TN50#121, The Morning Recovery Routine After a Late-Night Trip to the Buffet/Bar, 19 June 2023
Hi Team,
Happy Tuesday and welcome to The Next 50 #121. I like to think of personal performance in 3 components: physical, mental and emotional. My frameworks focus on 4 Buckets: Eat, Sleep, Move and Think. This blog is my sandbox for sharing information that you might find useful regarding your personal performance.
Who doesn’t need an, “I ate and drank right up to bedtime last night” morning routine? If you don’t maybe you can skip the rest of this one. Or you can continue reading so you can help your friends.
If you remember back a few weeks to TN50#117; you may recall we talked about eating a mountain of mouth-watering meatballs, washing it down with a delicious IPA and then immediately going to bed; AND a discussion about what your body does when it has to choose between digestion and rebuild/repair during sleep. If you didn’t read it you can click on the link above and read it in about 3 minutes.
And here was how that blog wrapped up:
“My other recommendation is immediately initiate recovery mode the next day; but I’ll save that How To for another day!”
Well, here’s my Top 3(+) Morning After Routine recommendations if I eat and drink right up to bedtime:
- I immediately begin rehydrating with water and some black coffee; if you heard that coffee is a diuretic it isn’t; the science says yes you will pee after drinking coffee (duh) but it won’t be more fluid than you take in as coffee. Bottom Line: Coffee doesn’t dehydrate you. If you aren’t a coffee drinker, no problem, just make sure you are prioritizing the H2O.
- I am going to get moving. I am not going to go for a record FRAN time but I am getting out for a long walk at a minimum. We are made to move; there are many “right now” benefits to moving early in the morning; the benefits after a late-night binge at the buffet/bar are even more useful – In My Opinion.
- Here’s what I’m not going to do; I’m not going to eat or drink any calories. I normally don’t eat when I first get up anyway but I’m definitely not going to pile more calories into a GI Tract that is still dealing with my late-night choices from the night before. Hydrating, ok; trucker’s breakfast, not ok. Pay attention to your body you might make a few hours before you really need to eat.
- I said 3 (+) because this one can only be executed if you have the supplements. So first I need to back up to pre bed; I take Omega 3s in the evening every night that I remember to do so; in the form of DHA and/or SPM’s or a combo EPA/DHA if that is all I have. Omega 3’s anti-inflammatory properties are very positive and noticeable to me; especially after a big physical event or a late night meal or couple beers in the evening (-: I also might take additional Omega 3s the morning after, depending on how I feel, before having any other calories.
- Another advanced technique I heard Dr. Rhonda Patrick talking about on her monthly crowd cast is taking probiotics at night after she has a glass or more of wine. This makes sense in the “can’t hurt” department. We know alcohol messes with your gut microbiome, taking a general-purpose probiotic after a drink or two makes perfect sense to me. I mention this in the morning after protocol because you might not remember this till morning so I would put that in the “can’t hurt” department as well.
- I can’t remember the last time I took headache medicine in the morning because of poor food/drink choices the night before but if I were to wake up with a headache because of having more than 1 delicious IPA I WOULD NOT allow myself a pain killer because I EARNED THAT PAIN!!! (Just Kidding, I was channeling David Goggins there for a minute). I mention this because I don’t recommend initially taking a pain killer, again I can’t remember the last time I need to take one in the morning. I usually feel better after I rehydrate (STEP 1) and get outside and moving (STEP 2). If you have completed steps 1 and 2 still feel like you need a painkiller or whatever works great for your headache, do your thing but also make sure that you are not combining painkillers with other poor consumption choices in a way that can cause damage to your GI tract or other organs (again, duh).
Wow this is already over 700 words, so let’s wrap this up.
Having your protocols dialed in to the point you always have 2 or more hours between your last calorie and bed time is a great habit to maintain but cutting loose with family and friends from time to time when meatballs or other forms of food and beverage are consumed closer to bedtime is also a great relationship enhancing habit to maintain – In My Opinion. If you agree, think about utilizing the steps mentioned above to recover your personal performance and get back on point as quickly as possible the next day.
As always share the post with your team and anyone who might find it useful and let me know what you think!
Have a good one, Alex
PS. Have questions regarding coaching or questions/comments on this blog, please let me know at: alex@fpp.llc
