A month of working on my wellness. DAY THREE March 3, 2018

jodimullen2013 ♦ March 3, 2018 ♦ Leave a comment

G-Rumpelstiltskin

Let me start by saying that I am REALLY grumpy today. I am going to discuss emotional wellness, mostly because I need to get back on track. For those of you who were under the impression that those of us who are mental health professionals have it all together, turns out that is a myth! I am clearly aware of what set me off, actually what two things; 1. It snowed and it’s cold and its March, I hate that, I miss sunshine. I do take vitamin D and boy can I feel the difference when I don’t. 2. Because of the bad weather my plan for the day got totally screwed up. As I have shared before I do better with a plan, perhaps that was an understatement. I created a great deal of stress for myself which is counter-productive to my wellness.

Stress raises the level of the hormone cortisol. Chronic high cortisol levels are detrimental to your health. Dallas & Melissa Hartwig in It Starts with Food, state “The ‘stress hormone’ secreted from the adrenal glands to help the body recover from an acute fight-or-flight stress response. It is secreted in response to low blood sugar, physical or psychological stress, intense and prolonged exercise, and sleep deprivation. Cortisol plays a key role in salt metabolism, blood pressure, immune function (having immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects), and energy regulation. It raises blood sugar by stimulating glycogen breakdown. Chronically elevated cortisol promotes insulin resistance and tends to elevate leptin levels.” Guys, this is not good news. High cortisol is essentially disease promoting. At the very least, high cortisol levels will make losing weight even more challenging.

Hey, I am already feeling better, so journaling, blogging, writing, expressing myself, must be a road to resetting my cortisol. What are the roads can you discover? Remember I said I have not had alcohol since December 28, 2016, it has to do with sugar and CORTISOL, Dr. Sara Gottfried says, “Alcohol raises cortisol, robs you of deep sleep, and lowers metabolism by more than 70 percent. I suggest getting off alcohol completely for a minimum of two weeks, twice per year, to give your liver a break.”

Exercise

Some personal good news is that I got to work out 2x today. I love working out and if I can squeeze in an extra workout, I will. I started my day with cross fit, as usual and then took the invitation (dare) from my friend Melissa to join her for a class. I get nervous about exercise classes because I am not coordinated and I don’t like to suck at things. Making it known that I had already done a cross fit work out to the group gave me a built-in excuse in case I needed it. HA. Luckily the High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) class had music in the background, but I did not have to follow a beat. Praise. Turns out, I actually LOVED it (thank you, Melissa). It also turns out, HIIT shows up a great deal in the wellness readings I have reviewed. If you haven’t tried a HIIT class, I dare you!

Work & some data

I did work outside of the home and from home today. I typically do not find my work stressful, today was typical. I hit my 12,000 steps around 1:30pm, and as far as additional data goes, I weighed myself (also stressful for me) and took my measurements. I am torn about sharing them, stayed tuned.

I slept 6 hours and 7 minutes last night! Big deal for me when I make it over 6 hours. I turned off electronics at 9:15, and went to sleep at 10:00. I took magnesium again, fell asleep quickly, but a weird thing did happen. I had a very intense dream shortly after I fell asleep that scared the crap out of me. In fact, I had sleep paralysis, which I have had at least 10x in my life. Even though I knew I was dreaming and that I was experiencing sleep paralysis, it was still terrifying. I assure you I am not being dramatic. Have any of you had that experience when using magnesium? Here’s a little bit more about screens, sleep, and cortisol, according to Dr. Sara Gottfried, “Using screens at night, like a smartphone or binge watching your favorite TV show, can further lower melatonin, especially within one hour of going to bed. If you don’t sleep well, the stress hormone cortisol is higher that day, making you more likely to feel irritable and to crave sugar and other carbohydrates.”

What I ate, meditation, and I want to talk about vitamin B

My eating and food choices turned out ok today. My plan for the day was thrown off which threw off my eating. I ate lunch at 4:00pm, not good. I packed in the veggies today, drank lots of water and stayed away from processed food and sugar. I was also able to get in one meditation.

I did want to mention that one of the supplements I take daily is vitamin B. Two things for now, more to come later, vitamin B helps with stress (talked about that a bit today) and if you don’t eat meat (vegans & vegetarians) you need B12. Your body doesn’t make it, so you have to take it. I take a complex and activated B in an isotonic form so it has no fillers or binders and enters my system within a few minutes (click the link above).

Challenge

Before I say good night, I wanted to share with you that I will be facing a challenge tomorrow and the following day.

1. I will be traveling 5.5 hours in the car tomorrow and Sunday. Long car rides mean caffeine, being sedentary, and typically poor eating decisions.
2. Besides the car ride challenges, we will be eating out for our meals.
3. Although this is a college visit for my daughter, it’s stressful for me, by the looks of things more stressful then it is for her even though she has to audition.

I am super grateful that I get to spend one on one time with my daughter even if I am stressed, jacked on caffeine, and not able to move around.

Time to sign off of screens for the night. Good night. Grateful to be able to share and connect.

Love, Jodi