Up Early Today… On This 25th Day of June

It’s 5 minutes after 6:00 AM. I’m up, munching down a mango-flavoured, yogurt-like tofu snack, listening to Tom Allen on CBC Radio 2’s Music and Company. The sky is gray out –  really can’t complain though. I really can’t remember the last time I was up this early. Oh, wait, I can: I went out for a run one eventful morning of May at 5:30 AM, after pulling an all-nighter (that’s probably what messed up my internal clock).

For the past few days, I had the worst experience getting up every morning. It’s not that I felt really tired or anything: I’d drift awake at 9:00 or so, turn to my right side and battle with the alarm clock, or turn to my left and battle with the blinding glare. I’d wake up all grumpy, miss my breakfast, and even lunch.

I then realized that for the past little bit, it’s not that I couldn’t wake up, but had a terrible experience doing so. I happened to stumple onto Tim Ferriss’s post “Relax Like A Pro: 5 Steps to Hacking Your Sleep” (in my opinion, only the first step isn’t ultra-extreme):

1. Consume 150-250 calories of low-glycemic index foods in small quantities (low glycemic load) prior to bed.

Morning fatigue and headache isn’t just from sleep debt or poor sleep. Low blood sugar following overnight fasting is often a contributing factor. Just prior to bed, have a small snack such as: a few sticks of celery with almond butter, a mandarin orange and 5-8 almonds, or plain low-fat (not fat-free) yoghurt and an apple. Ever wonder how you can sleep 8-10 hours and feel tired? This is part of the explanation. Make a pre-bed snack part of your nutritional program.

1-2 tablespoons of flaxseed oil (120-240 calories) can be used in combination with the above to further increase cell repair during sleep and thus decrease fatigue. It tastes like a mixture of cat urine and asparagus, so I recommend pinching your nose while consuming it — thanks Seth Roberts, PhD. for this tip — or using capsules.

I figured that since I’ve been pushing my body so hard these days, and the fact that all this work wasn’t supported by a proper diet (which was getting worse day after day due to getting up late), my body was really in debt the past few days.

So here’s what I had before going to bed last night (yes, last night, as in before 12:00 AM ): an apple — which made me even more hungry, a granola bar, some juice, some antioxidants. Basically loaded myself up with some fast glucose.

Voila. Here I am. Up at 6:20 AM. Alive and bouncing!

(@ 6:43 AM… pffft Urban Fare’s breakfast items aren’t even ready! I’m catching the last Cage Match on Music and Company! )