Sleep, coffee, and walking
My wife and I were blessed to welcome our son Ollie into the family at the end of October. Since then it’s been a whirlwind of changes. I was fortunate to enjoy a 2 week paternity leave, and have now returned to house calls in Kanata and the office in Westboro, working part-time.
They say the best learning comes from experience, and I have definitely been taught many lessons in the last two weeks. For this blog, I’m going to focus on the things I’ve learned that might be related to health (we won’t talk about my first time changing a diaper or honing the ability to wolf down a full meal in under 90 seconds).
Sleep is precious
I will admit, I have probably stuck my foot in my mouth countless times while talking to parents about sleep. I’ve foolishly given new parents lectures on the importance of 8 hours a night. I swear it was well-intentioned, but I now realize how silly I must have sounded.
Don’t get me wrong, sleep is awesome, and we have tons of research describing the benefits of adequate sleep. It helps with hormones, weight regulation, memory retention, athletic recovery and mood. However, beating ourselves up over our lack of sleep is not productive.
In the past two weeks, my priorities have had to change, and that has meant sleep can’t be at the top of the list anymore. In my case, caring for our 2 week old infant is more important than an extra 30-minute snooze.
Since there aren’t as many opportunities to sleep currently, I’m trying to maximize my efforts. A strategy I’ve adopted is limiting screen time in the evenings. By staying off my phone, I find I can actually fall asleep quicker which lets me take advantage of the brief windows of sleep available.
Coffee is a double-edge sword
As I sit here this morning writing this, I have an extra large coffee in my hand. In about 3 hours I will probably make another pot to keep this party going. With that said, I have definitely seen the problem with excessive coffee intake these last couple of weeks.
I’ll take six more cups of this please.
The short-term benefit is awesome, especially coming off a night of 3 hours sleep, but it can be a vicious cycle of poor sleep resulting in excessive caffeine intake which only leads to more poor sleep.
My strategy for reaping the benefits of coffee without the downfalls is to set a cut-off time in the day for further caffeine intake. For me, I try not to consume any caffeine after 4pm.
Caffeine has about a 5-hour half-life, meaning that even after 5-hours 50% of the caffeine from your last coffee is still circulating your system. Some people can get away with drinking coffee right up until bedtime, but generally most people find that reducing caffeine intake later in the day leads to better sleep.
I find that having an afternoon caffeine cut-off is a helpful strategy to ensure when an opportunity to sleep comes around, I actually have the ability to fall asleep, even if it’s just a short time.
Pro-tip - if you’re someone who just loves coffee like me, you can always try out decaf in the evening. It doesn’t have the caffeine, but I’m convinced there is still a mental boost that comes along with it. It’s probably placebo, but it’s still awesome.
Movement is still good
A big takeaway from the last couple of weeks is that even when I’m busy and sleep-deprived, it always feels good to move. We have two dogs at home, so I don’t have much of a choice but to get walking in our Kanata neighbourhood.
Walking daily has numerous health benefits and I’ve found ways to make it more challenging as needed. Some things I’ve tried and enjoyed include rucking with a heavy backpack (20-30lbs) on a walk, power walking, and picking routes with hills.
The other great thing about walking for exercise is that nobody needs to hype themselves up for a 20 minute walk. it’s not like a hard run or workout. It’s easy, and when you’re lacking time or motivation, easy is good.
Conclusion
Having a kid has been an incredible experience and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I’m blessed to have supportive family and community and my wife is incredible. I’m sure as time goes on I’ll learn even more about navigating fitness with families, and I hope to be able to use this knowledge to help my Ottawa and Kanata patients more effectively.
If you’re having some pain or want to work on your fitness, you’re welcome to get in touch. I work at OCSI clinic in Westboro and offer mobile chiropractic care in Kanata, Stittsville, Carleton Place, and surrounding areas.
SpineOttawa also offers online fitness and rehab consulting if you prefer a DIY-solution (with a little bit of guidance).
