I almost always seem to get sick after a particularly stressful period. When I am working under stress, I am unstoppable- full of energy, focused (although only on that one task), I feel almost superhuman. But once I allow my body to relax, it's over. Last year, I got mono 2 weeks after finals and graduation. Today, I have a flu of sorts, 5 days after presenting my research, with a cold, headache (which I never get), low fever, and yes, frequent visits to the bathroom. I've slept nearly all day, but began to wonder about this curious pattern of stress and sickness.
Even when I go home to my parents for a weekend, I will sleep 10, 12 hours a night, when I am fine on 7 or less hours during the week for months on end in the city. My mom says I come home to heal. I try to live a balanced life in the city- sleep in one morning a week, eat well, exercise, try not to overextend myself, and I thought I did very well with my research the past couple weeks- the least amount of sleep I got was about 4.5 hours, but I was averaging 6 a night.
I did some research on the web- apparently it's common for marathoners to get sick about a week after their marathon. There haven't been too many studies done on getting sick after stress, but it is a common and proven fact that stress lowers your white blood cell count. This, in combination with mental stress and not sleeping much when you're stressed, or eating well, leaves your immune system susceptible to invasion. The curious part is that I don't get sick while stressed, but after. It seems to make more sense to get sick at the height of stress.
Anyway, hopefully this will pass quickly and I will be back to exercising and training for my next triathlon. I have a deal where I get hot yoga for a month, so I'm going to make it a goal to go to yoga 5 times a week for a month straight, just because I am curious what sort of effects and benefits I will see. Great timing, in the hottest part of the year, but my coupon expires soon so I have to use it!
Flu or no flu, it's still great to be finished with my research.
Nice job being done with your research!!! I hope you can keep sleeping and kicking this colds arse!
ReplyDeleteHot yoga in the summer is the best. Your body will get super efficient at sweating the right amount and your thermal calibration will reset so that the summer heat feels just fine. :) enjoy and congrats on being done!!!
ReplyDeleteoo thanks, Sara. That's good to know. I'm going to start this weekend, I'm excited! I'll let you know how it goes.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mel! So glad it's all ovah. That flu took me out for 5 days straight. All I did was sleep. blah.