Stressed
First thing I do every morning when I wake up at 3 a.m.: Unclench my jaw.
This is becoming a serious problem. I didn't think too much about it when my dental hygienist asked me if I ever had headaches in the morning. Yeah, I sometimes did, but it hadn't been a problem, that I could remember.
"Well, your jaw clicks when you open your mouth. You might want to think about getting an appliance if it gets worse. And don't chew gum -- that's not a muscle you need to exercise."
No problem, I don't -- er, didn't -- chew gum. Until she gave me the idea, and then I remembered that you can chew gum to signal to your brain that you're done eating. And then I discovered that chewing gum helped stave off dry mouth when I was exercising. Now I chew gum all the time.
Then my chiropractor asked me if I ever had headaches in the morning. And then he massaged and adjusted my jaw, and showed me how to self-adjust it.
Now I notice that I clench my jaw every night.
I do sometimes have headaches in the morning, but, being a veteran of hormone headaches lasting multiple days with no relief no matter HOW many Advil I pop (continuous birth control took care of this problem nicely), these headaches are pretty mild. Most of the time I don't take anything for them and they go away on their own. And my jaw does pop and click, but there's no pain when it happens.
I think I'm ok for now, but it does kind of bug me that I've become a jaw-clencher. Yes, I have stress in my life, but there were times in my life that I was under MUCH more stress than I am now. I mean, the minute I gain consciousness (have I mentioned that this happens EVERY morning at 3 a.m.?), the thoughts rush in, and I unclench my jaw.
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Pinot Gris harvest today. The younger stuff started coming off at 9 a.m. this morning, and they're going to take as much of the older stuff off today as they can. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, though the likelihood has lessened, and Rick convinced the winery owners to crush the older stuff themselves, rather than waiting for the commercial juice processor. Rick is very, very busy -- both at work and at home, since he's coordinating both harvests -- but he's happier now than he's been in the past week or so. I think he's relieved that we're going to try to harvest all the Pinot Gris. The man does NOT handle stress well. Probably contributes to my jaw clenching.
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I've got a couple of spots on my neck that look somewhat like...poison ivy. I haven't been slinking belly-down out back lately, but I HAVE been snuggling with a certain badass cat who could have, quite possibly, slunk his way through some poison ivy. Don't know if that's what it is; it itches, though.
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I haven't talked much lately about diet and fitness for the simple reason that I haven't been doing very well lately. I've gained a few pounds -- nothing to panic over, though I noticed I WAS panicking over it -- but I've stopped exercising almost completely. That's going to hurt when I jump back into it. But I need to jump back into it -- I've been eating too much crap and that plus the inactivity has combined to make me feel sluggish, tired. I don't like that feeling. I've stopped looking in the mirror.
The reason I stopped watching my diet in the first place is that I was swinging wildly between watching my calories and binge eating (peanut butter, natch). It got so bad at one point with the bingeing that I started seriously thinking about purging. Did you see those two words there together in the same sentence? NOT. GOOD. I've never had an eating disorder before, and I'm not about to start now. I love food, and I'm not going to turn it into an enemy. The negative self-talk was getting pretty deafening, too. So I decided to take a break from dieting. And it's made me remember why I embraced eating well. I feel so much better when I'm eating well -- mostly healthily with occasional-but-regular treats.
We're taking a beach trip somewhere in February, so I do have incentive to get back into it. Plus, I don't want to get derailed when the holidays roll around (all too soon). I want to be doing well and have a few pounds leeway so I can enjoy without worrying. I think that's reasonable. I did set my alarm so I could get up and work out this morning, but it never went off. Sigh. Tomorrow...
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Lunchtime!
This is becoming a serious problem. I didn't think too much about it when my dental hygienist asked me if I ever had headaches in the morning. Yeah, I sometimes did, but it hadn't been a problem, that I could remember.
"Well, your jaw clicks when you open your mouth. You might want to think about getting an appliance if it gets worse. And don't chew gum -- that's not a muscle you need to exercise."
No problem, I don't -- er, didn't -- chew gum. Until she gave me the idea, and then I remembered that you can chew gum to signal to your brain that you're done eating. And then I discovered that chewing gum helped stave off dry mouth when I was exercising. Now I chew gum all the time.
Then my chiropractor asked me if I ever had headaches in the morning. And then he massaged and adjusted my jaw, and showed me how to self-adjust it.
Now I notice that I clench my jaw every night.
I do sometimes have headaches in the morning, but, being a veteran of hormone headaches lasting multiple days with no relief no matter HOW many Advil I pop (continuous birth control took care of this problem nicely), these headaches are pretty mild. Most of the time I don't take anything for them and they go away on their own. And my jaw does pop and click, but there's no pain when it happens.
I think I'm ok for now, but it does kind of bug me that I've become a jaw-clencher. Yes, I have stress in my life, but there were times in my life that I was under MUCH more stress than I am now. I mean, the minute I gain consciousness (have I mentioned that this happens EVERY morning at 3 a.m.?), the thoughts rush in, and I unclench my jaw.
*******************************
Pinot Gris harvest today. The younger stuff started coming off at 9 a.m. this morning, and they're going to take as much of the older stuff off today as they can. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, though the likelihood has lessened, and Rick convinced the winery owners to crush the older stuff themselves, rather than waiting for the commercial juice processor. Rick is very, very busy -- both at work and at home, since he's coordinating both harvests -- but he's happier now than he's been in the past week or so. I think he's relieved that we're going to try to harvest all the Pinot Gris. The man does NOT handle stress well. Probably contributes to my jaw clenching.
*********************************
I've got a couple of spots on my neck that look somewhat like...poison ivy. I haven't been slinking belly-down out back lately, but I HAVE been snuggling with a certain badass cat who could have, quite possibly, slunk his way through some poison ivy. Don't know if that's what it is; it itches, though.
*********************************
I haven't talked much lately about diet and fitness for the simple reason that I haven't been doing very well lately. I've gained a few pounds -- nothing to panic over, though I noticed I WAS panicking over it -- but I've stopped exercising almost completely. That's going to hurt when I jump back into it. But I need to jump back into it -- I've been eating too much crap and that plus the inactivity has combined to make me feel sluggish, tired. I don't like that feeling. I've stopped looking in the mirror.
The reason I stopped watching my diet in the first place is that I was swinging wildly between watching my calories and binge eating (peanut butter, natch). It got so bad at one point with the bingeing that I started seriously thinking about purging. Did you see those two words there together in the same sentence? NOT. GOOD. I've never had an eating disorder before, and I'm not about to start now. I love food, and I'm not going to turn it into an enemy. The negative self-talk was getting pretty deafening, too. So I decided to take a break from dieting. And it's made me remember why I embraced eating well. I feel so much better when I'm eating well -- mostly healthily with occasional-but-regular treats.
We're taking a beach trip somewhere in February, so I do have incentive to get back into it. Plus, I don't want to get derailed when the holidays roll around (all too soon). I want to be doing well and have a few pounds leeway so I can enjoy without worrying. I think that's reasonable. I did set my alarm so I could get up and work out this morning, but it never went off. Sigh. Tomorrow...
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Lunchtime!