Sleep issues

Mai-Kero

So I've noticed something bad happening recently. Whenever I sleep, if I don't set an alarm, I tend to be out for at least twelve to fourteen hours.

Once I wake up though, I'm feel fine. Not tired at all. It bothers me because I used to automatically wake up after 8-9, and I'm wondering if one of two things is causing it.

One: My extremely erratic sleep schedule. It's winter break, and I'm trying to pull as many hours as I can get at work before classes start again on the 20th. Also, I have a tendency to not go immediately to sleep after working a 14-16 hour day even though I should and stay up until like 3-5am. Due to this, I sometimes sleep only three to five hours, and other times I'll head to bed and not wake up for at least twelve.

Two: My diet sucks ass. While I do eat some healthy things, like fruits and vegetables and pills that have vitamins, I also eat shit, and I don't eat very much. I've measured that on a normal day I only consume like 1200 calories. I've 6'4'' and weigh 225, not much of which is muscle, so I have some reserves to pull from, so I figure the amount isn't an issue. I'm losing weight too, which is a plus.

So, are the long sleep periods just my body catching up to nights where I barely get any sleep, or is my diet so shitty that I don't have enough energy?

NargorothRiP

I personally advice going to see a doctor and getting a physical with a full blood work up. Your weight height seems to be fine considering as you said not much muscle. However the chronic fatigue and low intake of calories with alot of junk could lead to some serious issues. Hell you could even be sick, like mono.

Asiina

I was feeling really run down about a year ago and went to my doctor. He suggested a bunch of things it could be and I had a whole blood workup done right there. It's simple to test for a lot of possible reasons you're oversleeping.

For me though it was just a really erratic sleep schedule. Try to force yourself into a pattern. Calculate when you need to wake up and set your bedtime accordingly. Don't nap during the day. Just stay awake and then sleep when you need to sleep.

Also actually do the math on your sleep. Over the course of a week are you getting 56-70 hours of sleep (8-10 hours/night)? That's a reasonable amount. It may seem like a lot more since you're not counting those nights you only sleep a few hours.

Feral

I agree on getting a checkup and blood work.

Exercising can help. So can getting off the computer/video games 30m before bed.

If you have a roommate or partner, ask them if they've noticed you making any noises or having problems breathing at night. Snoring is normal unless excessive, choking or gurgling or gasping are signs of sleep apnea.

Mai-Kero

Yeah the blood-work seems like a good idea. My sister and some extended relatives have thyroid problems, and it would be deliciously ironic if I had something even more fucked up going on, since I've never even been admitted to a hospital.

I'd like to start exercising regularly, but I'm not a huge fan of gyms since I'd be embarrassed as fuck working out (possibly just a holdover from when I was forty pounds heavier two months ago before I moved out on my own for the first time) and exercise equipment is expensive as hell for someone living on a student-working-at-Target budget like me. A weight bench alone is like $50.

I am planning on buying a bike in the spring and riding to work/school so maybe that will help assuming the blood work doesn't come back positive for radioactivity or something.

MrMonroe

Hmm... forty pounds in two months on no exercise and a mediocre-poor diet?

You probably need some cardio and a better diet. Fitness Thread, AWAY!

Thanatos

You lost forty pounds in two months, you have a shitty, malnutritious diet, you don't exercise, and you have an erratic sleep schedule.

I mean, yeah, you can see a doctor (and likely should), but I virtually guarantee that your problems are linked to those four things. Eat more food. Eat healthier food. I guarantee you you had a lot more muscle before you started starving yourself.

Buddy Lee

Hey Mai-Kero. You're a college student, and I'm willing to bet that your college has a wellness center/gym that you can use for free. Take advantage of this.

You might feel really uncomfortable in the gym, but once you work through that and get a regular workout routine going, you will feel absolutely great. Once you start seeing results, you will feel amazing.

Perhaps you know someone who works out regularly that would bring you into the gym and get you started on a workout routine? This helped me a lot when I started working out.

This alone will be likely to help with sleeping, but a well-balanced diet is also something that you should strongly consider.

BetelguesePDX

Agree completely with Thanatos. A doctor is probably overkill, and I would fix my diet, work on my sleep schedule and also exercise more often and if still having issues, go see one.

Mai-Kero

Buddy Lee wrote: »

Hey Mai-Kero. You're a college student, and I'm willing to bet that your college has a wellness center/gym that you can use for free. Take advantage of this.

You might feel really uncomfortable in the gym, but once you work through that and get a regular workout routine going, you will feel absolutely great. Once you start seeing results, you will feel amazing.

Perhaps you know someone who works out regularly that would bring you into the gym and get you started on a workout routine? This helped me a lot when I started working out.

This alone will be likely to help with sleeping, but a well-balanced diet is also something that you should strongly consider.

Yeah, that's true. I'll see if I can force myself to get up early and work out on the days that I don't work.

As for the diet, the main problem is that I don't like eating, because I feel like I need to lose about forty-five more pounds (180 should be the rightish weight if I put on some muscle for 6'4'' with a large frame, right?), I don't like to wake up early enough to eat breakfast, and food is expensive as fuck.

Seriously, my mom got me some vegetables and fruit with one of my christmas giftcards and it was like forty-bucks for barely anything. It it even possible to eat right on a college budget? Are there stores cheaper than Walmart, which is in turn cheaper than basically everything else to go to? I'd like to shop at like, the raisin rack or some other fresh organic place but that's even worse.

Thanatos

I don't know what the hell you're getting at the grocery store, but you're doing it wrong. And who told you you have to get up early to eat breakfast? A bowl of cereal and a couple of hard-boiled eggs should take you ten minutes to eat, tops. Fruits, vegetables, tuna, brown rice, etc. are way cheaper than the pre-prepared, hella processed stuff you're probably eating, and way fucking better for you.

And yeah, maybe you could lose some more weight, but losing it by starving yourself is the worst way to do that. It lowers your energy levels, slows your metabolism, loses muscle mass, causes damage to your internal organs, and encourages your body to store additional fat, to say nothing of the fact that it makes it hard to feel well-rested without getting 14 or 15 hours of sleep, because your body has nothing to use for energy.

Mai-Kero

Thanatos wrote: »

I don't know what the hell you're getting at the grocery store, but you're doing it wrong. And who told you you have to get up early to eat breakfast? A bowl of cereal and a couple of hard-boiled eggs should take you ten minutes to eat, tops. Fruits, vegetables, tuna, brown rice, etc. are way cheaper than the pre-prepared, hella processed stuff you're probably eating, and way fucking better for you.

And yeah, maybe you could lose some more weight, but losing it by starving yourself is the worst way to do that. It lowers your energy levels, slows your metabolism, loses muscle mass, causes damage to your internal organs, and encourages your body to store additional fat, to say nothing of the fact that it makes it hard to feel well-rested without getting 14 or 15 hours of sleep, because your body has nothing to use for energy.

Yeah that makes sense.

But where are you buying fruits, vegetables and brown rice where they're cheaper than ramen noodles and white rice? Giant eagle has brown rice at like twice or three times the price of white, and thirty bucks of vegetables bought me like, a bag of apples, a bag of oranges, some grapes, tomatoes, one head of lettuce and a bag of carrots. Shit like Olive Oil? Ten dollars for a single bottle.

The only healthy things that I've found cheap are eggs and tuna. The cheapest whole wheat bread without high fructose corn syrup is the Archer Farms stuff from Target, which is like $3.50-4 a loaf compared to like a dollar for white bread. Wraps are absurd to at Giant Eagle and other stores .
Maybe shitty food pricing is unique to Ohio.

Thanatos

Mai-Kero wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

I don't know what the hell you're getting at the grocery store, but you're doing it wrong. And who told you you have to get up early to eat breakfast? A bowl of cereal and a couple of hard-boiled eggs should take you ten minutes to eat, tops. Fruits, vegetables, tuna, brown rice, etc. are way cheaper than the pre-prepared, hella processed stuff you're probably eating, and way fucking better for you.

And yeah, maybe you could lose some more weight, but losing it by starving yourself is the worst way to do that. It lowers your energy levels, slows your metabolism, loses muscle mass, causes damage to your internal organs, and encourages your body to store additional fat, to say nothing of the fact that it makes it hard to feel well-rested without getting 14 or 15 hours of sleep, because your body has nothing to use for energy.

Yeah that makes sense.

But where are you buying fruits, vegetables and brown rice where they're cheaper than ramen noodles and white rice? Giant eagle has brown rice at like twice or three times the price of white, and thirty bucks of vegetables bought me like, a bag of apples, a bag of oranges, some grapes, tomatoes, one head of lettuce and a bag of carrots. Shit like Olive Oil? Ten dollars for a single bottle.

The only healthy things that I've found cheap are eggs and tuna. The cheapest whole wheat bread without high fructose corn syrup is the Archer Farms stuff from Target, which is like $3.50-4 a loaf compared to like a dollar for white bread. Wraps are absurd to at Giant Eagle and other stores .
Maybe shitty food pricing is unique to Ohio.

I get my rice at Costco, and while brown rice might be more expensive than white rice, the difference is negligible when it comes to cost per meal, which is pennies. A ten-dollar bottle of olive oil should last you for at least a month, if not longer.

Maybe I'm just used to the price of fruit and vegetables on the West Coast.

Mai-Kero

Thanatos wrote: »

Mai-Kero wrote: »

Thanatos wrote: »

I don't know what the hell you're getting at the grocery store, but you're doing it wrong. And who told you you have to get up early to eat breakfast? A bowl of cereal and a couple of hard-boiled eggs should take you ten minutes to eat, tops. Fruits, vegetables, tuna, brown rice, etc. are way cheaper than the pre-prepared, hella processed stuff you're probably eating, and way fucking better for you.

And yeah, maybe you could lose some more weight, but losing it by starving yourself is the worst way to do that. It lowers your energy levels, slows your metabolism, loses muscle mass, causes damage to your internal organs, and encourages your body to store additional fat, to say nothing of the fact that it makes it hard to feel well-rested without getting 14 or 15 hours of sleep, because your body has nothing to use for energy.

Yeah that makes sense.

But where are you buying fruits, vegetables and brown rice where they're cheaper than ramen noodles and white rice? Giant eagle has brown rice at like twice or three times the price of white, and thirty bucks of vegetables bought me like, a bag of apples, a bag of oranges, some grapes, tomatoes, one head of lettuce and a bag of carrots. Shit like Olive Oil? Ten dollars for a single bottle.

The only healthy things that I've found cheap are eggs and tuna. The cheapest whole wheat bread without high fructose corn syrup is the Archer Farms stuff from Target, which is like $3.50-4 a loaf compared to like a dollar for white bread. Wraps are absurd to at Giant Eagle and other stores .
Maybe shitty food pricing is unique to Ohio.

I get my rice at Costco, and while brown rice might be more expensive than white rice, the difference is negligible when it comes to cost per meal, which is pennies. A ten-dollar bottle of olive oil should last you for at least a month, if not longer.

Maybe I'm just used to the price of fruit and vegetables on the West Coast.

Yeah, probably just the West Coast. Ohio is a barren land. The only thing that's cheap here is corn. And pollution. We also don't have any Costcos.

Buddy Lee

I want to reiterate something about going to the gym... see if you can find someone to go with you. This will give you something to keep you accountable for the times that you miss, plus you will be more comfortable at the gym.

archonwarp

It's funny how you make this thread, Maikero, as I've been suffering from basically the same thing and am in the same situation as you. Exercise will definitely help. I started running with my roommate and friends, and when we do it regularly (3+ times a week), I really feel a lot better. As for food, cutting down on certain things makes all of the difference. Anything packaged is likely to cost a lot more than what you can buy the raw materials in. Your best bet is to invest in some cheap microwaveable containers. Pre-cook a few days worth of dinner and freeze or fridge them. Rice and chicken will store really well in a fridge. Also, go to Sam's club and buy one of the gigantic olive oil containers-- they are like 12 dollars for a handle.

If you buy your rice in bulk, you can store it in one or two of those large containers with seals on them. Also, you should buy a rice cooker (I'm doing the same soon), as the rice is supposed to be waaay better tasting and easier to make. You can eat a good breakfast with under ten minutes of prep time very easily. Try regular oatmeal (the type in the big tube). Just pour 1/2 a cup into a microwaveable bowl, add water till the top is barely covered with water, and heat for two minutes. While that is heating up, cook some eggs and eat em.

If you ever want to go to the gym or go jogging, I'll go with you.

Mai-Kero

archonwarp wrote: »

It's funny how you make this thread, Maikero, as I've been suffering from basically the same thing and am in the same situation as you. Exercise will definitely help. I started running with my roommate and friends, and when we do it regularly (3+ times a week), I really feel a lot better. As for food, cutting down on certain things makes all of the difference. Anything packaged is likely to cost a lot more than what you can buy the raw materials in. Your best bet is to invest in some cheap microwaveable containers. Pre-cook a few days worth of dinner and freeze or fridge them. Rice and chicken will store really well in a fridge. Also, go to Sam's club and buy one of the gigantic olive oil containers-- they are like 12 dollars for a handle.

If you buy your rice in bulk, you can store it in one or two of those large containers with seals on them. Also, you should buy a rice cooker (I'm doing the same soon), as the rice is supposed to be waaay better tasting and easier to make. You can eat a good breakfast with under ten minutes of prep time very easily. Try regular oatmeal (the type in the big tube). Just pour 1/2 a cup into a microwaveable bowl, add water till the top is barely covered with water, and heat for two minutes. While that is heating up, cook some eggs and eat em.

If you ever want to go to the gym or go jogging, I'll go with you.

Yeah, I snagged a electronic programmable rice cooker that holds like twelve cups for about $20 when I moved in. I've used it a bunch, and it steams vegetables great, but when I actually try cooking rice in it, even when I use the recomended amount of water a bunch of the rice ends up sticking to the bottom. Which sucks ass. Is it just shitty rice, or something I'm doing wrong, I wonder. The containers sounds like a good plan. I'll look up some recipes that involve chicken and rice.

The gym thing sounds good. I should be getting some cardio from biking to school since apparently one of my co-workers knows a path that takes me from my apartment complex to the campus fairly easily.

Oatmeal is a solid plan. I usually get Kashi cereal when I can, too.

Mai-Kero

Well I started when I woke up. (at one-forty-five-ish.)

I put a cup of rice in the cooker before I got in the shower, and it finished like five minutes ago. I'm supposed to wait like ten minutes before I lift the lid though to fix the sticking-to-the-bottom-problem. While that was running, I made myself an omelet. It has a bit of cheese and ham inside, but it's real ham, so slightly better than the processed stuff hopefully. That was the last of christmas leftovers too, so I'll stick to turkey bacon from now on. My toast is 100% whole wheat, so that's cool. And real orange juice is acceptable, right?

Thanatos

Mai-Kero wrote: »

Well I started when I woke up. (at one-forty-five-ish.)

I put a cup of rice in the cooker before I got in the shower, and it finished like five minutes ago. I'm supposed to wait like ten minutes before I lift the lid though to fix the sticking-to-the-bottom-problem. While that was running, I made myself an omelet. It has a bit of cheese and ham inside, but it's real ham, so slightly better than the processed stuff hopefully. That was the last of christmas leftovers too, so I'll stick to turkey bacon from now on. My toast is 100% whole wheat, so that's cool. And real orange juice is acceptable, right?

It's a lot of sugar, but it's not going to kill you. Most definitely better than no breakfast at all.