Just. Don't. Suck (Part 1)

I wish! Having my pre bedtime snack right now at 10:47! What time does your shift ususally start in the morning?

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7am. I hate mornings too. My wife and I go to bed between 9 and 10. My phone automatically does to DO NOT DISTURB from 9:45pm to 6:15am.

I think I need close to nine hours of sleep to feel rested.

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I genuinely feel more energetic on less sleep these days. I’ve become so used to it, when I get 9 hours occasionally, I just feel lethargic all day.

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2.20.19

Woke at 227.0 lbs. I think that’s a new low this time around. This is more legit than my previous 227 numbers. I’ve eaten 2500 calories the last two days and I ate 1.75 servings (70 grams) of oatmeal for my evening snack last night. I’m not depleted or dehydrated. Hopefully I’m getting through this plateau.

I bumped my calories up to 2500 from 2350 after reading CT’s Best Damn nutrition article. He suggested starting with your body weight x 11 for cutting fat. If I don’t lose 2-3 pounds in a week then I go down to BW x 10.

I’ll be heading to the Y for a push workout and more basketball in a few hours. I’m still battling this cold. My sinuses were killing me yesterday - lots of sneezing and coughing, lots of burning (inflammation), and strange pressures in my head. I almost passed out at one point. I stood up, walked into the kitchen and got a head rush and my left knee buckled.

The strangest part of the day is that I felt the best while I was playing basketball. I didn’t notice any of the sinus issues. I could breathe. And my legs felt good. I’m looking forward to getting back on the court today.

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I’ve always heard we need 7-9 hours. I think it’s a range for a reason. We’re all different. I’ve also heard that our sleep cycle takes about 90 minutes to go through all the stages. If you wake up mid-cycle then you won’t feel refreshed.

If you follow that advice then we need 6, 7.5, or 9 hours of sleep.

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I’ve heard exactly the same stuff, and when I used to get a solid 8+ hours most nights, I was far, far more energetic than I am now. And without coffee. Good routines play such a big part in “general wellness”

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I average 6.5. Do fine for a few weeks and then bam! I need to sleep for like 12 hrs for two days to catch up. You’re under a lot of mental stress with your job I’m sure though. Dealing with everyone’s problems. You must have the patience of a saint.

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Sadly, all of the qualities I exhibit at work seem to get used up there. I’m patient with idiots but I have none with my kids. I’m decisive at work but once I’m home I don’t want to make any decisions. It drives my wife nuts.

She’ll ask what I want for dinner and I tell her that I don’t care. I don’t want to decide. Just make some food and I’ll eat it. She hates it.

I think it’s common in my line of work. The job has a tendency to take the best of you and it’s easy to be a miserable SOB the rest of the time. I’ve only been with PD for five years and I can tell that so the negative stuff is seeping into me. My three years as a State Trooper were much better mentally because I didn’t have to go to 911 calls. I just stopped cars.

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I’m sure you have encounter some crazy call outs in your day. is it mostly domestic violence ?

Being proactive about a positive mental attitude is very helpful at home. I’ve experienced similar struggles with my job. Coach Jack is always cheery, uplifting, helpful, patient, etc. Feel like I give my best to everyone but my family sometimes. Find that turning on worship music on the way home and in the mornings rather than the radio helps get me in the right state of mine.

Our church is doing a 30 day kindness challenge as well which has been awesome. Go to https://www.jointhekindnesschallenge.com.

They will simply send you an email every morning with a suggestion on how you can be kind to your spouse. It’s the first thing I read in the morning and gets me thinking about how to be a better husband and father.

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I’m almost exactly the same. At work I’m the boss (within my four little walls), and I’m pretty decisive etc. At home I’ll happily just sit their and play with my kids. I definitely won’t make any decisions if I don’t have to.

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I’m on day shift now so it’s a bit different. I’d day it’s probably 30% DV, 40% mentals, 15% disturbances, and 15% traffic.

Mentals could be blamed for a lot of the disturbances too. Mental calls are either someone threatening to harm themselves or crazy people doing what crazy people do. People call in when they see someone talking to themselves or yelling at traffic. Crazy people call in and say so sorts of stuff to 911 so we get sent out to do a welfare check.

A disturbance call is just about any type of incident that’s not between people who fit the DV criteria. DV criteria is a dating relationship or household member. The main difference is that if one roommate punches the other then the bad guy goes straight to jail. If two people who don’t meet the DV requirements do that then we just make a case and send it to a detective. The victim has to go sign an affidavit to press charges. We do that because a lot of people call 911 because they want the person to go jail, but they don’t want to go to court. We stopped wasting our time on those. If the victim won’t go sign a piece of paper then they definitely won’t go to court.

Oh, I forgot the juvenile calls. That seems to be about 25% of the disturbance calls. Kids throwing a fit at home so their “parent” calls us. Kids shoplifting and using pepper spray on loss prevention. Juveniles are getting out of hand and they never get charged with a crime so they just keep escalating.

Definitely like this idea

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I’m ahead of a lot of people by being aware of my problems. Fixing them is still a challenge. Law enforcement is a toxic profession.

I’ve started doing this again recently. Some days I still prefer the rock station though! [quote=“jackolee, post:3830, topic:228202”]
Our church is doing a 30 day kindness challenge as well which has been awesome. Go to https://www.jointhekindnesschallenge.com.
[/quote]

Thanks for sharing. I’ll check it out.

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Sounds like things would never get boring with the headcase call outs. I take it things get pretty stressful at times also. You are correct about the juveniles these days, too much human rights and kids getting away with too much. Back in my day my dad would of just hit me a slap on the jaw and told me to wise up.

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I’ve come to the conclusion that this is the only thing they’ll understand. I wish they received pain as their punishment instead of fines and classes.

Misdemeanor offense - get punched in the face (with a boxing glove) once.

The number and severity of punches to the face increase with each subsequent crime.

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This is a sleep pattern I tend to have as well. I try to leave an open morning on a weekend where I allow myself to actually just sleep until I naturally wake up. Feels so refreshing to not be woken by an alarm clock (or pets which is often the case). Yes, I realize this is going to change significantly once I have a little one to dictate my sleep schedule!

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Make it a priority to not think this way. Obviously when they are newborn there’s nothing you can do, but you can train them to be good sleepers very early. Both my kids slept through the night 11-6 or 7 at 6 weeks old.

We made adjustments to how they responded and found that if we would keep them up a little longer and then top them off with formula or the like. My wife didn’t like nursing much. She pumped for a month and then made the switch to formula. If they woke up we’d make an effort to let them try to self sooth. If needed we’d go in to comfort/calm them down and then get out of there.

Don’t let the little rascal dictate your life lol.

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That will definitely be a goal! This “Babywise” book is all about just that, creating a schedule for the infant with the end goal of sleeping through the night (and maintaining a consistent schedule throughout the day as well). It is a large claim based on the horror stories I have heard from friends (new parents0, but we are going to do our best!

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We found it very helpful to make them sleep in many different location. Car seat, crib, floor, lights on, lights off, quiet, loud, other peoples houses. When they get accustomed to only sleeping in their crib when it’s quiet and dark it really limits you. We never had to turn down friends to go over and hang out. Just put the kid in whatever spare room they had. Ours actually slept better in a noisy environment. Get ready man cause it’s a fun ride!

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