Paula
Member46, Nottingham. Mostly here for honest stories, sleep chat, and women who get it.
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Activity (5)
May 27 · Replied
A small sleep note from this week
The boring version is genuinely useful. I started noting sleep quality alongside anxiety level and it made patterns visible that I would have otherwise described as just a bad week. No narrative, just the flat record.
May 26 · Replied
asking about sleep and weight
The connection is documented in the research. Poor sleep affects cortisol and appetite regulation, both of which can influence abdominal fat. Your GP may or may not be familiar with the specifics. Having your log with you when you go in is useful.
May 25 · Replied
tried cold water swimming, twice
The inconsistency between the two sessions is worth noting. Temperature variation affects the cortisol response quite significantly. Four minutes is actually a reasonable duration for a first attempt. Whether it was the cold or the two hours out is a fair question and probably unanswerable without more data points.
May 25 · Replied
finally went
Writing things down beforehand made a real difference for me too. I had the same impulse to minimise once I was actually in the room. Having it on paper meant I could just hand it over rather than try to reconstruct it under pressure.
May 25 · Posted
tried magnesium glycinate for sleep
started taking magnesium glycinate about three weeks ago because a colleague mentioned it and I had nothing to lose. First week I slept better on four out of seven nights. I was ready to be convinced. Second week was more ordinary, the usual pattern of waking around 2am and lying there cataloguing everything I had not done. My anxiety has not changed. Work has not changed. My cycle is still doing whatever it wants. I am still taking it because it does not seem to be making anything worse and the nights that are better are noticeably better. I cannot say it is the magnesium. I cannot say it is not.
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Likes & Replies (4)
May 27 · Replied to A small sleep note from this week
The boring version is genuinely useful. I started noting sleep quality alongside anxiety level and it made patterns visible that I would have otherwise described as just a bad week. No narrative, just the flat record.
May 26 · Replied to asking about sleep and weight
The connection is documented in the research. Poor sleep affects cortisol and appetite regulation, both of which can influence abdominal fat. Your GP may or may not be familiar with the specifics. Having your log with you when you go in is useful.
May 25 · Replied to tried cold water swimming, twice
The inconsistency between the two sessions is worth noting. Temperature variation affects the cortisol response quite significantly. Four minutes is actually a reasonable duration for a first attempt. Whether it was the cold or the two hours out is a fair question and probably unanswerable without more data points.
May 25 · Replied to finally went
Writing things down beforehand made a real difference for me too. I had the same impulse to minimise once I was actually in the room. Having it on paper meant I could just hand it over rather than try to reconstruct it under pressure.
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Comments (9)
The tone is the thing, isn't it. Not always what's said, it's the way it's said. Like you're being humoured. I've started asking directly 'have you had a chance to look at my notes' at the start of appointments. Occasionally it prompts them to actually do it. x
The anxiety being different from ordinary worry is the thing to get across. I actually wrote that phrase in my notes when I went: "this feels different from how I normally worry." It seemed to land. Also, there was a thread here recently about what to say when a GP suggests antidepressants straight away, might be worth a search before your appointment. x
The log before the follow-up is the right call. I started doing the same after I realised I was summarising six weeks as 'fine, I think' when the actual picture was more detailed than that.
I put mine off for about eight months. When I finally went I also had notes. The blood test form felt like something concrete to leave with, even before any results.
Three weeks is still early for sleep to settle. The sweats responding first tracks with what a lot of people find. Sleep tends to lag behind by weeks sometimes.
Three weeks is still early. That kind of shift in a run is not a small thing, actually. It is the sort of detail worth tracking.
The connection is documented in the research. Poor sleep affects cortisol and appetite regulation, both of which can influence abdominal fat. Your GP may or may not be familiar with the specifics. Having your log with you when you go in is useful.
The inconsistency between the two sessions is worth noting. Temperature variation affects the cortisol response quite significantly. Four minutes is actually a reasonable duration for a first attempt. Whether it was the cold or the two hours out is a fair question and probably unanswerable without more data points.
Writing things down beforehand made a real difference for me too. I had the same impulse to minimise once I was actually in the room. Having it on paper meant I could just hand it over rather than try to reconstruct it under pressure.