The Integra Blog

Three courses, jetlag and the effects

I’m back from three trips to the US; three hugely successful and dense courses (click here for the list) and now it is time for me to digest the information and put it in practice. I have approximately 150 pages of notes (although in Evernote, not on paper!).

With my clients I often discuss sleep and it’s effects on the nervous system, the body, the mind and their success (short read: regular, good quality is essential!) and I found the effects of three transatlantic flights certainly pushed my limits.

I have got used to a monthly trip to the US and I can normally eat right, drink right, get to sleep at night and stroll into class feeling fresh - but by the third course (and the third long flight in 5 weeks), I was feeling it.

My level of attention was less, my cognitive ability definitely affected, my performance in my own training much (much) worse - although the barefoot canyon running in LA was a ‘walk in the park’! - all in all, I was suffering from some of the effects that my clients come in with from their daily work/life patterns. If you don’t recover from the stimuli that you throw at your system, you start to breakdown, or at the least you don’t function at your highest possible level.

I will find out in a few days the effects of the raised cortisol levels on my bodyfat when I get it measured (I am sure that will have increased - and I cannot only blame the food portions in the US!).

Coming up over the next couple of weeks (maybe after I have digested some of the above), I will start writing a little on the effects of sleep deprivation and lack of recuperation on your body/mind/results etc…