Since my younger brother was not as yet home last evening, I was to bed nicely ahead of 10:00 p.m., wondering if I would succeed in obtaining any sleep before my hardworking wife was home after her long day working at her friend's Thai restaurant.
I cannot now recall if I succeeded in descending into any sleep before she came into the bedroom, probably to fetch her housecoat. I wear a blindfold, so she left the bedside lamp on.
As I lay there in bed, it occurred to me that I actually felt somewhat restored, and that I might as well rise to get to work on the day's content assignment on the post I have in development at one of my six hosted websites.
A glance at the clock-radio gave me the impression that it was somewhere around 1:30 a.m. ─ definitely time enough in bed!
And so I rose and came here to my computer that I keep in a small room next to my bedroom. In so doing, I was surprised to see that my brother's bedroom door was still open and the room dark ─ he must not as yet have come home, which was vastly unusual.
I did not immediately get to work ─ I got diverted by my E-mail's Inbox. Ultimately, I was led to make an application to be considered for the affiliate programme offered at a book seller I cannot say I had ever before been aware of called the Book Depository (Wikipedia).
Anon my wife came upstairs to finally get to bed, and commented on my brother's absence, causing us to share the speculation that maybe he had finally been nicked by the fuzz for driving when ought he not.
I had wasted about an hour since getting up from bed...yet it was only a little beyond 12:30 a.m. Evidently I had originally misread the clock-radio ─ it must have only been around 11:30 p.m., and not 1:30 a.m.
I had not been in bed for too far beyond 1½ hours, and indeed may not have had any sound sleep whatsoever.
I had still not logged into my website when ─ around 12:45 a.m. ─ I became aware that my younger brother had at last arrived home. Initially it took him a ridiculously amount of fumbling at the front door lock as he busied himself with trying to gain entry, and I almost went downstairs to let him in.
Fortunately, I withheld, and happily quickly realized that I would not have cared to have his society.
When he got into the house, his constant loud sighings were probably audible throughout the structure, and he was intermittently mumbling to himself.
As he fussed around downstairs, I deduced that it was likely best I not have aught to do with him whatsoever ─ the experience would be too distasteful. And so I betook myself back to my bedroom and joined my (probably) nearly asleep wife in bed.
Eventually, I slipped into some sleep. And when next I checked the time, it was a few minutes after 5:00 a.m.
I slipped from bed, hardly believing so much time had elapsed. My website's content assignment would ─ at the very least ─ take me three hours to complete. Often, it can take four hours and even longer.
I would not be returning to bed ─ I do not choose to disturb my wife's sleep if the hour of 6:00 a.m. has been achieved, for she needs all the rest she can get. Granted, she does not normally rise until 10:00 a.m. to begin readying for her drive to the restaurant and her 11:00 a.m. start there, but she is as impaired a sleeper in her fashion as am I in mine.
My eldest stepson usually rises around 6:00 a.m. to begin readying for his workday, but this morning he did not do so until around 6:45 a.m.
Then when he had finally left on his drive to work, I took a break and ─ for the fourth consecutive morning ─ performed a 5½-minute plank. Since June 14 until I began the 5½-minute planks on the 24th, I had been performing five minute planks.
I'm unsure just where I am ultimately going with these things, but for now I am in no particular rush to progress beyond 5½ minutes as a daily ordeal.
Does anyone who is not fanatical about planks actually hold them for as many as 10 minutes as a daily exercise? I realize that's not record-setting in the least ─ I am just wondering if any 'average' people actually plank for that long simply as a daily matter of course?
I'm not interested in those idiots who claim that 20 seconds is all a person needs if he or she is performing planks with the maximum amount of tension ─ I already blogged about my position on this several days ago.
Tension like that is unproductive ─ few people could adhere to such a limited regimen because it leads nowhere. Most people need targets ─ a sense of accomplishment.
Bodybuilders do not need to use great weights when they exercise ─ not if their only interest is in achieving a 'burn' and muscle-pump. But most bodybuilders want to use heavy weights ─ it gives them that motivational and competitive feeling of accomplishment and achievement.
Getting a 'burn' and 'pump' simply by focussing in agonizing fashion upon (for example) slowly curling a barbell with a 10-pound plate on each end can be all the work anyone could handle ─ if the focus was intense enough and the curling repetition drawn out to some ridiculously long action, such as taking 30 or more seconds to raise the barbell, and just as long to lower it, all the while trembling with focussed and agonized concentration.
Probably no one could handle more than a few such repetitions.
But where's the satisfaction in doing that? Most of us need to be able to measure the work we are doing, and it is the same with planks.
It's impressive for someone to be able to claim that he or she is performing a daily 10-minute plank; but where are the grounds for acclaim when someone is 'claiming' that he or she only planks for 20 seconds a day, no matter how intensely that plank is performed?
Hardly anyone will care, will they?
But enough exercise talk.
I did indeed work on that website content assignment until after 8:00 a.m., and then I just bedded down here on the floor in front of my computer to sink as much into deep rest as I could.
Eventually I became aware of movement across other areas of the upstairs flooring, and the noise went on for some while. I had set my cellphone alarm for 9:59 a.m., but I gradually began to suspect that not just my brother had risen ─ had my wife, too?
Then I became certain I heard her voice downstairs, so I rose.
It was not yet 9:50 a.m., but she was busy downstairs doing some cooking for the household to enjoy later today after she had gone to work.
Busy girl.
Ultimately she left on her drive just after 10:30 a.m., and I watched T.V. (via our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box) with my brother until maybe 12:40 p.m. before he decided that it was time for some further bedrest ere he took off for the afternoon to end up drinking somewhere again.
Yesterday had been beautifully sunny, and I got in just over an hour of sunning. Then it clouded over by the evening and started raining overnight and well into the morning.
Yet this afternoon it had again become sunny enough that I could have sat outside to benefit from it once again, if only I did not have this blog post to bother myself with.
I want to return to the subject of sleep ─ and in particular, an article I read yesterday that offered some encouragement by way of a supplement that I have not before paid any attention to.
I don't tend to place much credence in the efficacy of things like herbs where successfully aiding sleep is concerned, even though I have never tried any. I'm just too skeptical and my pension too limited for me to care to 'waste' money on those kinds of supplements.
As for melatonin, I have never noticed the slightest effect ─ not even 10-mg tablets. So I don't bother buying this natural hormone anymore.
But maybe this might work for me or my wife?
HSIonline.com
If 5-HTP (5-hydroxytryptophan) spikes your interest, here are some other articles about it ─ supposedly 5-HTP even works as an antidepressant, pain-reliever, and more:
- PsychologyToday.com: Better Sleep with 5-HTP
- MedicalNewsToday.com: The health benefits of 5-HTP: For sleep, weight loss, and depression
- WebMD.com: 5-Htp: Uses, Side Effects, Interactions, Dosage, and Warning
- Healthline.com: 5 Science-Based Benefits of 5-HTP (Plus Dosage and Side Effects)
- Insomnia.net: Tips for Buying and Using 5-hyroxytryptopan - 5-HTP Supplements
As well, the following two webpages list reviews by actual users of 5-HTP. The first webpage has reviews from users that used the amino acid for various of its intended or lauded purposes; while the second webpage just concerns users who were only using it as a sleep aid:
- Drugs.com: 5-HTP Reviews & Ratings
- Drugs.com: 5-HTP User Reviews for Insomnia
If you intend to give this stuff a shot, just ensure you research the information about it ─ understand the cautions and dosage risks, and make sure you're not already taking medications that can make taking 5-HTP a risky proposition.
As I said earlier, I have no idea concerning the actual efficacy of this stuff, for I've never tried it; but I am seriously considering buying some to see if it can work for me ─ or at least my wife.
After all, I am retired ─ I can nap anytime during the day that I feel the need to.
I did an Amazon (U.S.) search at the bottom of this post just to get an idea on the prices for whatever products are available ─ have a look, if you care.
I conclude with a few more photos that were taken a year ago when my wife visited a sister of hers who has make Italy her second home.
I don't know exactly when the photos were taken, for the digital camera's date setting had not bee adjusted for the trip ─ and may not even have been changed since our previous time change when our clocks moved ahead by an hour here in the Pacific Time Zone where we live.
Thus, June 7 (2018) is merely a very good approximation.
The first photo features my wife taking a selfie:
I have a weather update. The rather sunny afternoon clouded over in its late stage, and it would not surprise me if we had more rain by nighttime.
And finally, I want to express congratulations to England's FIFA Women's World Cup win today over Norway in the Quarter finals.
The British gals must be pretty darned good to defeat the Norwegian women 3-0 in this stage of the playoffs. If they next play the States, then I hope the Brits can prove that they truly are the fighters that they appear to be.
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