Nedbank LVCC Calendar

Monday, 21 April 2014

2014 Comrades Marathon Countdown Pt 4

Why do we sleep so well at night??

I absolutely loved this bit of useless research that I dug up around this time last year. Check this out:


Why do we sleep so well at night?? Is it because we are running so much, we are tired and need the rest??

I found some research of one Seth Roberts that is worth sharing, and bending to suit our excuses... (and bearing in mind you can not believe everything the Americans say...)

Seth Roberts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seth_Roberts) was known for turning his personal problems into research topics, and testing various theories on himself. Of course, this is not the best or well recognised way of performing research. There is no control group, and there is no possibility for a blind test, let alone a double-blind, as the test subject and researcher are one and the same. None the less, he is a professor of psychology - which means he can at least convince other people that he understands them better than they understand themselves. Personally, I don't understand that...

He suffered from insomnia, and found he would wake up after just a few hours of sleep, and not be able to sleep again. This led to him suffering from afternoon fatigue, and not being able to be fully productive during the day. (I reckon he was over training!!)

After trying various scenarios, he found the following best worked for him to solve his insomnia issues and get good sleep at night:
  • He made sure he got lots of morning light every day
  • He skipped breakfast, and ate only 2-3 hours after first waking
  • To lift his mood, he watched at least one hour of TV each morning - specifically full-faced TV such as talk shows, news, interviews, etc that would show people's faces in near life-size. But he never watched TV at night.
  • He spent at least 8 hours a day on his feet - either standing or walking. This would include time at his work, walking between work stations, etc.
After finding the above worked so well for him, he researched back into history and found that under the Stone Age, early humans had lots of face-to-face interaction early in the mornings but not after dark, were active early in the day carrying out daily chores, and without desk jobs or PC's obviously spent a lot more time on their feet than sitting or slouching about!

So why do we sleep well??
  • Lots of early morning light as we head out for those runs...
  • Eating a good meal only after we return home after the run - eating at least 2 hours after waking...
  • Face-to-face interaction with fellow runners early in the day...
  • A few extra hours on your feet as you pound the pavements...
Fits perfectly into his research, all makes sense to me!!

Imagine Comrades:
  • Up to see first light, and the whole morning, and probably the best part of the afternoon...
  • Eating a good meal only after you finish - definitely more than 2-3 hours after waking...
  • Face-to-face interaction with 14,000 other individuals - all day...
  • A good 8 hours on your legs - if you are fast. Otherwise even more...
So that's why we sleep so well after Comrades!!! And sometimes for two days!!!

Have a great day, and a good night's sleep!!!

Cheers,
Andrew

Part 1



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