SimonG's Blog
The unscripted ramblings of a middle aged man?
Friday, April 27, 2007
Red, red wine
Whils paddling away the other day listening to UB40 I was musing on the effects of wine on the system. Now I'm no Puritan by any stretch of the imagination, far from it. I am a fanatical believer in ",a little of what you fancy does you good" and also in "the Mediterranean diet" which, as I choose to interpret it, includes red wine. I have, at home, a number of devices which are designed to be inserted into the mouth of an open bottle of wine to keep it in good condition until one is ready to finish it. I have never yet used it, believing that the contents will deteriorate once opened and that one bottle is just enough between two people on a week night! Well, it is a bit of a fight to keep my wife down to half a bottle during the week anyway - so I have to go at it good style to get my fair share.
Anyway, the point (believe me there is one!) is that I fell into the habit of my share (let's call it half a bottle) of red wine most nights which led to disrupted sleep patterns. I went to bed and fell asleep as usual but awake at two or three in the morning and slept poorly until time to get up. Also I was finding myself short of breath in the night - really wierd. Feeling groggy through the working week is not an option I wanted to follow so have stopped my weekday nightly slurping, and lo and behold......... fantastic nights sleep, feeling rested and my rowing is sooooooo much easier. Well two out of three anyway. Weekends are something else and I am happy to have a glass or six with friends and family and I don't plan to change that materially.
Has anyone else shared these symptoms or feelings? Was I developing a dependancy? I hadn't stooped to the cooking sherry when there was no wine in the house so I assume not!
Happy weekend to anyone who reads this and happy rowing to all FS members.
SimonG
Anyway, the point (believe me there is one!) is that I fell into the habit of my share (let's call it half a bottle) of red wine most nights which led to disrupted sleep patterns. I went to bed and fell asleep as usual but awake at two or three in the morning and slept poorly until time to get up. Also I was finding myself short of breath in the night - really wierd. Feeling groggy through the working week is not an option I wanted to follow so have stopped my weekday nightly slurping, and lo and behold......... fantastic nights sleep, feeling rested and my rowing is sooooooo much easier. Well two out of three anyway. Weekends are something else and I am happy to have a glass or six with friends and family and I don't plan to change that materially.
Has anyone else shared these symptoms or feelings? Was I developing a dependancy? I hadn't stooped to the cooking sherry when there was no wine in the house so I assume not!
Happy weekend to anyone who reads this and happy rowing to all FS members.
SimonG
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When I was training hard for BIRC I found I went off alcohol - maybe for the same reasons. It was certainly not a conscious decision though.
I've noticed the sleep effect on a very similar intake. I give up each year for Lent & often extend that to giving up midweek wine for a few months after on the basis of the extra & better sleep I get - unfortunately the summer holidays in France usually gets me back into the 1/2 bottle habit until the next year! :D
Only really notice my sleep getting effected when I get really leathered. All that happens is I wake up really early (5:30/6) doesn't matter what time I went to bed either.
Half a bottle here and there seems to be OK. I tend to feel more relax after and fall asleep quicker.
Main thing I have done is lay off the beer. Wine and spirits instead. Although the belly isn't going down though!!
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Half a bottle here and there seems to be OK. I tend to feel more relax after and fall asleep quicker.
Main thing I have done is lay off the beer. Wine and spirits instead. Although the belly isn't going down though!!
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