[Harriet]

On 10/20/2024 at 6:55 PM, sarakingdom said:

 

I'm not sure who is being referenced, but if it's H*berman, yeah, I've seen an article that puts him in a major credibility pit (or at least a serious ick pit) due to fairly compulsive gaslighting and manipulation.

 

I'd try a protocol by satan himself if it worked. Unfortunately, almost nothing I've tried so far from online health personalities *has* worked.

 

On 10/20/2024 at 5:37 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Far from how these protocols are presented. (How can one even make up a protocol when caffeine affects everyone so very differently and not even talk about dosage?) 

 

Yeah he and others like him do present conclusions with a lot of confidence, from just a few papers. Or even from one paper.

 

On 10/20/2024 at 6:02 PM, Everstorm said:

Ugh, I am noticing this more and more and more.  The speech pathologist with claims to neuroscience insights, the chiropractor who "specializes" in fasting protocols and menopause, etc etc.  I mean, can an intelligent person extrapolate theories from others' research? Yes.  But it does make one pause.

 

It would be fine if any of these worked to deal with our actual large problems. I haven't noticed that any of this hacking or optimization does help, though. I even went off caffeine for a good period--maybe a month or more, can't remember--and I just didn't feel anything except that decaf was disappointingly flat. All this theory about why caffeine is terrible and all these anecdotes about people changing their lives... it's the same damned thing over and over and over with a million different hacks or products or habits. I'm sure each of them worked for one person. I also felt nothing from getting sunlight first thing in the morning. Nothing from all the supplements (and there were many).

 

Not that nothing I do has made any change--there are some things that help. They're just not so predictable via theory and published articles. So I guess... just try stuff?

[Mad Hatter]

 

On 10/21/2024 at 1:47 PM, Everstorm said:

Last Monday my niece was hospitalized for pneumonia with some odd neurological symptoms that baffled the local doctors to the extent that she was shuttled off to the university hospital a couple hours away.  It ultimately lead to a diagnosis of a rare autoimmune disease. 

Oh no, how's your niece doing now? Will it affect her long term or can the disease be managed?

 

43 minutes ago, Harriet said:

I also felt nothing from getting sunlight first thing in the morning.

I think context matters hugely. When I lived in Finland I had a 30 second walk from the beach. In summer I'd take a thermos with coffee and sit on a deckchair and read and chill and watch birds. A+ way to start the day! In winter.... not so much. "In theory" it should help to even get a tiny bit of light, but clearly he's never lived in a place that sometimes gets 2 sun hours in a month. There is no way the theoretical benefits outweigh the pure misery of getting out in the cold and dark. 😄

 

55 minutes ago, Harriet said:

All this theory about why caffeine is terrible and all these anecdotes about people changing their lives...

Caffeine is terrible for some, and for anyone suffering from e.g. anxiety it's worth cutting out as an experiment. But on a population level I don't believe there are any confirmed health implications. And I think for some people it legit works to boost performance, e.g. before a workout or if you need to focus.

 

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

haven't noticed that any of this hacking or optimization does help, though

I think it can for very select people that lead extremely regular lives. Eat the same things, at the same times, sleep regularly, train the same way, don't have external stressors, probably single, almost certainly male, are able and healthy mentally and physically... Which rules out... pretty much everyone. 😄 

[Silmarilliane]

Ooo I love this, following along!

[Sovalis]

I am sorry to hear about your niece, Ever. And the way you had to change your plans for your son’s party. I hope you can resist the junk food until the appointed time. ❤️ 

[Snarkyfishguts]

16 minutes ago, Sovalis said:

I am sorry to hear about your niece, Ever. And the way you had to change your plans for your son’s party. I hope you can resist the junk food until the appointed time. ❤️ 

I second this

[Everstorm]

16 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

It sounds like you did an excellent job of holding to your goals in the midst of not great circumstances. Well done.

 

 

Thank you 😊   It certainly could have gone worse.

 

11 hours ago, Harriet said:

I'd try a protocol by satan himself if it worked.

 

Right?!?

 

11 hours ago, Harriet said:

Yeah he and others like him do present conclusions with a lot of confidence, from just a few papers. Or even from one paper.

 

Or my favorite: the I'm a hammer so everything is a nail approach, i.e.  my approach is the best one for everyone in every situation and if it doesn't work for you, you are doing it wrong.

 

12 hours ago, Harriet said:

All this theory about why caffeine is terrible and all these anecdotes about people changing their lives.

 

12 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Caffeine is terrible for some, and for anyone suffering from e.g. anxiety it's worth cutting out as an experiment. But on a population level I don't believe there are any confirmed health implications. And I think for some people it legit works to boost performance, e.g. before a workout or if you need to focus.

So....I had actually considered increasing my coffee consumption as drinking 4 cups of drip coffee a day has been shown to be protective against Parkinson's disease, so there you are with the conflicting studies.  Ultimately, I didn't pursue it because even 2 cups of coffee makes me fairly jittery.  One is my limit, I guess.

 

12 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Eat the same things, at the same times, sleep regularly, train the same way,

 

I would die of boredom.  How is that optimal? 🤪

 

12 hours ago, Harriet said:

So I guess... just try stuff?

 

Yep.  N=1 the most effective study.

 

11 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Oh no, how's your niece doing now? Will it affect her long term or can the disease be managed?

 

She is worlds better -- almost normal.  She will be on steroids for a few weeks, and I believe the doctors recommended that she only return to school part time for a while.  She may need physical therapy to reintegrate her movements (part of the disorder involves demyelinated nerves), but otherwise her prognosis is good.  Many people never have another recurrence, but others do, so only time will tell as far as that goes.

 

11 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

never lived in a place that sometimes gets 2 sun hours in a month.

 

I'm curious what studies have been done on human adaptations to living at those latitudes.  I know my cousin has some pretty wild tales about winter-over syndrome from living in Antarctica, but not sure how much that is from circadian rhythm disturbance vs extreme cold, social isolation, and so on.

 

On a personal note, I have noticed I fall asleep more easily since I started these adjustments.   I am normally prone to an insomnia that varies from mild to moderate, so sleep improvements are always welcome.

 

5 hours ago, Silmarilliane said:

Ooo I love this, following along!

 

Welcome!

 

3 hours ago, Sovalis said:

I am sorry to hear about your niece, Ever. And the way you had to change your plans for your son’s party. I hope you can resist the junk food until the appointed time. ❤️ 

 

Thanks.  We were able to freeze some of it, so it isn't as bad as it could have been.  Having the no eating after dark helps too.  So I've had some, but fairly moderate.

 

 

3 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I second this

 

Thanks 😊 

[Silmarilliane]

On 10/23/2024 at 9:44 PM, Everstorm said:

She is worlds better -- almost normal.  She will be on steroids for a few weeks, and I believe the doctors recommended that she only return to school part time for a while.  She may need physical therapy to reintegrate her movements (part of the disorder involves demyelinated nerves), but otherwise her prognosis is good.  Many people never have another recurrence, but others do, so only time will tell as far as that goes.

 

Oh! I missed the part about your niece - I'm glad she's doing better 🙏 

[Everstorm]

Just now, Silmarilliane said:

 

Oh! I missed the part about your niece - I'm glad she's doing better 🙏 

No worries -- me too 😊

 

Thursday, October 24, 2024

Lunar phase: full moon 🌕 (2/6)

Civil dawn: 6:57pm

Civil dusk: 6:49pm

 

I'm finding it a little tricky to hit my wake at 6:30am- ish goal, and not sure how I want to handle it.  For one, I picked the time of 6:30 fairly at random because

I was also kind of thinking that this is when sunrise was, but I guess those were summer hours, because sunrise is more like 7:30 rn, or at least until DST ends in November. 

 

Also, I had kind of hoped that if I went to bed at a consistent time, I would naturally wake up at a consistent time 8ish hours from going to sleep, but that doesn't seem to be happening.  For one, my average "sleep" time (or at least time in bed with my eyes closed) is 8h45m, so that's a thing.  But also, on days with a higher physical load, I may need as much as 10 hours.  Apparently going to bed at random hours is less disruptive than waking a random hours?  Or something. 

 

But if I move my bedtime before 10 to accommodate the 9 hour sleep schedule, my soul loudly protests that I AM AN ADULT who doesn't have to go to bed at 9-anything. 

 

Furthermore, I am thinking it's maybe not worth adjusting until November because I will just have to adjust it again and dawn will then come at 6:30 again and maybe the problem will solve itself?

 

Otherwise, things are largely going well.  There were a couple days that dusk snuck up on me, since it is coming so early and the bats and owls were out when I went out to catch the very last rays of the sun

 

But I have addressed this issue by cuing myself to walk after dinner rather than before sundown, and since dinner is perforce before sundown, it's more effective.

 

The coffee thing has been easy and eating during sunlight has been fine (especially since I have been oversleeping).  I am not as hungry during "full moon" as I am during the waxing moon, anyway.

 

I had hoped to get in a row or swim during the waxing moon, but my schedule was just too busy, so I pushed my steps up to 9-10k-for 5 of the 10 days, which is just less than double my typical 5.5k.  I would love to increase both of these numbers eventually, but that's a project for another time.

 

Now that I am in full moon, I want to tackle some major gardening transplant projects that are fairly physically demanding.  The plan is to work a frw hours on Friday and Sunday at the very least.

[Laghail]

On 10/18/2024 at 7:15 AM, Everstorm said:

Autumn weather never fails to bring out the nature witch/druid in me, and this year is no exception.

 

The vibes here are immaculate. 

 

On 10/18/2024 at 7:15 AM, Everstorm said:

Note:  My apologies if the title had anyone excited for a Nordic fairytale-themed challenge.   I love the story and many of the retellings, but I just shamelessly stole the title and made it fit my needs.

 

Nope, it's our job as nerds to remix the things we love, steal away! 

[Harriet]

I somehow also missed what happened to your niece. I seriously hope she has the "never recurs" version.

It's crazy how early it gets dark and how late it stays dark here in the winter. That's something I didn't understand growing up in Brisbane where sunrise and sunset only shifted by about an hour each year. The further you are from the equator, the more different your seasons look.

Also, what a splendid life hack! Now *that* seems like the kind of protocol I could follow.

[Everstorm]

9 hours ago, Laghail said:

 

The vibes here are immaculate. 

 

 

Nope, it's our job as nerds to remix the things we love, steal away! 

 

Thank you and thank you 😊 

 

5 hours ago, Harriet said:

somehow also missed what happened to your niece. I seriously hope she has the "never recurs" version.

 

It was a long post, iirc.   I hope so too.

 

5 hours ago, Harriet said:

It's crazy how early it gets dark and how late it stays dark here in the winter. That's something I didn't understand growing up in Brisbane where sunrise and sunset only shifted by about an hour each year. The further you are from the equator, the more different your seasons look.

 

I am roughly in the middle between those latitudes (relative to the equator), but it's still a pretty drastic change of 5 hours less daylight.  And Daylight Savings Time makes that feel a bit more extreme than it is.

 

5 hours ago, Harriet said:

Also, what a splendid life hack! Now *that* seems like the kind of protocol I could follow.

 

It's been 19 years since I was able to follow the protocol, and probably another 5 before I can fully attempt it.  Early rising typically gives me 2-3 hours' quiet though.

 

I attempted to resolve my early rising dilemma with an alarm clock and ended up oversleeping the worst I have done yet 🙃 

I went to bed at 9:50, but had a hard time falling asleep that I am blaming on full moon hormones.  Then, I woke up at 5am instead of 6, had a hard time going back to sleep, never heard the alarm, but found my phone on the floor at 8:30.  I had set it to vibrate only in the hopes it wouldn't wake my husband, but I guess that was not enough to wake me either. 💩

 

[Artemis Prime]

14 hours ago, Everstorm said:

Furthermore, I am thinking it's maybe not worth adjusting until November because I will just have to adjust it again and dawn will then come at 6:30 again and maybe the problem will solve itself?

When I was in high school my biology teacher wanted to do a sleep study with us, but it involved the whole class being on a regular sleep schedule for 2 weeks, and we could never make it work because in the fall football and band messed most of us up on the weekends, and then we hit DST, and then we were at the holidays, and then we all had late musical practices, and then we adjusted the clocks again - it's sad we never got to the study, but it did teach me how irregular our schedules are. No wonder so many people have sleeping troubles.

[Sovalis]

I go to bed anywhere from 9-10:30ish depending on how I am feeling. While I respect that I am an adult, part of that is being able to do what I want and if I want to sleep, I can and no one can stop me! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! However, I think this is more because I don’t have kids and therefore don’t suffer as much from a desire for alone awake time to do “my” things or other forms of bedtime revenge procrastination. Dave also tends to go to bed earlier rather than later and that seems to work for us so I am not out of step with him, either, which is nice. 

 

I support your decision to turn in early if that is what you want to do. ❤️ 

[MaeradCase]

3 hours ago, Sovalis said:

I am an adult, part of that is being able to do what I want and if I want to sleep, I can and no one can stop me! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!

Is this villain energy? 😆 Because it's a complete perspective shift that sounds as brilliant as my using gummy vitamins to take my vitamins consistently because they're my special treat for being a grown up with an otherwise deteriorating body. 😅

[Everstorm]

5 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

When I was in high school my biology teacher wanted to do a sleep study with us, but it involved the whole class being on a regular sleep schedule for 2 weeks, and we could never make it work because in the fall football and band messed most of us up on the weekends, and then we hit DST, and then we were at the holidays, and then we all had late musical practices, and then we adjusted the clocks again - it's sad we never got to the study, but it did teach me how irregular our schedules are. No wonder so many people have sleeping troubles.

 

That's so crazy.  I can't say that I have much more of an excuse to stay up than revenge bedtime procrastination/one more chapter, so I should be able to work this out eventually.  Just needs some experimentation.

 

4 hours ago, Sovalis said:

However, I think this is more because I don’t have kids and therefore don’t suffer as much from a desire for alone awake time to do “my” things or other forms of bedtime revenge procrastination.

 

This is me 100%.  And granted, mine aren't Littles anymore, so I could technically do my things while they are up, but I find the noise of 3 adolescent/adults playing video games or watching action movies in the same room to be very disruptive, so I struggle to focus until night time when it is quiet.

 

1 hour ago, MaeradCase said:

Is this villain energy? 😆 Because it's a complete perspective shift that sounds as brilliant as my using gummy vitamins to take my vitamins consistently because they're my special treat for being a grown up with an otherwise deteriorating body. 😅

 

😂  I need to find a villain role model with an early bedtime.  

 

For now, I am going to try going to bed by 10 instead of 10:30 and changing goal wake-up time to 6:45 and see how that goes.  I think it helps me mentally to say I can stay up to 10 if I want to, but if I'm tired at 9:45, I could go to bed "a few minutes early".  It's like the difference between $10 and $9.99 😁

[Snarkyfishguts]

1 hour ago, MaeradCase said:

Is this villain energy? 😆 Because it's a complete perspective shift that sounds as brilliant as my using gummy vitamins to take my vitamins consistently because they're my special treat for being a grown up with an otherwise deteriorating body. 😅

I do this too. My vitamin D wasn’t low for the first time in years because I take gummy vitamins!

41 minutes ago, Everstorm said:

This is me 100%.  And granted, mine aren't Littles anymore, so I could technically do my things while they are up, but I find the noise of 3 adolescent/adults playing video games or watching action movies in the same room to be very disruptive, so I struggle to focus until night time when it is quiet.

I live with my parents and my nephew. I understand this so hard. There is no down time. I hope you find a solution that works for you

[Everstorm]

2 hours ago, Snarkyfishguts said:

I do this too. My vitamin D wasn’t low for the first time in years because I take gummy vitamins!

I live with my parents and my nephew. I understand this so hard. There is no down time. I hope you find a solution that works for you

 

Well, my oldest moves out next weekend, so it will be quieter on that count soon 😭