gemini://gemini.ctrl-c.club/~aesophod/thoughts/2022/2022-06-11-general-green-shades.gmi

As per usual for many Saturdays, I slept in and enjoyed not having to wake up with the birds. After finally getting up and getting my act together I did a few house chores and some computer work.

The Mrs. came home at 1pm for lunch just as I was starting to prep for a short bike ride. The weather forecast as of yesterday was for showers and mostly cloudy conditions all day today. That changed at some point and the rain chance was significantly reduced. As it turns out it didn't rain at all and just barely looked like it could rain for maybe 30 minutes.

After the Mrs. went back to work, I left for my ride and rode the back roads for about 2-1/2. It was partly cloudy, but still no real rain chance and comfortably warm in the low 80's. I ended the ride at the grocery store to pick up a few items for tonight's salad.

As I was riding though, I had given some thought to the changes I've made in the last year regarding my health. Some changes are only in the last 6 months. I've been going to the gym for a handful of years but I've made a concerted effort to go consistently and more purposefully in the last 3 years. Even though I've gone regularly I have done a small amount of cycling and given my body some extended time to recover. I don't stop going completely, but I do miss a day here and there and back off a little on the intensity or change the exercises completely.

In the past couple of months I've started fasting at least 2 days per week. Some times it will only be for about 12-14 hours and other times around 16 hours. I don't have a rigid schedule but I do try to stay consistent not unlike the exercise schedule. Similarly I've become more intentional on limiting simple carbohydrates from my diet and on most days, eliminating them completely. Convenience food is another item I've just about completely eliminated. I don't sit around starving all day though, so this means eating more meats, vegetables and some fruits. However, I have learned to become more comfortable with not always being completely satiated. Previously, since I ate pretty much on schedule, I never had a chance to really get hungry. Either I was eating breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack. Just making these few small changes has allowed me to lose some weight and feel much, much better. As to how much weight? I don't know as I don't have a scale. Multiple pant sizes though.

Another item I've added to my health quiver is using the dry sauna at our gym. I never realized that there were so many purported health benefits to a sauna. I don't know if these benefits have been completely verified, but as long as there are some benefits and no negative complications I think I will continue, at least for awhile, to use the sauna for 20 minutes per day, 4 days per week.

So, I gave up both smoking and drinking more than 25 years ago. I don't eat fast food. I limit my calorie intake. I exercise and use the sauna. What could be missing? Sleep. One negative consequence of my going to the gym is that I'm not able to fall asleep at night when I should. I can only go to the gym in the evening after work and dinner, so that means I don't usually get home until around 9pm. At that time my body is still in exercise mode and it takes hours before I can physically relax enough to fall asleep naturally. Usually that ends up being around midnight which is way too late when I have to be up in 5-6 hours.

Adequate sleep is very important to your health as well as the other obvious items mentioned above, so I know I need to get a handle on it. I don't know that I will ever be able to get 8+ hours during the work-week, but I know I have to get more than 5 or 6.