So, I've got my blood test results and the diagnosis was a deficiency of Folic Acid and slight Anaemia. Whilst a nutritional deficiency does not come as a surprise to someone who does not enjoy eating vegetables, how it affects my feet does. It seems that it causes problems with the nervous system and my little toes are right at the end I suppose and thus the first to be affected. I've been prescribed folic acid tablets. I asked Jo if it would be cheaper to get them over the counter however it worked out that I've been prescribed 24 times the dose they give to pregnant women. The thing I probably should not have done next was to look up the effects of taking such a dose and it would appear that long term use leads to increase risk of cancer. And thus I am now trying to eat more foods rich in folic acid/folate e.g. Spinach. and rich in iron e.g. Liver. Now, I hate liver but I quite like liver pate, so this is doable.
I've also been looking at the symptoms of low folate and low iron and strangely enough, it includes poor sleep quality. As part of my journey of weight-loss and fitness, a change in my diet may also contribute to better sleep. The fitbit flex has been a real eye-opener in this regard.
Two of the dashboard elements on the Fitbit.Com site shows the amount of sleep and steps taken.
It also gives a more detailed analysis of my sleep. I had always thought that it took ages for me to fall asleep but it would appear that I average between 7 and 10 minutes to fall asleep. I then get between 45 minutes to an hours sleep followed by very broken sleep. The chart above shows a set of 4 night-shifts and me getting into bed about 8am and waking about midday. You can also see where I have my afternoon nap. You can also see the broken sleep even though I am in bed alone, indicating that it is not Jo waking me up. There are some excellent resources online but very few appear to accommodate shift workers - One of the last things a shift worker wants to hear is "Try to get into a routine, going to bed at the same time each night."
As you can see above, I actually got 4hrs and 49min sleep which is really good for me. I had been struggling to keep my eyes open for much of the evening and despite the following broken sleep, I do not recall waking up very often. Obviously, exhaustion helps me sleep but so far I have not found anything else that really helps. Whisky, rum, cider, ear-plugs, abstinence of caffeine and wearing socks in bed all had pretty much zero effect on my sleep pattern. Also, regardless of the amount of time I spend in bed (11 hrs yesterday) I still average between 2.5 and 3 hrs sleep. I think I may well try the intermittent fasting again to see if that helps. However, this time I could try to not eat during the 16 hours following me going to bed instead of the 16 hours prior to waking up. I know that this will annoy a lot of people who still subscribe to the "six small meals a day" and "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day".
Whilst I really detest YOLO, it is important to differentiate between doing something stupid because you only have one life and doing something drastic to prolong said life. You won't get me jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane but making dramatic changes to my diet and life-style in an attempt to live longer makes sense to me. With that in mind, it is now 02:15hrs and I will try not to eat until 18:15hrs. Might try this for a week and see if there are any noticeable results.
Watch this space as as usual, feel free to leave positive/constructive comment (nobody has yet)
