RyanHarne.com

Amidst my rushing about at work today, I went to the Health Fair 2004 that was being held in one area of the building with several local health organizations present with booths full of information and free testing. Free testing?! All right! Free blood work! Yes!!

I passed on the tests that involved the vials and vials of blood I was to witness being suctioned from people’s arms, but I did get some information about sleeping habits and disorders. This is one of those natural realms I would facetiously say I’ve mastered. My college semesters have granted me several tips and aids in how to have vigorous days with minimal sleep. Certainly, it’s not a sweeping goal of mine to continually lessen my sleep reserves, but when I’m in a crunch, notably during the semester, it’s nice to know how my body responds particularly well to certainly stimula to move into and come out of sleep in a proper fashion.

My last fall semester was brilliant in this area. I got in the habit of taking runs in the mini-gym of West AJ right before I went to bed (after a shower, mind you). Even if I had been studying all night and had been choking myself full of coffee and caffeines, those runs would wear my energy down to a void. Following that shower, I would collapse into bed and launch into REM. The next morning I would wake up feeling stress-free and excited for whatever rolled my way. It became a heavy routine for me, something I honestly look forward to when I return this upcoming fall semester.

Oddly enough, in one of these Sleeping Disorder pamphlets I stole away this afternoon, it recommends that heavy exercise, running included, be restricted to at least 4 hours prior to sleep. This is somewhat of a shock to me; my runs were never spaced any more than about 45 minutes from my inevitable crash into bed. So, it must be conceded that I’ve trained, per se, my body to respond to this pattern quite readily, even beyond perhaps what is naturally typical to the human systems.

Another word of wisdom from the pamphlet cautions having any form of caffeine within 6 hours of sleeping. Six hours?! Some days at school, my caffeine intake would be almost simultaneous with the advent of my deepest rest. And, somewhat strangely enough, upon my waking was when the caffeine seemed to kick in, as if it became dormant in my slumber but suddenly activated when I was in need of it.

I would never be ignorantly blithe about these sleeping suggestions, but I must argue that I’ve been able to adapt to entirely different sleeping and rest patterns than what this handout suggests are commonplace. For a while, I’ve recognized that I maintain steadfast self-discipline in my studies, but perhaps I’m just realizing that I’ve discovered a talent for manipulating my unconscious physical responses.

Maybe I’m an anomaly. Or a freak. I’ll let the critics decide.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 28th, 2005 at 8:57 pm and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.