Staying Alert at Work

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41

[quote]B A S T A R D wrote:
By far the greatest thing hat has helped me has been doing my workouts first thing in the morning before work. I find that I am wired for the day & full of energy after this, then the tiredness hits when it should - at the end of the day before bed.
The more intense & nervous system demanding the workout, the more alert I feel. You will absolutely suck in the gym for the first few weeks while your body adjusts, but after a while you’ll be setting PRs when you’re normally in bed!
[/quote]

What do your workouts consist of? Are they more intensity or volume based? Cardio?

I feel very different after doing heavy double and single squats, versus 20 rep squats, versus light calisthenics, versus LISS cardio, versus HIIT cardio. They all have different effects on me.

Just trying to understand what you mean specifically. Need more details :slight_smile:

42

[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:

[quote]IamMarqaos wrote:

[quote]thethirdruffian wrote:

[quote]bdocksaints75 wrote:
I’ll have to look into that because I’m told by wife that at times I snore like a bear [/quote]

If you snore loudly – and have extra muscle – I will bet money you have apnea.

I am not remotely fat – more than bordering on too thin — and just having neck and chest muscle was enough to give me apnea.

Allegedly, if you really, really stretch out your chest/neck regularly and work on mobility, this helps a lot, but it never gave me much relief.

The machines have really advanced such that there are just little plugs in the noise for most people and don’t make any noise at all. I like it so much, I bought an extra one just for my TV chair. I get a really deep sleep with it. [/quote]

Would you mind sharing the model you purchased?[/quote]

ResMed — with nasal pillows and heated tube/water. I’ll get the exact model when I go home. On a horizontal well today/tonight/tomorrow in NoTrees, Texas (seriously), so “sleeping” in a chair in a trailer.

easybreath.com — I didn’t want to screw with getting a sleep study, so I had an “internet consultation” for $50 to get the script. Used to be, there was all this “setting your pressure” business but the newer ones will detect the pressure you need and adjust accordingly, making the sleep study pretty much a waste of time. Not covered by insurance if you go this route, but I could give a shit.

As Orion noted, you can also just test your blood O2 level and see if it drops periodically through the night. Apple sells an O2 monitor for iphones (just clips on your finger) that will test you continuously through the night and give you a handy report on your phone of how your night went.[/quote]

Much appreciated, thank you!

43

It took me some months before I got used to a work schedule after college.

The only thing that worked was fixing my sleep… by waking up early every morning, every day (even on the weekends). The earlier you wake up the longer you are awake. Long days = quality sleep.

Regardless of that, I personally feel sluggish at 2 / 3 PM. Only fix is to eat a really light meal with not a lot of carbs…

44

[quote]LoRez wrote:

[quote]B A S T A R D wrote:
By far the greatest thing hat has helped me has been doing my workouts first thing in the morning before work. I find that I am wired for the day & full of energy after this, then the tiredness hits when it should - at the end of the day before bed.
The more intense & nervous system demanding the workout, the more alert I feel. You will absolutely suck in the gym for the first few weeks while your body adjusts, but after a while you’ll be setting PRs when you’re normally in bed!
[/quote]

What do your workouts consist of? Are they more intensity or volume based? Cardio?

I feel very different after doing heavy double and single squats, versus 20 rep squats, versus light calisthenics, versus LISS cardio, versus HIIT cardio. They all have different effects on me.

Just trying to understand what you mean specifically. Need more details :-)[/quote]

I alternate between sprints one morning and weights the next morning. Typically the sprints are 4 sets of 3-4 sprints with full recovery between reps, all done at 100% effort.
The weights are usually:

Power clean - work up to 1-2 rep max.
Squat - work up to 1-5 rep max, then 5 sets of 3-5 back off sets.
Deadlift - either 5x5 or Romanian deads for 3-4x10.

I have also noticed a difference in how I feel following the workouts. After the sprints I definitely feel warmer throughout the day & more alert in comparison to the weights. Nothing wakes me up like AM sprints!!

45

Give it three weeks is my advice. Divide your time up into manageable slices, using caffeine to keep you awake as necessary and in three weeks it’ll be second nature. If you’re anything like me, you’ll find it hard to ‘turn off’ on your day off, which is where our little friend the pint of beer comes in. Not that I’m recommending it, but it works for me.

46

I have struggled with sleep as long as I can remember. Even had a sleep study done. There was no sleep apnea, and nothing obviously wrong that they could tell. They did mention that I jerked into my sleep sometimes and that maybe it was pulling me out of a deep restful sleep, but not actually waking me up. Well I did some researching, actually it was someone on here who posted some links about breathing correctly (buteyko breathing I believe).

Anyway, I looked into it and found out that because I have been a mouth breather for a long time (I think it is because I have mild asthma) and I basically am gulping oxygen all day long this way. They explain a scenario involving co2 levels, oxygen gulping, the bohr effect, and jerking of muscles while sleeping. I don’t have the time to go into more detail about it, but basically I switched from breathing out my mouth exclusively to breathing out my nose exclusively and I have been waking up feeling rested, and not having crazy day time sleepiness for the first time since I can remember.

This is seriously the only thing that has ever worked for me, so just an option to consider if you are a mouth breather while sleeping. Also, a big thanks to whomever it was that posted on here about the buteyko methods!