Stamina and Stress Observations

Installing Fence

The stress incurred during the last few weeks of travel and day-long discussions may have taken a toll on my energy levels and stamina. By the end of Friday's discussions I was visibly drained and I didn't perform as well with the last person as I did the first few folks.

By nature I am a morning person. I often attribute that nature to 12 years of getting up at 5 a.m. nearly every day I served in the U.S. Army. But whatever the cause, I am aware of the fact that I achieve my best work performance early in the Morning through lunch. By the afternoon though, especially around the 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. hour, my energy ebbs and my brain operates in a fog and I because of that I choose to work on things that don't require great concentration in the afternoons.

I have found in the last two years or so, that if I get the opportunity to take a 10 to 15 minute nap or light doze at lunch the dreaded 2 p.m. let down doesn't occur, or at least at reduced severity, and my afternoon productivity greatly enhanced. If the weather is anything except freezing cold or blazing hot, I typically head out to the parking lot at lunch to get a doze session sitting in my truck. Unfortunately, I have far too many lunch meetings to do this as often as I like. I don't often doze at my desk at lunch because, at least to my thinking, there is a stigma attached to napping here in the U.S.

Yesterday, my energy levels ebbed to the point that everything I did felt and appeared lethargic. My wife commented on how pale I appeared and, in fact, I asked her to drive home from our visit to Gruene Weide because I knew I would have trouble staying awake while driving at my low energy levels.

That low energy continues to today as I was unable to complete my 16 session Kettlebell strength training. I accomplished everything except the 16th and last session of left side windmill and I didn't follow up with the extra KB swings I've added to the strength session the last couple of weeks. I pushed myself to complete the last few exercises, including finishing the full 25 seconds of 20 lb shoulder presses but that killed the energy needed for subsequent windmills.

I have observed over time that I have energy levels that flow from peaks in the morning to ebb by afternoon and I also observed energy levels that ebb and flow over longer periods. I haven't taken the time to log and quantify what the duration of the longer phased energy levels are and if there is a consistent cyclic rhythm to those longer period energy flows. But whatever the nature of the longer flows, I believe, from my own observation, that stress plays a role in accentuating the peaks and valleys of the long cycle energy levels.