074 • The body always keeps the score
Let yourself go and your body will let you know (sorry, I couldn't help rhyming)...
Welcome back,
I've not been taking particularly good care of myself recently.
The signals that I’m not quite getting enough quality sleep, and that I’m carrying some stress around with me, are showing through and it's come to the point where I’ve consciously decided to turn things around.
The body keeps the score. No matter what you're holding in your head, how you feel about yourself and the work you're doing or what food you're putting in your body, you get a lagging indicator of how well you've been living just by paying attention to your body's signals.
And I've noticed a fair amount of negative ones recently, as I said. My diet's not been great so I've been finding it hard to concentrate on writing, which exacerbates the overthinking and stress that I've been carrying around relating to my upcoming field report deadline at university (I’ve since hit the deadline as this issue was meant to be published a while back, and I touch on things now in a later paragraph).
My sleep has been alright - deep and consistent, but I've been smashing too much caffeine in an attempt to increase my motivation and engagement with the work I've got to do - now I'm in the slump of reducing my intake and dealing with the headaches that come with relying on the drug too much and making a caffeinated state the baseline.
There are a few more signals too, with the stress of the approaching deadline I've been getting sores in my mouth and a spot or two on my face. It's not much but it's a sign of where things might be going if I don't start prioritising my health again.
So what am I doing to turn things around?
I've gone back to eating as clean as possible. Whilst heading around Tesco I'd let a few slack purchases slide into my basket, from mince pies to bagels, and I've been enjoying the treats that have been around the house because of Halloween a little more than is wise.
I'm now trying to do my best to reverse the stress that my deadline's been having on my body, even though it's still not passed. Meditation, even more consistent bedtimes, chamomile tea and magnesium supplements are all interventions that I’ve been using to try and get things back on track.
This post was supposed to go out sooner but since writing the above I’ve had some more to talk about…
Last Sunday I played football down in Chesterfield like I normally do, but a few days previously I’d trained my legs hard. Unwisely, instead of eating something, I smashed two Red Bulls for caffeine, played 90 minutes of football and then trekked a mile uphill from the station with all my kit when I got back to Sheffield.
There were no calories in my body until later that afternoon, and I paid the price when, later that night, my body started to shut down. I had headaches, fatigue, nausea and chills. After sleeping 11 hours solid I began to feel a little better again, but it was yet another sign not to neglect physical signals…
Anyway, I’ve jumped back on the bandwagon of better health decision-making, and have added some zinc into the supplement stack (and a better form of magnesium than the previously mentioned one) to make sure that I’m getting the best sleep and recovery that I can.
The takeaway from this issue is simply listening to what your body tells you. It’s normally right, and your mind is often wrong.
— Theo
