Month: September 2018

fitness · sleep

Sleep is a feminist issue (really…)

catherine w6 Comments

For those of us (in the Northern Hemisphere) whose jobs change in accordance with the school year, it’s time to get into gear.  Classes are starting, school busses are rumbling down the roads, and lesson plans and syllabi are scheduling our lives.

Although I let go of summer with the greatest reluctance, the beginning of fall and the new academic year is always exciting, promising newness and variety and pleasure. It’s like a brand-new box of colored pencils, just for me.

Sharpened pencils, in a variety of bright colors.
Sharpened pencils, in a variety of bright colors.

One big downside of the seasonal and work shift is the shift in my sleep schedule. For me, menopausal insomnia always at the ready to obliterate my well-laid morning plans. Lately I’ve had to cancel some morning coffee rides with my friend Pata because I’ve been awake still at 2:30 in the morning. And getting up early anyway means a day in which I can’t concentrate on work tasks with any efficiency.  Blech!

Two cartoon eyes staring in the blackness.
Two cartoon eyes staring in the blackness.

To combat it, I do many of the things you’re supposed to do (dark quiet cool room, bedroom just for sleep, try try try not to look at phone in bed, limit caffeine, blah blah blah). I have intermittent success, punctuated by periods of being awake very late and sleeping in late.

I know, this is supposed to be a sleep no-no. We’re supposed to get up at the same time every day, regardless of how much we slept.

Yeah, that's not happening.
Yeah, that’s not happening.

Getting up early in the morning has always gotten better press than sleeping late. You know the aphorism by this guy (operative word being “guy”):

Benjamin Franklin, credited with the saying "early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. Hmphf.
Benjamin Franklin, credited with the saying “early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise. Hmphf.

Here’s my complaint: some people have different body clocks– we are more active in the evenings, and mostly comatose before noon. I am and have always been one of these people. Yes, for very special occasions (like a 6am bike ride to Niagara Falls with Sam a while back, or a 5am drive to go kayaking in Maine with Janet) I’ll rise early. But this kind of behavior is just not sustainable for me.

And this week the New York Times says maybe it’s okay. Yes– it’s about time.

The article cites Matthew Walker (the author of a new book, “Why We Sleep”), about how sleep patterns vary.

According to Dr. Walker, about 40 percent of the population are morning people, 30 percent are evening people, and the remainder land somewhere in between. “Night owls are not owls by choice,” he writes. “They are bound to a delayed schedule by unavoidable DNA hard wiring. It is not their conscious fault, but rather their genetic fate.”

When night owls are forced to rise early, their prefrontal cortex, which controls sophisticated thought processes and logical reasoning, “remains in a disabled, or ‘offline,’ state,” Dr. Walker writes. “Like a cold engine in an early-morning start, it takes a long time before it warms up to operating temperature.”

Yep, that sounds about right.

Okay, so we now see that sleep patterns may be strongly determined and very hard to overrule. We knew this already. So, what makes sleep a feminist issue? Glad you asked.

There’s a great article in Scientific American on “The Hidden Risks of Poor Sleep in Women”.  Here are some highlights (well, rather lowlights)

  •  Menstruation, onset of puberty, pregnancy and menopause all increase risk of sleep loss in women;
  • In studies, sleep deprivation results in more severe cognitive losses in women than men;
  • The same results have been found in teenaged girls vs. teenaged boys;
  • Women with sleep apnea are much less likely to be diagnosed than men.

In short, there are a lot of reasons to suggest that women are strongly affected by sleep loss, and less likely to be diagnosed with some sleep disorders. Add that into the mix with the facts that:

  • our societies operate on an early-morning schedule;
  • women are very often the persons in households in charge of getting the day going for others;
  • many/most women have jobs with work hours they don’t have control over;
  • a lot of these jobs either start early in the morning or involve shift work.

And what do we get? A lot of sleep-deprived women.

I’m working on a nice, catchy chant for a sleep protest march.  Here’s my first attempt:

Whadda we want?

More control over our sleep!

When do we want it?

Before bedtime!

Women at a protest march, mouths open, shouting or singing or chanting.
Women at a protest march, mouths open, shouting or singing or chanting.

I still have some work to do on it…

Tell me, readers– do your sleep patterns change come fall?  Do you sleep more?  Less? How is your sleep these days?  I’d like to hear from you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How To Run Like A Girl
athletes · feminism · fitness

How To Run Like A Girl

Mina3 Comments
running legs in wildflowers
Woman’s feet running through a field of wildflowers

A big hello to Fit Is A Feminist Issue readers! I know that some of you may have heard from me before about mountain biking, compare-despair or the fraught issue of women’s wear and tennis, but this is my official “introduce-myself” post. I’ll be posting regularly on the first Saturday of the month for a while. And in between, when stories like Serena’s catsuit and Alizé’s sports bra are too provocative not to comment. I’m thrilled to be a small part of this thoughtful and inspiring community.

So without further ado, who am I? I’m always tempted to say, “Nobody” in honour of Richard Wright’s haiku or Elizabeth Dickinson’s short poem. Maybe that’s because I’m a writer (though I hesitate to say that after mentioning such giants). I write non-fiction, fiction, poetry (for friends only) and plays. I’ve performed a couple of solo shows I’ve written and I’m working on an ensemble play. I’ve also ghostwritten other people’s books and edited a lot more besides. Recently, I’ve been translating 17th century French fables and wrapping them in commentary. Before all that I was a lawyer.

I made the switch from lawyer to writer when I contracted what I call adult-onset athleticism. That’s my way of describing a person, like me, who may participate in none or some sports when young, but does not identify as or take ownership of their athlete-self until they are an adult (something which is true for a lot of women). As an aside, for me, in my 40s I did perhaps contract a related case of mid-life extreme athleticism, but I’ll talk about that in another post. It was at twenty-eight that I discovered the thrill of running (and then swimming and cycling and later cross-country skiing and other things). I started to understand how to train to get faster and how to go longer distances than I imagined possible.

This shift in my self-perception was profound enough to spin my life off in a whole new direction. I quit being a lawyer. After a short detour through human rights work, I restarted my career at the bottom, working in publishing jobs. Eventually I went out on my own as a freelance editor and writer (Devil-Wears-Prada style assistantship was not my cup of tea). All of which was really a return to what I’d always loved as a kid.

Quite a few years later, I wrote a book about the transformative impact of sports on women’s lives (I’m working on a second, related one). I interviewed more than one hundred women for Run Like A Girl: How Strong Women Make Happy Lives—ordinary women who had experienced the way their physical strength became psychological strength.

Our sports are a mirror and microscope. Whenever we test the limit of what we thought we could do (whether that’s a first step or 100 miles, on our feet, our bike, our skis or however), we see more deeply into who we are. We also have the opportunity to experience in our bodies and minds how we respond to the challenges life throws at us: to practice our grit and grace; to practice our resilience; to practice ease and flow.

In other words, I’m a believer. Fit is a feminist issue. And I’m a feminist who wants to keep running like a girl as long as I can. As you can tell, I love that expression. There’s so much juiciness in the idea. A couple years back Always did a whole campaign around it. For me, running like a girl captures that ageless girl-spirit that powers so much of the lightness we are capable of in life. The clean-slate optimism of “let’s go” meets the seasoned wisdom of “I can.” Up for the challenge and wise enough to find balance in the effort. Oh, and in case it’s not obvious, when I say running, I mean it as a proxy for any active physical engagement you fancy, however you like to move.

If that isn’t feminist, then what is?

Castle Peak with sunburst
Running into a sunburst sky at the summit of Castle Peak in the Sierra Mountains, California
fitness

Black Belt Reflections (Guest Post)

Sam B

by Sarah Skwire

This essay was written as part of the author’s black belt test qualifications

The first time I began my Taekwondo training I was 21 years old. I was in my senior year of college, had an elected position of responsibility in my literary society, was working as a teaching assistant for an undergraduate class, and was writing an honors thesis in English. I was worried that I might start thinking that I knew everything—a common danger among 21 year olds.

So, since I had never been particularly athletically talented, I decided to try studying a martial art. It seemed like it would be mentally and physically challenging, and I was certain it would keep me humble.

After my first class, when it took me nearly 30 minutes to learn to turn around in front stance, I was sure of it. Taekwondo was guaranteed to keep me from thinking that I knew everything. In fact, it assured me that I knew nothing. And I loved it. The physical demands of Taekwondo were a great complement to the intense life of the mind that I experienced at college, and the mental demands meant that I stayed interested all the time. I loved the moments that happened—every now and again—when I could feel the connection between my mind and body becoming stronger and smoother.

All that year, I trained with my college club—testing through green belt with a local Master instructor who had agreed to sponsor us. When I left for graduate school at the University of Chicago, I made a point of finding the campus Taekwondo club as soon as I arrived. I continued to train with them consistently until—right before testing for my red belt—the instructor we worked with went back to Korea.

That interruption in my training coincided with some life changes. I was finishing my PhD, getting married, beginning a teaching career, and then picking up a new career at an educational foundation. I had two children. I lost track of the joy I took in Taekwondo and the benefits I gained from it.

Fast forward, then, to the year I turned 43—the second time I began my Taekwondo training. I had recently gotten divorced. My daughters were 7 and 9. I was working harder than ever, but I wanted to find something that the girls and I could do together as a family. And I wanted that to be something more substantial than “Starbucks with Mom” or “Shopping with Mom.” I wanted them to learn some life lessons about how strong they are, how capable they are, and how they can rise to challenges. I wanted to help them develop the kind of grit that I had needed to help me so often. I wanted my quiet daughter to come out of her shell, and I wanted my madcap daughter to practice focus and discipline.

All of that came with me through the door to KTA. Here, I found the same mental and physical challenges that I had sought and loved in my Taekwondo clubs 20+ years ago. [Let’s face it—the physical challenges are greater. My hamstrings have aged along with the rest of me!] I have also found support, friendship, and excellent teaching from KTA instructors and from fellow students of every level and age. I have found a place where I still—sometimes—experience those all-too-rare moments when body and mind seem to effortlessly and seamlessly connect. I have seen my daughters learning many of the lessons I hoped they would learn. I’ve been humbled over and over and over and over again as I try to learn new skills and to improve familiar ones. And I have found a place that I know will challenge me—mind and body—every day going forward.

Earning a black belt is not, for me, the end of a project I began 20+ years ago in college. It’s not even the end of a project I began 3 years ago here at KTA. It’s not the end of anything. The first day I tie on my black belt will be, instead, the third time that I begin my Taekwondo training.

 

sarahs

Sarah Skwire is a Senior Fellow at Liberty Fund. Her academic research primarily considers the intersections between literature and economics, but ranges widely from early modern material to popular culture. She (and her daughters!) earned their black belts in taekwondo in October of 2017 and they all continue to train for their second dan.

cycling · Sat with Nat

Nat thinks back on re-learning to bicycle as a grownup

natalieh (she/her)4 Comments

A couple weeks ago my Facebook memories showed me a post from 5 years ago. It was a sad moment, I had planned on biking down to a festival but at the 5 km mark I had to stop. I ended up going home defeated with a sore backside.

It was a rough start to re-learning to cycle. To be fair to my 5 year ago self I had made some classic mistakes. I wasn’t wearing chamois shorts and got blisters in my groin. My 20 year old mountain bike wasn’t fit to me. I also had no idea how to effectively use my gears as I mistakenly thought I should mash my pedals in the highest gear I could use.

After that experience Sam reached out to offer riding with her and that was the first step to me re-learning to cycle as an adult.

Since then I’ve thought a lot about things I would tell that past me. If you are looking at cycling more or trying it for the first time you may find these thoughts helpful too.

So, my dear past self, I wish you knew:

  1. Wear cycling bottoms commando (no underwear). Be nice to your body parts that come in contact with your saddle and don’t worry about how it looks so much!
  2. Accept the offer to ride with experienced cyclists sooner. They will coach & cajole you into a sport that you can continue a very long time.
  3. Buy the big bicycle tire pump right away. Don’t run to the gas station every time you need to ride your bike! Air in road tires is VERY IMPORTANT.
  4. Wear a cycling jersey. It keeps you from getting a sunburn on your lower back/upper butt and is more comfortable than anything else. Honest.
  5. Buy the gloves. Your hands will go numb and that is no fun. You are working hard on your bike so being comfortable is super important.
  6. Listen to advice, try it. Not all of it will work for you so keep the ideas that do and dump the rest.

I would never have thought it possible to go from being destroyed by a 10 km ride to doing 100 km in the same year. It really is about time on the saddle and I was pleasantly surprised how much I’ve taken to riding my bike.

Sam has written before about how the fall is a great time to get into cycling and I’d have to agree. It’s beautiful in Canada this time of year. I hope to see you on your bike!

Nat takes a selfie in her bike helmet smiling.