easy to keep a healthy diet and lifestyle. Old habits die hard:(.

[7grizzly]

The book "Why We Sleep" seems hot. Today, while reading in the library with my son, I searched it in the catalogs: 11 copies all checked-out with 10 holdings in waiting. The Peninsula libraries had 54 copies and 51 of them are checked-out.

[7grizzly]

回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : That advice comes at the right time for you, then ;-)
Since stopping drinking, I have been able to sleep through the whole night. It's a small miracle. These little things that I thought safe to ignore turned out to be huge! Thanks for stopping by.

[暖冬cool夏]

Took the nap, and could not go to sleep now. Reading Matthew's words, I am sitting up to read in the hope of falling asleep soon. Thanks for sharing.