I heard from my doctor's office today, and my sleep test results are in: I don't have sleep apnea, nor do I have any movement disorder when I sleep like restless leg syndrome. I was glad to receive this news because it means I don't stop breathing during the night. At the same time, I was a little discouraged because now I've got to figure out the reason or reasons for why I don't sleep well.
Every morning I wake up with a stuffy nose. I don't have allergies, but a couple of weeks ago we got our house evaluated for energy efficiency and one of the things they did was go over the whole house and check for air leaks. It turns out that the skylight in our master bathroom leaks a lot of air, so our room gets cold air coming in all night. Dust mites are also a very common household problem and we have carpet in our bedrooms, so we need to vacuum the bedrooms probably twice a week instead of once.
Another thing is my weight. According to the BMI calculator, I've just barely entered the obese category. I gained a lot of weight with my second pregnancy and I haven't lost it. Since I gained such a large amount of weight in such a short time, I can tell the difference between when I wasn't as heavy and now: now, the extra weight of my breasts and the fat around my neck put pressure on my throat when I lay on my back, and that makes it a little harder to breathe. Right now I'm not disgusted with how my body looks and I'm not concerned about conforming to someone's standard of beauty; I want to lose this weight for my health. 60 lbs. is my goal--- that's what I feel will put me at a healthy weight for my height, and losing that weight will relieve a lot of pressure that's currently on my heart, my lungs, my joints, my lower back, and my throat. I really think this will help me sleep better.
This overweight-sleep-tired-low-metabolism cycle is a rough one, and since sleep apnea isn't the cause and I can't suddenly start getting good sleep, I realize that the cycle likely has to be broken by exercising. That's where I need to start for all the other things to fall into place. Exercising will give me the energy to get through the day so I won't need to take a nap and so I'll be tired at night when it's time to sleep. Exercising will also speed up my metabolism and thus help me to lose weight so that I won't have the fat around my neck and the weight of my breasts making it harder to breathe when I sleep. And I know from past experience that when I'm exercising a lot, my body actually starts to crave vegetables, so that will give me the motivation I need to incorporate more vegetable recipes into my meals.
So there we go. Exercising and fixing the air leak issues in our house and vacuuming up dust mites should help me sleep better, and sleeping better will help me to have more energy to be a fun and attentive mom to my kids.
1 comment:
Sounds like a good plan. Just remember to be patient with yourself. Exercise and weight loss take time and effort. Within a month you will likely see some results that will help to motivate you to keep going. Be consistent. I know the times that I have incorporated exercise into my daily routine, I felt better, had more energy and looked better. It was also good for my stress. It releases all those good endorphins in your brain which give you a feeling of well-being. Stick with it and the long term benefits will be worth it.
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