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Trouble sleeping after a hard day's task? I've had a couple of queries sent to me about this problem, when volunteers who normally sleep well find that after a task they wake up often and have difficulty getting back
to sleep. There are many theories and different answers to this question. In fact I have started to study this and the more I research the more complex it becomes.
Firstly, we are all supposed to exercise regularly at least 20 mins three times a week. Exercise just before we go to bed is not best as this releases chemicals into the brain which make us alert and keep us awake.
On the few tasks I have been to and worked quite hard I have found it easy to get to sleep but I do wake up often and sometimes find it hard to get back to sleep. Whether this is to do with excess chemical activity
in the muscle or brain I don't know. All I do know is how to combat it.
First after a strenuous task is to top up the fluid levels and I mean water not tea, coffee or beer. We can become dehydrated even in the winter. Next comes the need to clean up. I have tried the shower versus bath
to see which is better for sleep and I think the bath wins hands down. Hot, deep and long is best. This helps the muscles to relax. Next eating. A moderate meal is best. Too much food and you spend most of the night
trying to digest all that food instead of healing your aches and pains.
On this new subject, we all seem to have some aches and pains. If you are in pain, backache or knees and wrists aching this might prevent a good nights sleep. You can seek medical advice as what type of painkiller to
take, internal or external rub on. Only a light amount of alcohol should be consumed. When I have conducted scientific tests by drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, I would often fall asleep quickly but wake up
later and stay awake for long periods of time.
Aches and pains result from doing something your body's not used to. For instance lifting a stone step and carrying it uphill. Or the strain of constant pulling and many other sometimes repetitive actions. We should
vary the actions and type of work we do on task. One should never use a slasher or punner all day. It's these repetitive actions that do cause pain. We need to change over the tasks throughout the day. Also a little
warm up before the work is very useful. This is what athletes do before a race or event. We may not have the time for group coordinated exercises first thing in the morning, but we can start working slowly and
gradually build up speed.
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