I never really realized how much alcohol can play in the lives of people who drink until recently. I had an epiphany today. It hit me square in the chest while I was screaming in pain while doing the exercise formerly known as Bulgarian Split Squats. Sleep has not been coming to me lately and since I am now performance training (I'm training for a triathlon), I need my recovery sleep more than ever. Problem is, is that I can't get more than five hours of sleep a night and if I do, I wake up every 2 hours or so and can't fall back asleep.
I was looking at everything as a possible suspect and I started with my food intake. I wrote down what I had been eating just to make sure and after reviewing, it really wasn't off the norm of what I had been eating. It wasn't my training because I was kicking my ass in the gym and on the road running and biking, which had been leaving me exhausted at night. Still, that sweet feeling of going into la-la land was evading me.
Then I realized something: I haven't had a drink in 19 days. While that might not be earth shattering to some, I knew immediately that I had my culprit. See, the human body revolves around a 21 day cycle: it basically takes 21 days to either make or break a habit. Drinking had been a habit of mine for a very long time and I am trying to change that. Week one was easy as I was in the ether of happiness and my body was reacting well. Then week two hit and the grind began and sleep became a rarity. I would stare at the ceiling for upwards of an hour before falling asleep and then I would be up at the crack ass of dawn, before the birds.
Alcohol is a poison and that is how the body treats it. Your kidney's and liver will do whatever they can to rid the body of such a toxin and while doing so, the body starts to react in funny ways; mine started to reject sleep. It's funny how much of an effect alcohol can have on the body and on the mind. If you are in a fat loss phase, instead of focusing on using your body fat for energy, it will try and get rid of the alcohol first and the same goes for trying to build muscle.
Yet it's the psychological effects that alcohol has on the body that is now starting to intrigue me. My body hasn't felt right, my mind has felt right and even my girlfriend has started to notice a change in my behavior (sorry honey). With two days left to break my habit, I am hoping that my body will start to adjust to a time period without alcohol.
