I have an appt with my doctor again next week. I'm sure he will be open to doing cortisol spit. I'll ask. But do you think it might be causing the early morning restless/brief waking too or just the wake up at 3 am wired thing?

Over a decade ago, after sleep apnea treatment, I began sleeping great. I would fall asleep easily and wake up rested after 8 hours of sleep. In the last year or so, I began experiencing times when I would wake up in the early morning hours in the middle of a dream--wide awake and unable to go back to sleep. I think this is sleep maintenance insomnia. Anxiety was (is?) probably a big part of it. I'm likely far into peri-menopause, so that may be a factor as well. I've been working with a doctor to try to address the problem. That isn't happening right now. But I'm finding that in the morning--maybe starting around 6 or so, 2 hours before I would normally wake I briefly wake up lots--maybe every time I turn over in bed. I'm generally able to go back to sleep. I'm wondering if this is normal and I'm just so attuned to morning sleep issues that I'm noticing things I didn't notice before! So, is this normal? If it's not normal, what might be the issue/what can I do?

I did my exercise bike for cardio, then core, legs, and most of my arm routine. I intended to do all my strength routines today, since I missed yesterday. But, when I was doing the weight portion of my arm strengthening, a point in my lower back started hurting. I don't think it's any big deal, but it persisted when I moved from the weights, so I'm stopping the rest of the strength plan for today. I'm planning some relaxation based pilates stuff today.

What a rough start, Jenny! Yikes. --- My family and I hiked in a state park this morning. I got a quick walk in with my parents this evening. It's beautiful weather here today.

I got my exercise bike cardio, arms and back strengthening routines. I hope to squeeze in something more fun for movement tomorrow.

Jenny, Yesterday you wrote something about holding the line being better than the alternative. I started to reply then, but worried it would come across weird. But it's stuck with me today. So..it is so much better, yes! I have, for too many years, had patterns where I got into a good for me fitness routine and, when things got busy, I would lose my momentum and eventually just quit for a long time until something started me again. It was always hard to start again because it was back to the beginning for me every time. I don't think I'm unusual in that pattern. So, I've been impressed with your "stick to it" pattern of fitness, even when your life has been so much that I know I would struggle. You're doing great. I hope you feel good about it yourself!

I went on a long walk and talk with my parents tonight. I haven't seen them in a while. It wasn't fantastic cardio (and I haven't the time to add it today), but it was so nice!

I did a double session on my exercise bike today to make up for a missed cardio day earlier this week. I hadn't planned to. I had to force myself to start today. But once I got going, and had the house to myself so no interruptions, it was easy to keep going. Tonight I did my core and leg strengthening routines.

I did the boosted walk at home, then arm and leg strengthening routines.

I would only test if I needed to have exposure to someone else while waiting for their results. Otherwise, I would just lay low and wait. I can't remember the percents, but there is a good chance of a false negative if you test too early. This would be too early post exposure for me to feel good about a negative result.

I'm sorry, Jenny.

My family did trail walking today at a state park. It's always enjoyable, but hard to find large blocks of time when all of us are available these days. I decided to take a break on my strengthening routines for today.

Church today, in a county with a 130 per 100,000 case rate this past week (39% vaxed), there were 5 masked people in a crowd of 300 or so. It's uncomfortable to live here during COVID. I think I'm going to sign my (vaccinated) teens up for coop classes and keep letting them do the social stuff they avoided last year. Unmasked I guess because being the only one masked in a group of other teens takes a whole lot more whatever than I want my teens to have to give. I hope the vaccines protect us. It's not emotionally or mentally healthy to ask them do another year like that. There aren't COVID cautious options for them here. But it's depressing.

I did my exercise bike cardio, then core and leg strengthening routines.

I did my exercise bike this morning, then added a boosted walk at home this afternoon to make up for missing cardio yesterday. I did my strengthening routines this evening--arms, back, and most of my leg routine.

If I didn't have teens, I would lock down again. I want us to see my parents without fear we might bring them COVID, even though we're all vaccinated. I'm really worried about how to handle that next year. It's bad for my parents to go another year with outdoor only visits (and I'm not sure even that is safe with DELTA), and it's bad for my teens to go another year cutting down their in person contacts. I've been going around in circles about this lately. I don't have any good options.

I wish I could give some wisdom, Jenny. Finding balance and prioritizing when it's all important--it's hard. --- And...today was so busy, I struggled with the movement. I got in my core strength routine in before I left the house, then it was go, go, go until a bit before 10 pm, when I got home. I was trying to do all the things around here that need done once I got home. I'm exhausted. What I intended, movement wise, isn't going to happen today. I'll try to make up tomorrow.

I did my arms and back strengthening routines this morning and a boosted walk at home this evening.

The sleep is important for sure, Jenny. ---- I got my exercise bike cardio, legs strengthening routine, core strengthening routine today. Still out of my routine and forcing myself to move, but at least I'm getting it done.

All of my household has been vaccinated with Pfizer. We had planned a trip involving a plane, rental car, condo stay to see the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Hoover Dam, etc. and COVID canceled it. My kids are getting older and increasing amounts of their time is sucked up. I'm feeling like this fall is probably our best chance to make this trip happen. Just as we're ready to make reservations, the delta strain is giving me pause...but, if I postpone again maybe the next strain (if there is one/seems inevitable) will be worse, maybe my kids will just be too busy. WWYD?

I did a boosted walk at home, arm strengthening routine, and back strengethening routine tonight. I had to really make myself, and finally did it way late--but I followed my movement plan today. I hope it doesn't take long for me to get back into a habit.

I didn't realize I would be without stable wifi all week! I've missed checking the thread each day. I also did poorly on my movement over-all this week. I knew it would be tough, but I did worse than I should have and could have. (I also ate and slept horribly...ugh of a week health wise). I did get light to moderate walking based exercise a couple of days. Today we went hiking at a state park--so good movement to end the week. Hopefully I can get back to my old movement rhythms this coming week.

I made sure to get my movement goals today. I know this coming week will be busy and a little hard movement wise, but it should be a bit easier than last week. I'll do what I can. -- Today I did 45 minutes on my exercise bike and then all my strengthening routines--arms, core, legs, back.

I did pretty good today with my movement--it's only day this week I feel good about movement wise, but I'm going to be ok with whatever I could do. I got at least 3 miles of fast walking today, and another 1.5 of conversational pace walking. (plus a bit on my bike, but got interrupted early, so I'm not counting that). I also got a little bit of my strength training this evening.

For study and contemplation, I like Contemporary English Version. It's a translation, not paraphrase, but in contemporary language. I like how it reads .For scripture memory I use NIV, because that's what I memorized as a teen. (I have NRSV and the Message (which I like sometimes too--it gets a bad rap, but has some strengths) handy as well).