I haven’t been sleeping well lately. Coincidentally (or not), I virtually “attended” a conference on sleep and recovery over the weekend to finish some continuing education credits I needed to keep my Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist certification active.
Anybody who knows me well knows I have a hard time relaxing. Even if you don’t know me well, it’s not the first time it’s come up on the blog either. I’m better than I used to be, but allowing myself to rest and recover is difficult. And in that regard, the sudden lifestyle changes due to COVID-19 have gotten old.
I’m “tired” of not having a set schedule. I want to work and advance my career. I don’t want to sit around wondering when society will find some normalcy again. I don’t want to wait to see how all of this will affect the retirement accounts and all of the adulting stuff that starts becoming a concern after consistent losses since March.
How will we all recover from this?
I don’t like unknowns. I try to be smart and make wise decisions with a futuristic mindset. It’s annoying when something outside my control is capable of derailing (hopefully temporarily) a lot of hard work and sacrifice.
Again, what does the recovery look like?
I know I’m whining. It’s probably fair to say we have all whined about COVID at some point. Whining doesn’t change anything, but the frustration level is definitely there for me by now. I got quite annoyed at the grocery store this weekend. A woman got visibly irritated at me (eye rolls and audible sighs) when I accidentally went the “wrong” way down an aisle. This is new for all of us, lady. Sheesh.
I don’t want this masked stranger to be the new normal. When we come out of this, I hope this is not what our “recovery” looks like.
This weekend, the speakers made some interesting observations about recovery, and I feel like some of it could be applicable outside of the fitness spectrum. There was a heavy emphasis on stress and what that can do to the body.
In a nutshell, the more stress we have – physically, emotionally, mentally, etc. – the longer we will need to recover from the stress.
That makes sense in an exercise standpoint, right? If we are a conditioned human, walking one mile yesterday might not result in a lot of physical stress or soreness today. If the same person ran a marathon yesterday, he or she would likely need substantial recovery time due to the increased stress placed on the body.
Here’s the other interesting concept discussed this weekend that’s common sense but maybe not verbalized or pondered as much as it should:
The benefit of exercise comes from the RECOVERY from it, not during the exercise itself.
When the speaker first said this, I immediately thought, “That’s not entirely true. It feels good to sweat. Exercise clears my mind, and that happens DURING the workout.”
But that’s more of an acute mental benefit from a workout. What the speaker meant was that we have to overload the body (shock phase) to start a more chronic transformation. Whether the goal is to get stronger, go farther, go faster, or become more powerful, we can’t get there by doing what we’ve been doing. We have to train, and training starts by putting more demands on our bodies than we’re used to in order to elicit the adaptations we desire (goals).
We don’t get stronger or faster or more powerful without recovery. One speaker even argued that recovery might be more important than the workout, yet it’s often talked about the least in the fitness world. We use generalizations to talk about rest and recovery. Get enough quality sleep. Eat healthy foods. Stretch every day. Stay hydrated. Meditate. It’s the HOW surrounding these habits that jams us up; at least that’s the case for me.
Last week, I couldn’t fall asleep. My solution: drink a glass of wine and take some Zzzquil. Did I cut corners? Yes. Did I finally fall asleep? Yes. Did I feel more rested after cutting corners? Nope. Did I address the real issues behind the lack of sleep? No.
Maybe we just don’t know enough about rest and recovery. I learned this weekend that part of my problem might be that I need to do a “brain dump” as bed time gets closer. The new COVID-19 lifestyle has increased my screen time a lot. I’m more “stimulated” late at night than I used to be. Before, I wouldn’t browse the Internet right before bed. Another reason might be that I put in a lot of running miles last week, and my legs felt achy, especially at night. I hadn’t been stretching or doing much active recovery because I was overtired.
The last couple nights, I tried a nighttime meditation (via an app) and took a calcium/magnesium supplement, both of which were discussed briefly this weekend. The meditation did a progressive relaxation. I don’t remember the end of it because I fell asleep. I guess that’s a good thing, right? Maybe I’m on to something for myself there because I woke up feeling more refreshed.
Sleep is where the body is most still. Other than basic bodily functions, the body is able to rebuild and recover during sleep because there aren’t any other demands/stresses placed upon it. You can’t really rush the recovery process, and it’s easy to be impatient when positive results take their dear sweet time appearing.
With proper recovery, you develop a new stronger/faster/more powerful baseline to continue to build on. Failing to prioritize recovery means we’re depriving ourselves of improvement.
I am impatient about recovering from COVID-19’s social and economic stressors. I have been lucky enough to stay healthy through the pandemic. Sometimes I have doubts that we’ll adapt and come out with the better baseline to build from. It’s tough out there.
The reality is this: (unfortunately) it will take time to recovery from this. And no matter where you stand politically or personally with this, recovery needs to be a big priority. This has been a beast of a stressor. And like the soreness that lingers after a really tough workout, there might be some more tough times as we try to recover.
Mindfulness is a buzz word I’m hearing a lot lately. I’m not always mindful or tuned in. Sometimes I feel like I’m the little kid in church who can’t keep her eyes closed during the prayers. I’m focused on too many things, overloaded with distractions.
Here’s the way I see it. I don’t know everything about recovery when it comes to COVID-19 or health/fitness, but I’m choosing to be mindful of its importance. What I do in recovery affects how I adapt and improve (or not). For example, science is saying that “active recovery” like dynamic stretching is likely better than static stretching and definitely better than just sitting around doing nothing when we’re awake.
I think my daily activities from here on out need a mindful purpose. Recovering from COVID-19 has already started. Being passive and depressed about things doesn’t lead to recovery. Being active in strategic and purposeful ways helps me stay on track. Maybe I need to figuratively, literally, and permanently trade the Zzzquil for the magnesium and meditation.
Recovering, figuring it out as I go, and, as always, embracing the typos till next Monday-ish,
Mel