ZZZZ....

Ok, as promised...I am posting a blog about sleep! Yep, sleep, something we all need, just don't seem to get enough of!

A little background on sleep. There are two major stages of sleep, NonREM and REM. NonREM sleep is when our metabolism, temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tone, and respirations decrease. REM sleep, is when we are dreaming. During this stage, our heart rate and respirations can increase and we have that Rapid Eye Movement from where the sleep stage gets its name. This is when we dream. Men can experience an erection (as well as women with clitoral engorgement), guess the are having sex dreams when this happens! LOL. REM is our restorative phase of our sleep and is very important.

Sleep is affected by so many of our daily activities. If you have a chronic lung disease, maybe asthma or COPD, you can be up all night due to shortness of breath or can't lay a certain way because it will affect your breathing, thus affecting your sleep. Or if you are in pain (maybe from doing a million sit ups, and then getting a new PR in back squat), you have more trouble sleeping.

Drugs affect our sleep. I am not talking about any hardcore kind of drugs, but ones that we may take/use on a regular basis. Caffeine can prevent you from falling asleep. It also interferes with your REM sleep, and if you are awaken at night, you can have difficulty falling asleep. Alcohol, our favorite, is great at making you fall asleep quickly, but it actually reduces the amount of REM sleep you get. So, you are decreasing the quality of sleep you are getting. With some of the sleep aides, you may fall asleep faster, but they may prevent you from reaching REM. They are to used for TEMPORARY relief only of insomnia, and some of them can cause daytime drowsiness. So, if you use them, make sure you read the directions. If if says get 8 hours of sleep, then plan to get a full 8 hours.

I was reading a study that compared Caucasians and African Americans. On AVERAGE women got more sleep than the men of each race, and Caucasians on average got more sleep than African Americans. According to my textbook, men have more difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. Women can have problems with sleep due to hormones (stupid hormones). But women's hormones do fluctuate during the month and this can have an impact on sleep.

Weekend

I had a great time at the party! Crossfit Deep is such a cool place! I could really see myself working out there! And Eric seems to want to help me so I can, but I just need to find the finances. Stupid money. Stupid nursing school. I wish it was closer, because there wouldn't be any questions asked about what I would do!

It was great seeing people from CFDC at the party. Granted, after talking to some people, it seems like things have changed so much since I left. Which really saddens me. I thought that Crossfit was such a big family community, and to hear what I heard, just breaks my heart. It makes me question if I want to get back into it if this is how Crossfit treats people who leave. Granted, I know that I haven't gotten the whole story, but the people I've talked to, I think they are pretty reliable.

And so, a new week begins. I have clinicals again this week. :) Gotta love clinicals. Oh, and yesterday, I got the biggest compliment from two of my teachers. Since I am doing so well, they think that I am "brilliant" (Their words not mine). While I know that I am smart, I know how hard I work. So, to say brilliant, I don't think that applies, maybe it does. But we got the "you suck" speech after our big pharm test. Seems like a lot of people won't be passing this semester and going on to the next one. Sad. Very sad. I find that school is actually easy if you study. But that's just me! :)

Rainy Day!

So, I did a quick workout after preclinical. Here it was...

1 mile warm up on the elliptical
10-8-6-4-2
Pull ups
Push ups
50 sit up cool down

My made up metcon took me 4:30. It could have been a lot quicker, but stupid pull ups slowed me down! Oh well. It was nice. Abs are finally feeling better!

So, I get home after my workout, took my shower, and was getting ready to finish my preclinical paper work and.....my clinical is cancelled tomorrow. So, I have tomorrow off. A day off, and I don't have ANYTHING to do. Hmm...I wonder what I am going to do!

Gotta Go Deep!

Thank you Sandy for making me go to the free workout a few days ago!

WOD:
In groups of 3, with only 2 people working at a time
As many points in 10 minutes of:
Squats (worth 1 point)
Ab-mat situps (worth 2 points)
Burpees (worth 3 points)

Great workout! Sandy and I figured we could do situps all day! LOL. But it would be better to do a few of those horrible burpees to boost our score. Our final score ending up being 940, or something like that. I don't remember my score exactly, but I did a ton of sit ups. I woke up that next day, and my abs were so freaking sore! Even now, 3 days out, abs are still sore! I so love CF. It's so great to come back and do these workouts with people that I love! I am really happy that I was able to still run 400m and not have to stop! I know that I do the elliptical, but it's not the same as real running.

CrossFit Deep is such a good box. I wish I was closer so I could go, but still don't have the time. Will have to go back when/if I get another Saturday off.

Ok, update on school. Last week, I had my Concepts test, got a 94! Woo hoo! Had Assessment test yesterday, and pulled out a 90. Today, I had pharm....pharm.....pharm....pharm. I left the test feeling pretty good. Grades still weren't posted when I went to Concepts lecture. All of our instructors were there. This should have been the first sign that something wasn't right. The instructor that helps with retention, started first. Well, we get the "You suck speech". I am sure you have heard it sometime in your life. Apparently, my class has done the worst compared to previous classes. They were blunt, and said that some of us weren't going to make it to Junior II. Uh oh....ok, so kinda makes me think that I didn't do so well. This speech goes on for about 30 minutes. Our pharm teacher comes in, and honestly, looked like she had been crying. Which makes me feel horrible. I was hoping that I hadn't let her down. Long story short, I made a 94. Woo hoo! Looks like I am not one of those people that isn't doing well. Well, I knew that, but I hate the "You suck speech". Just one more test tomorrow! Then, clinicals, and I can relax for a day!

Weekend fun!

OK, so I totally slacked off on my sleep fitness blog. Promise guys, it is coming! I just had stuff that I needed to do.

I did manage to get a workout in yesterday.

Did my 1 mile warm up on the elliptical. Still hate doing it, but I like getting my HR up. For my WOD, I did one that we did a few months ago.

14 rounds
3 push jerk
3 L-pull up (subbed knees to elbows)

I used 55# again. I warmed up with it, and for some reason it felt heavier than last time. So, I just used it. I actually finished the WOD in 9:00, which is 50 seconds faster than my previous time! This time I took less breathing breaks. Nice to see an improvement. Cool down, 50 situps.

Sorry for the short post, but just wated to post something to let you guys know I am alive! :)