In the 80s on Friday is great (85 is the cutoff for optimal) so I'm pretty happy with how my body is responding to the new exercise schedule. An extra recovery day might help.
The weighted blanket is still working well but at 1am when I needed to roll over, the amount of movement and effort needed pulled me into a full waking state as you can see. That's not good despite falling back to sleep.
But it's the 3rd day of no morning pain while using it so ...
@thewebrecluse
Morning! Remember when you were talking about HRV and I said running helped mine?
Well, now it's very low for some random reason, and I haven't changed anything.
So now I'm wondering if it might be related to sheer stress, more than anything else. It's been a rough month +for multiple reasons.
(I know you like data. 😁 )
Glad you're experiencing less pain. 💜
@janallmac Running is one of the absolute worst activities for the body in terms of stress. You're talking full on stress on joints in every location in the body. If you are a seasoned athlete who understands how to recover and whose body is accustomed to it, that is one thing. If you are new to running or haven't been running for a long time all you will see is the result of full body stress and bad recovery. HRV is the biggest indicator of whether your body is recovering well.
@janallmac So to put it simply
A higher HRV between runs indicates good recovery and low stress on your body.
A lower HRV could mean you've been pushing yourself too hard and need to take a break.
Recovery days are even more important than active days.
@janallmac You are not recovering well because your body is not resting enough, you aren't replenishing expended energy, not rehydrating enough etc. Every one has different needs based on a variety of things ... recovery looks different for everyone. I need 2 and a half days of recovery for 60 minutes of exercise because of my chronic illness. Someone else may need less. You have to understand what your body needs and how it works. That takes a lot of data correlation.
@janallmac contrary to what people have been brainwashed and groomed to believe ... good health isn't about how much you exercise, it's actually about how well your body recovers from activity and as little stress as possible.
@thewebrecluse
I suspect (without much data) that stress is a huge issue for me currently.
Between the election and personal events this year has just been a doozy.
I def. need to figure out ways to cope a little better.
@janallmac Stress will destroy your body and your mind faster than anything else. Not just mental stress, but physical stress of course and, as I said, exercise is physical stress. So you're adding physical stress onto an already stressed body because the endorphins you get from running make your brain happy but they will cause havoc on your physical body. There are other ways to stay active, better ways to relieve stress, and remember that balance is key to everything.
@janallmac my HRV is always optimal. 99% of my data is always optimal. Balance is how you achieve consistent data ... not based solely on how you feel or want to feel or what you want to be doing but by listening to your body, mind, and spirit and feeding each accordingly. If you are already experiencing high stress, adding more stress doesn't make much sense.
@janallmac You only get one body. Treat it well and learn everything you can about how it works and what it needs. Once you wreck it, it takes a very long time to get it back if at all. Stress is the number one killer period ... all kinds of stress. If you have an Oura or something that tracks daytime stress or HRV like a Visible or something like that ... use it and correlate your data with how you feel and what you're doing. You'll see answers emerge pretty quickly. 👍🏾
@janallmac using an elliptical is much less stress on your body ... using balance devices ... indoor skiing machines also ... some forms of yoga ... these are all ways to get the chemicals your brain is addicted to but with much less physical stress. Think about it. ❤️
@janallmac Oura uses a few data points to determine "resilience" which is just it's way of showing you how well you are balanced. No matter how much daytime stress ... mental, physical, or spiritual ... what matters in resilience is recovery. Are you sleeping well are you resoring and recovering at night from your exercise etc. So in this example you can see my exercise schedule creates high daytime stress but my recovery beats it and keeps my resilience high, close to perfect.
@janallmac So I could run myself into the ground during 2 and 1/2 hours of exercise, plus stretching, plus weight work ... but because I sleep nearly perfectly and get 28% deep sleep where all the recovery happens, my HRV stays optimal and my body recovers well. The trick is making sure your body is always recovering from whatever you put it through. That's how you stay healthy. Same for your mind too. ❤️ Good luck with it all.
@thewebrecluse Thank you! I appreciate you. 💜 I'm a work in process who is slightly stressed out now, but we'll get there.
@janallmac ACTIVITY helps your HRV ... any activity. Running is bad for your body overall and I'd recommend you find something much less stressful but ... do you 👍🏾 In the long term you will see the results and I don't think you will be too pleased.
@thewebrecluse
I'm kind of built for running, if that makes any difference, and it's the easiest activity to fit in my schedule currently. My family members who are similar to me do ultra marathons and crazy stuff like that. I hear what you're saying, and I totally understand it is not for everyone, but it really does work for me.
@janallmac Your HRV will tell you if it's good or not regardless of what you think. The data will speak for itself. Treat your body with kindness. Your body will always tell you what it needs one way or another. Listen to it. ❤️
@thewebrecluse Thanks for the info! @thewebrecluse
If that's the case apparently mine was recovering well but has now stopped recovering well. 😕 yaaay. I'm training for a 10K in January. I still like running but maybe need to go easier.