Fitbits, sleep and nightmare scenarios

Two weeks ago I bought a fitbit.

I've had activity trackers before. Pedometers, mostly, and I found the simple ones usually worked best. This was great for the budget, since they always (always) fell off, usually into the toilet - though I did have one migrate down my pant leg.

I purchased a refurbished fitbit through Groupon, which meant it cost about 1/2 what they charge in the store - which suited my inner cheapskate. It doesn't have any complicated programming or buttons to push, and it's basically a pedometer you wear on your wrist. But it's a pedometer that links to a webpage where you can (if you choose to do so) keep track of not just your steps, but diet, water intake and even sleep.

I did not purchase this to do the "10,000 steps a day". I got it for information. I know from my previous pedometer experiments (before I dropped them in the toilet) that keeping track does motivate me to get off the couch more. Not "Join Cross Fit and start doing 10K's" more, but more than I would normally do.

And I'm a bit of a geek, so having a tool that tracks my progress and make pretty charts and statistics of my activity without my having to do anything other than wear an (admittedly dorky) bracelet? That is pretty cool.

If you are more of a social butterfly, you can also join the forums and do the social media thing. This is not really my cup of tea. It seems almost everything  has a social media option these days - I'm just waiting for my lettuce to have a user group. (@romainehearts.us.)

I move about as much as I thought I did, which is to say, pitifully little (I average about 2 miles a day). But what I found most surprising was the sleep logging function. Before, had anyone asked, I would have said that I slept well: around 7-8 hours a night. I generally wake up once, around 3am, pet the cat, roll over and go back to sleep. Well, according to the fitbit, I've been living (sleeping?) in a fool's paradise. This is what an average sleep log looks like.

I wake up a lot. In two weeks, I've only managed 7 hours of sleep once. Though to be fair, I have been watching the conventions, and those are enough to give anybody nightmares.

Anybody else experimenting with fitbit out there? Are the fancy ones worth the price? Will thousands of people voluntarily giving their biometric data to the cloud result in a dystopian nightmare future where everyone is required to wear tacky rubber health monitoring bracelets by our new corporate overlords, the insurance companies?

And if you fall behind on your sleep, you will be  denied caffeine and forcibly re-educated in government run sleep centers painted in soothing colors and filled with hypo-allergenic pillows. (Which you will be billed for - of course.) These are the kinds of thoughts you have when you are sleep deprived.

An Embarrassing Way to Meet the Neighbors

It's hot out. 

I know this. I'm prepared for it. I don't go outside in the middle of the day. I wear sunblock and sleeves. I drink a lot of water.  That doesn't always help.

As you know, I'm trying to work more exercise into my life. Last week, I decided to ride my bike around the neighborhood, nothing too crazy, only 30 to 40 minutes. I waited until 7, so the sun was lower in the sky, the heat was dissipating and things were going fine. 

Until I reached the gate. 

My house is in a gated community, and the gates close at 7 pm. If I had been able to pedal right up to my house, I think I would have been okay, but I had to stop to punch the code into the gate. And when I stopped, the world blurred and I fell over. 

To be clear, I didn't faint. I was conscious, but incredibly dizzy. I knew I was overheated, so I just lay there for a bit, focusing on breathing. Some of my neighbors came by in a car, and asked if I was okay (obviously not) but I said I just needed to get to my house and cool down a bit. I struggled to my feet, pushed my bike through the gate, and collapsed a second time. 

Another neighbor, who was out trimming his yard, saw me fall and brought over a bottle of Powerade. Together, they got me into the car and drove me the half block to my house, while someone else walked my bike over. The Powerade and the rest helped me recover enough of my manners to thank everyone and promise that I would not go bike riding again until it was cooler. Like October.

Only later, after a cold shower and change, did I realize that I'd really banged myself up when I fell. I have bruises on my legs from the curb and all sorts of scratches from the juniper that I collapsed into.

Be nice to your neighbors, and careful in this heat! 

Jazzercise Update

Basic is a good descriptor. My location is in a strip mall next to a dollar store. The floor is plywood and there is a raised platform at the far end for the instructor, along with mats and a selection of weights.

There are no mirrors or lockers. Instead, a small wooden ledge runs around the room like a chair rail. This is for water bottles and keys, underneath there are wooden pegs to hang bags or towels if you brought any.

You check yourself in at the front desk (your card has a bar code on it, so it’s a quick scan) put your water bottle on the ledge and pick an open spot of floor.

Class lasts a full hour, and it is rigorous. After a quick warm up, the whole thing is about keeping your heart rate up. The moves come from all over, kickboxing, pilates, aerobics and dance. I look forward to using the weights, because that means we’re entering the cool down phase. The music is current. Over the past 2 weeks we have Jazzercised to: Pitbull, Rhianna, Justin Timberlake, The Buggles (because there is always room for a classic) Katy Perry, Pink and a lot of pop music I’ve heard on the radio but couldn’t name under torture.

And Jazzercise can be torture. It’s hard to master steps when you can feel your heartbeat pounding in your ears.  I have tripped over my own feet, gone right instead of left, and been as uncoordinated as it is possible to be.  And there is a special kind of thigh muscle burning hell when the instructor says; far too cheerfully “I guarantee you’ll feel this one tomorrow!” Tomorrow? Really? You mean I’m not feeling it now?

That being said, there is wonderful sense of camaraderie. The instructors know everyone by name. The older members of the class make a point of encouraging the newcomers. The classes I’ve seen cover all age ranges, from high school through retirement.  It is 99.9% female.  There is one man who attends the class before mine, an older gentleman who comes with his wife. He’s terrible. But then again so am I.  So are a lot of us.  Even the super in-shape women who lead the class are panting and sweaty by the end, which I find comforting because it means that it’s not just me being out of shape, it is actually hard.

Have a good weekend!

Going for a walk

My typical day involves breakfast (sitting), driving to work (sitting), work (sitting), lunch (sitting), driving home (sitting),  dinner (sitting), and maybe some reading, television or blogging (still more sitting).

One thing is clear. I need to get off my backside. Admittedly, I can't walk to work (17 miles is a little far) and since I spend most of my work life in front of a computer, I'm still sitting most of the day, but I can incorporate an after work walk into my routine. 

 I received a new lens for my camera for Christmas and I went out to play with it. All of this is within 10 minutes walk of my house and I didn't know it was there. I really need to get out more.  Who knows what else I'm missing?



Lake Houston

I think it's an eagle, or a hawk. Vulture? Are there any ornithologists out there?

Who thought hoses could be so decorative?



30 Day Exercise Challenge: Summary

It is done. As of last Friday (September 21st) I have exercised 30 minutes a day, every day, for 30 days.

Conclusions:

I sleep better – My problem has never been getting to sleep, it’s been staying asleep. I tend to wake up at 2 in the morning and not be able to get back to sleep, and when I do I wake up again at 4. It hasn’t eliminated the problem, but it doesn’t happen as much.

My complexion is better – not a major issue, but sweating regularly seems to make my complexion a little brighter.

My general mood is better – this is probably related to getting enough sleep.  I’ve always been an 8 hours of sleep a night girl, and I’m cranky when I don’t get it.

Discipline - For some reason, doing this made it much easier to eat healthfully.

Will I keep doing it?

Not every day.  My plan is to hit the gym after work (it’s on the way home).  I’m not going to worry about weekends, I’m more active on weekends anyway. It’s counteracting the 8 hours sitting in front of a computer that I’m worried about.

However, I will not be doing step-ups in my living room at 11:30 pm just so I can get 30 minutes of exercise in before the day is over.  If I miss a day, I miss a day.

Now for the interesting question: what to do for the next challenge? Hmmm….

Are you pondering what I'm pondering?

30 Day Challenge - Additional Motivation

I wasn't completely honest about the 30 Day exercise challenge. I said it was about health and trying new things, but it is also about the charity 5k I signed up to do in November.  I haven't done one in a long time, and I really don't want to be the last person crossing the finish line. 

I know that the purpose is to raise awarness and money for Leukemia research ( a very good cause - and if you want to help, there's a donation widget on the right - thank you) but it's humiliating to be the slowest person out there. Besides if I'm advocating for health, I should try to be healthy, right?

And progress is being made. I am getting a little faster. My legs don't hurt as much now as they did in the beginning. Don't get me wrong: I'm not going to start tracking my shoe mileage and worrying about lactic acid build-up in my legs anytime soon. (I know some serious runners - they keep telling me this stuff.) But I want to finish a 5k without completely embarrassing myself. A modest enough goal, don't you think?

Update: 30 Day Exercise Challenge

Two weeks ago, I said I was going to exercise every day for the next 30 days. I know you are just quivering with anticipation. Did she do it? Did she lose momentum over Labor Day weekend? Did she sit on the couch and watch bad movies instead? And the answer is...

I have exercised for at least half an hour, every day, for the past two weeks. I know, this is only the halfway point, but still. I have exercised every day for two entire weeks. I am committed.

Do I enjoy it? No. Every time the way-too-cheerful guy at the gym wishes me a good workout, I want to kick him. But I still go. Partly because I swore I'd do it and partly because I'm trying to change the way I look at exercise. I've stopped trying to think of exercise as "fun".

Stay with me. The gym I go to, like most gyms, is covered with inspirational pictures of incredibly fit people climbing mountains and running marathons, with slogans like "Find your inner athelete".  The problem with that is I don't want to be an athelete. I just want to not be in a wheelchair when I'm in my seventies.

It's not like I haven't tried. I have taken part in a few of these endurance events over the years (the MS 150 bike ride, a half marathon, a century ride, competitive swimming) and to be completely honest, for me there was no glow of acheivement when I crossed the finish line. My thoughts were more along the lines of "Thank goodness that's over. Where are the showers?" (And can someone bring me a really big margarita?)

  

So I'm trying to mentally reframe exercise as the equivalent of flossing. You don't floss because it's fun, but  because you want to have teeth when you're older.  I find if I think of exercise as good hygiene and not something I'm expected to enjoy, I'm more likely to do it. 

It may not work for anybody else, but that is what gets me in the door. That and the thought of a big frosty drink afterwards (a girl's got to have some fun).