Almost 8ms post cardiac arrest and life has gone pretty much back to normal. 3 tests later they have no answer as to why it happened other than a freak accident. I do not have brugada. I do not have a heart condition. I am just a lucky survivor. or so they tell me, What I am however is much more aware of my body. For years I thrived on NO EXCUSES. Tired? work out anyways. Hungover? Sweat it out. I didnt listen to my body when it was telling me to slow down because I didnt know how. Ive been working out consistently 6-7 days a week for 16 years now. Ive gone through at least 5 heart rate monitors which i used to monitor how many calories I was burning. That was all that mattered to me. How much did I burn? And if i felt that wasnt enuogh I would push myself to do more. I never asked myself if I was tired or felt good I just looked at that number and had that be my compass. At a certain point my last fitbit was inaccurate. I would be doing hiit work outs and it would tell me my heart rate was at 90. I would stop my work outs to try to fix it., So after months I thuoght, fuck this, and stopped wearing it. I would work out and base everything on how i felt instead. I felt like a weight had been lifted. However, I still wasnt really listening to my body. I still pushed through tired or hungover or feeling not great.
After having cardiac arrest I started checking my heart rate after a rough night and making sure to not overdue it if my resting HR was higher than normal. Then I talked to a client who had the oura ring and how much it opened her eyes to how well she was sleeping and how much alcohol had an impact on resting HR. I did my research and when my mom asked what I wanted for my birthday I said, I want the ring.
its been about 5-6 weeks since I have been wearing it and I do wear it 24/7 for the most part. It has really changed my life. I truly believe that if I had been wearing this ring on January 28th, I would not have gone boxing. I would have rested. Then again, would I listen to a ring as much had I not died? That is up for debate.
The ring breaks down your sleep in a way you can really understand. Ever go to bed early and still wake up tired and think I dont get it? I cant tell you how many times i went to bed early and lay in bed for 8 hours or more but now i see i only actually slept for 6hrs. It's crazy! then there is the quality of that sleep. How much was deep? how much was REM. Was is restful? All these factors effect not only our sleep but in turn the day ahead. Then there are the effects of alcohol. These were the most surprising and eye opening for me. My sleeping heart rate on a sober day lies in the 50-65 bpm range. With alcohol 80-90!! And that is sleeping. Once I wake up, it starts at 100+ So when I woke up January 28th after a night of too many drinks, my base heart rate was already over 100 before I even started that boxing class. DOes this mean that you will have cardiac arrest when you work out hungover? Probably not. HOwvever if you have enough tiny factors effecting your heart at the same time, you are putting yourself at risk.
The oura ring gives you a readiness score everyday. Based on body temperature, Heart rate, quality of sleep, how much activity you did the day before etc. It tells you, hey maybe today you rest so you can dominate tomorrow. not everyday is going to be a day to slay. some days are made for resting and now i know when those days are. it doesnt mean dont work out at all, it just means maybe today is a low impact day. maybe today just go for a walk. and thats ok. best of all rest days are what your muscles need to grow. they are just as important as your lifting days. we all know that but few of us work out maniacs listen.
The only negative about the ring is it doesnt pick up on work outs so you have to add those manually and it will base what you burned off the heart rate that was taken during that time. unfortunately it doesnt measure it contiously like a watch so its an average. hopefully this will improve with future updates.
all i know for now is that my oura ring is boss. if that readiness score is low, i listen and modify my work outs. if that score is very low and it tells me to take a rest day and set my ring to rest mode. i do so. because i hear you now body. i finally hear you.
having cardiac arrest was maybe the best thing that happened to me. I am so much more grateful about everything, i listen to my body, i prioritize sleep and recovery the same way i have always prioritized exercise, i listen and i feel thankful.
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