Sick Kids and Sleep

I am very frustrated right now. 2006 has gotten off to a very bad start with my training. December was a tough month for me at work. With my schedule and with the holidays, I reduced my workouts to 2x a week - no sweat, I was going to kick it into high gear in '06. 

Between my 3 kids, my wife and myself, at least 2 people in my house have been sick every day this year (either vomiting, diarrhea or fevers). This has meant that I have gotten up in the middle of the night every single night, sometimes for 2-3 hours at a time comforting, cleaning up rooms and doing laundry. I am averaging about 4 hours of sleep per night so far and I haven’t been able to increase my workout frequency yet. I am losing muscle mass too because of the stress and lack of sleep.

I know there are people who are far worse off than me so i shouldn’t complain, but no one else that I know would understand my frustration at quickly losing gains that come painfully slow to me. Anyone else have similar frustrations with life interfering with training?

DB

P.S. people with serious illness or servicemen/women currently serving overseas, feel free to tell me to stfu.

That totally sucks, man.

Let’s see, things that interfere w/ training…

I quit my job at the gym and dropped my memberhsip based on a suspicion. (I miss everything but the boss. He can fall off a cliff and that would be ok with me.)

My husband bought a weight set and we have a bench, but there is no rack of any sort in this house.

The rack we wanted to get was a clearance item at Academy. They don’t have it anymore.

The kids have been off shool since Dec 22 and just went back today. Waking up at 7 AM when you don’t really HAVE to isn’t fun. It’s much easier to sleep a little later. All together now, “Bye-bye cardio! Hello flab.”

Mental breakdown coupled w/ alcoholism. 'Nuff said.

Parental issues, father’s breakdown. Somebody shoot me. Please. :stuck_out_tongue:

As for your fmaily and their neverending illnesses, get everyone on echinacea. Fish oils & flax is good, too. Squeeze the capsules of fish oil into mashed potatoes or juice or something. Kids generally don’t notice the taste in such a minute amount. Flax seeds can be added to oatmeal. Throw in some colostrum, too. It’s good for you. Treat the problem, not the symptoms.

I hope everyone feels better soon.

We all have our time in the barrell! I just went through it, but I did not get sick.

3am…I hear…“Daddy?” I lean over to my sick 3 year old and say “What sweety?”…Then I feel a warm rush of puke all over my neck and chest!

What a night that was!

[quote]Rockscar wrote:
We all have our time in the barrell! I just went through it, but I did not get sick.

3am…I hear…“Daddy?” I lean over to my sick 3 year old and say “What sweety?”…Then I feel a warm rush of puke all over my neck and chest!

What a night that was![/quote]

Oh, NICE! It’s even MORE fun if the kids share a bed w/ you – then it’s YOUR bed that has puke on it and YOUR sheets that have to be changed and washed at 4 AM, after the puke has been cleaned off the kid and you. Then you go sleep in the kid’s bed while they sleepin yours, with towels under their heads. Big bath towels, not wimpy little hand towels. lol!

[quote]Rockscar wrote:
We all have our time in the barrell! I just went through it, but I did not get sick.

3am…I hear…“Daddy?” I lean over to my sick 3 year old and say “What sweety?”…Then I feel a warm rush of puke all over my neck and chest!

What a night that was![/quote]

Nice. I’ve been there too, but at least it wasn’t in my bed. My bedroom is on the first floor and our kids’ rooms are on the 2nd floor. One night, my older daughter starts crying and I guess it was my turn to go. I get up there and she’s saying something about there being something in her bed on the side opposite of where I’m standing. Thinking it was another dream of something and there wasn’t really anything there, I lean over the bed and as I’m putting my hand down, I realize through the dim light that something isn’t quite right, just as my hand is settling into a nice chunky puddle of fresh puke. Since that time, puke doesn’t seem to faze me too much. Shit splatters, however are a different story for a different time.

But I do have cause for rejoicing this morning. I actually got 8 hours of un-interrupted (well, almost) sleep last night. What a difference!

DB

P.S. Gothic, keep your chin up. Everything will work out.

[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
I am very frustrated right now. 2006 has gotten off to a very bad start with my training. December was a tough month for me at work. With my schedule and with the holidays, I reduced my workouts to 2x a week - no sweat, I was going to kick it into high gear in '06.

Between my 3 kids, my wife and myself, at least 2 people in my house have been sick every day this year (either vomiting, diarrhea or fevers). This has meant that I have gotten up in the middle of the night every single night, sometimes for 2-3 hours at a time comforting, cleaning up rooms and doing laundry. I am averaging about 4 hours of sleep per night so far and I haven’t been able to increase my workout frequency yet. I am losing muscle mass too because of the stress and lack of sleep.

I know there are people who are far worse off than me so i shouldn’t complain, but no one else that I know would understand my frustration at quickly losing gains that come painfully slow to me. Anyone else have similar frustrations with life interfering with training?

DB

P.S. people with serious illness or servicemen/women currently serving overseas, feel free to tell me to stfu.[/quote]

I can relate, man. When my girl was born, she didn’t sleep through the night for 10 months. Of course, as parents, we try to wean them from that 2 am feeding, but at 2am my willpower is subpar to say the least.

But, on the bright side, it’ll get easier soon. You’ll all get to feeling better and you’ll all start getting the sleep you need.

As far as muscle mass goes, if you’ve been eating, I doubt you have lost as much as you think. You just don’t feel all pumped up becasue you don’t get your daily fix. 1 solid week in the gym and you feel good again.

Suggestion: If possible, take a day off from work and sleep. An extra 4 or 5 hours would do wonders.

Suggestion #2: You and your wife take turns getting the full night of sleep. It sucks when you are sick, but you can get through it.

Best of luck.

[quote]Gothic77 wrote:
That totally sucks, man.

Let’s see, things that interfere w/ training…

I quit my job at the gym and dropped my memberhsip based on a suspicion. (I miss everything but the boss. He can fall off a cliff and that would be ok with me.)

My husband bought a weight set and we have a bench, but there is no rack of any sort in this house.

The rack we wanted to get was a clearance item at Academy. They don’t have it anymore.

The kids have been off shool since Dec 22 and just went back today. Waking up at 7 AM when you don’t really HAVE to isn’t fun. It’s much easier to sleep a little later. All together now, “Bye-bye cardio! Hello flab.”

Mental breakdown coupled w/ alcoholism. 'Nuff said.

Parental issues, father’s breakdown. Somebody shoot me. Please. :stuck_out_tongue:

As for your fmaily and their neverending illnesses, get everyone on echinacea. Fish oils & flax is good, too. Squeeze the capsules of fish oil into mashed potatoes or juice or something. Kids generally don’t notice the taste in such a minute amount. Flax seeds can be added to oatmeal. Throw in some colostrum, too. It’s good for you. Treat the problem, not the symptoms.

I hope everyone feels better soon.[/quote]

Yeah, I’ve had a family member with a pretty bad breakdown lately too. It’s not fun, but in ten years you will look back and chuckle.

I hate missing my gym time too, but you can still get everything you need for a good physical workout from what you have.

Workout thought: Get a pull-up bar and do slow-count pull ups or chin ups. Instead of cranking them out fast, put some time to really focus on the stretch and squeeze of the muscles. It will keep you from getting bored. I can do 30 pull-ups, but if I do them slow, that drops to 10 or 15, and I’m gased. Feels great. You can do the same thing with dumbell squats or push-ups and they work beautfully.

For cardio, run up and down your stairs about 50 times. Not ideal, but hey, the price is right. Or throw one of your kids on your back and do it for 10 laps - great family fun time.

Best of luck.

[quote]dollarbill44 wrote:
But I do have cause for rejoicing this morning. I actually got 8 hours of un-interrupted (well, almost) sleep last night. What a difference!

DB

P.S. Gothic, keep your chin up. Everything will work out.[/quote]

Hallelujah! You mostly got to sleep through the night. :smiley: NICE!

And thanks - I know everything’s going to work out fine. :slight_smile:

I went through it over the holidays too. My little one puked 5 times in one night.

Thankfully my wife could comfort her while I cleaned the bed, the bathroom, the kitchen, the couch and the carpet.

My six year old slept through it all.

[quote]terribleivan wrote:
Yeah, I’ve had a family member with a pretty bad breakdown lately too. It’s not fun, but in ten years you will look back and chuckle.
[/quote]

Heh. I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know in 2016. :smiley:

[quote]
I hate missing my gym time too, but you can still get everything you need for a good physical workout from what you have.

Workout thought: Get a pull-up bar and do slow-count pull ups or chin ups. Instead of cranking them out fast, put some time to really focus on the stretch and squeeze of the muscles. It will keep you from getting bored. I can do 30 pull-ups, but if I do them slow, that drops to 10 or 15, and I’m gased. Feels great. You can do the same thing with dumbell squats or push-ups and they work beautfully.

For cardio, run up and down your stairs about 50 times. Not ideal, but hey, the price is right. Or throw one of your kids on your back and do it for 10 laps - great family fun time.

Best of luck.[/quote]

Thanks! We just purchased a pull-up bar, so once we get it installed I can have fun with that. Thanks! :slight_smile:

[quote]Gothic77 wrote:
terribleivan wrote:
Yeah, I’ve had a family member with a pretty bad breakdown lately too. It’s not fun, but in ten years you will look back and chuckle.

Heh. I’m not sure, but I’ll let you know in 2016. :smiley:

:)[/quote]

Seriously - about 10 years ago I did some pretty dumb things. I thought real hard about putting an end to it all then, but I wised up.

Now, I can look back and chuckle. And, I can pass my experience on to others.

We live in the greatest country in the history of the world, and if we ever have a chance to rebound, this is the place to do it (look at Don King as living proof - a scoundrel and a murderer turned multi-millionaire by screwing people over).