You don’t really know what tired is until you haven’t been tired. It’s a strange thing to think about but this was me in a nutshell. I thought it was normal to be tired even after an eight hour sleep. I blamed training, working too many hours, and cutting weight. I had all the reasons to be tired, I thought.
I wasn’t a coffee human, but when I came across the glorious drink called Red Bull, the evil temptress that she is had me. Sleep in a can. The perfect way to negate my feeling of sleepiness and even more, to bring me to an elevated state for my training sessions. I was creating a very unhealthy habit without realising it. A quick stop at the servo to grab a four pack of bulls every morning was the minimum requirement to kick off a day, and I’d maybe even pick up a little more if I had a big session of training.
Naps were my life. I was always looking for ways to get in an hour nap during the day. But then I found the most amazing beverage- the double shot espresso. I will be honest, I was not the biggest fan of the taste, but the outcome was amazing. Two shots of coffee in one little cup, this to me was a far more efficient way to deliver me the much needed caffeine for my day. The tricky part was that I still had the Red Bulls kicking around too.
Getting home from coaching while still wired on the go go juice but needing to sleep was taking its toll. My saviour came in the delivery of an Apple watch. It had a sleep tracking app, so I could see what my sleep was really like. Let’s just say it was as expected. This little wearable device delivered the news I needed to hear. I could see the data; I could see why I was tired. I now had something to measure my sleep and so I set about fixing this.
The writing was on the wall for caffeine. It had to go. Not completely, but a cutback needed to happen. I put in place a simple rule: no caffeine after 3pm. This meant two things: I would consume less caffeine as there would be less time to drink it, and by stopping at 3pm whatever caffeine I had had should be out of my system in time for shut down.
When I checked my little app to see my progress, it was better but certainly not perfect. I was still tired. I looked around to see what my fellow powerlifters were doing and everyone was getting the CPAP machine aka the sleep snorkel as I like to call it. Being now well over 100kg (118kg) and with a very thick neck, the writing was on the wall, I just hadn’t seen it yet. A trip to GP, to get the referral for a sleep test to find out what I already knew, and I was off and racing.
The CPAP and I did not have a good start to our relationship. I struggled with using it but I was very determined to get this sleep thing sorted. It took a month for me to get used to using the CPAP machine. This was when I finally realised how tired I had been for years. My app was now showing a good night’s sleep and I was waking up feeling so much better. Within six weeks of using it consistently I lost 3 kg of bodyweight; my body was no longer in a hyper-stressed state; and my recovery from training sessions improved which of course had a huge carry over into me being able to push even harder. This also happened to be the same year I pulled my biggest ever deadlift of 300kg, I wonder why…
Now you might be wondering why would I share this story? It is because I have no doubt others have a very similar story. But these others do not do anything about it and just accept being tired. Poor sleep hygiene is one of the easiest things to fix that will have the greatest positive impact on not just your training but your whole life. I dare you to google health risks associated with sleep apnea and see what comes up.
I challenge you all to track your sleep for a week using your phone or a wearable. Check the results, then look at your sleep hygiene and see what you can improve on.
My top tips for better sleep
1. Improve sleep quality, cut out caffeine
2. Find some more minutes, ditch the screens and get to bed earlier. Every minute counts even if it’s just fifteen.
3. Create a bedtime ritual that helps get your body ready for sleep
4. If you have any thoughts that you could have sleep apnea, go to your Doctor and get a sleep test asap.
PS: If you are in Brisbane and do go to your doctor for a referral for a sleep test, one of the Team Bad Crew, Dr Andrea Fiene has a clinic you can get referred to. Check them out. https://www.nbst.com.au/
PPS: Check out this killer podcast on all things sleep.
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