Exercise and Reflections · Physiology First University

Exercise and Reflections

Here are my take aways from this week: If anyone has any thoughts for or against any of this i would love to hear it. I hope everyone is having an absolutely fantastic week so far.

Exercises

2 - Explore the various sleep optimization technologies and trackers available. Ask yourself which, if any, you are interested in, and what it is that you like about them.

After exploring the various technologies through the module and having had a whoop on a 2 month trial period. I have seen and can see why people want the data these devices can collect but I can also see the detriment they can cause through people just seeing the data but never doing anything about it but also making themselves sick or feel more tired because a device has told them that they are I know for myself it made me check things more and be thinking oh I need to do this or I need to implement that practice I was more on edge whilst using it as there was so much data you could get lost in it. I remember multiple times when wearing the whoop strap it told me I should be recovering due to “bad” sleep after having a new baby but I had heaps of energy and was ready to play sport that day and did so at a high energy level. I think these technologies can take people away from listening to their body and doing what feels right we have got so caught up in a world of technology and pharmaceuticals we have gone away from listening to what our bodies are telling us everyday your body gives you signs and signals as to what it needs from you or if you can perform certain things you want to you just have to listen to it properly and try to be more in tune with the body than relying on technologies that are also using electronics, Bluetooth signals and Wi-Fi signals to collect and lodge data so your body your physiology feels all of that. When I was wearing the whoop I did not like that I had to charge it on me and keeping it on 24/7 for optimal data collection and while doing that I felt out of touch with listening to my own cues. The device also left a mark (either from charging or rubbing none the less it was a mark that shouldn't be there…) on one of my tattoos that I have on the arm I would wear it on.

If I was to use some of these technologies, I like the 8 sleep bed idea (with a grounding mat) and I will be eventually getting a higher level Garmin than what I have at the moment to use as daily watch and allow it to track my activities in the future.

3 - Give some thought to how you might discuss sleep tracking with students and families in your community.

I would use the basic sleep tracking methods that have been discussed in this module. I would also speak to families about what their daily nighttime routine in, what their food and beverage schedule is like how close are they eating and drinking before going to bed. I would ask them if they are doing anything before bed to help them wind down and assist with sleep i.e. breathing, hot bath/shower. I would speak to them about removing screens and dimming lights from dinner time and when the sun goes down so their bodies can adjust to the time of night it is. If they had to use computers or screens for night work I would suggest blue light glasses and setting the light filters on for the screens to allow your eyes and brain not to strain as much when using the devices.

Reflections

1 - Did the sleep tracking checklist help you to reflect on your own sleep strategy?

I feel that the tracking checklist is a very useful tool to allow you to set up a sleep strategy and keep yourself accountable for daily actions leading into sleep.

2 - Do you feel more prepared to discuss simple “no-tech needed” sleep tracking tools with students and families?

I feel slightly more prepared although this whole world of understanding the knowledge and tooling behind taking back control of your life through the physiology is very new to me and I’m enjoying the journey at the moment of practicing on myself and my family to allow me to build a grow a better understanding of it to be able to pass it on to the broader community.

3 - Do you feel more prepared to help students and families navigate as the emerging market of sleep tracking and sleep optimization technologies?

I feel that I have a better understanding of what technologies are out that that can help an individual depending on what they are looking for. I still have a lot of work to do in this area as I have very minimal knowledge of it all as I’ve only used one piece for a couple of months and I didn’t really like it.

4 - Reflect on the fact that the current mental health diagnostic process has no tracking system at all to assure that the foundation for physiological health are met.

I think it is ridiculous that the health industry itself has no proper process to how we track or address the foundations of our own body and how the industry has been allowed to tell people to get healthy while a lot of these doctors or health care workers are not healthy themselves and are happy to prescribe medications and interventions instead of real health solutions to the problems through nutrition, exercise, sleep, breathwork and motivation itself but instead they follow a set of guidelines that has for over the decades that its been around has failed the general public who from around 50 onwards are told to take pills because of the choices and lifestyle they were told was okay to live and taking pills to live is just a part of life as you age where as for me I totally disagree with this and I will be doing my upmost to never get to that stage. The value that there is in tracking our habits and daily lifestyle choices is. The mental health crisis around the world is a broken metric it is a place where people don’t want to actually solve the problems they just want to supply pills and labels to people to keep them coming back for more because if you had a tracking system or even a system in place that helped people truly understand and practice good physiological exercises then the vast majority of people dealing with mental health issues wouldn’t be dealing with mental health issues and there goes a big chunk of the money the pharmaceutical industry makes, so as much as I wish I could say that I cant believe there is no tracking system for the current mental health diagnostic process it truly doesn’t surprise me because I know the incentives and motives behind not having one.

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Exercise and Reflections