Uncomfortable without exercise

I stopped exercising for awhile. I hurt my wrist in November and couldn’t lift weights, then the holidays kicked into full-swing and the gym was closed off-and-on for renovations; I guess it was a perfect storm that gave me the perfect excuse to skip a few weeks. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t gorged myself on holiday fare and washed it down with massive amounts of alcohol.

The last few weeks of my exercise sabbatical my breathing became labored. It wasn’t to the extreme of an asthma attack but it was a little worrying. Riding my bike home from work, which even at a leisurely pace doesn’t take longer then 20 minutes, left me noticeably more winded than usual.

My heart also felt like it was beating too fast for what I was doing everyday. Walking up some stairs or taking a walk with my Mom left me feeling weird, like I was having a panic attack where my heart would begin to race for no reason. Playing soccer the day before I hit the gym again made me feel like my heart was going to explode.

My sleep patterns became irregular. For the last week or so of not working out I was waking-up around 2:30 A.M. I’d lie in bed feeling like my heart was beating too fast and my breath was short. Eventually, around two hours later I’d fall back asleep but this interruption left me crazy tired the next day.

All in all, it made me very uncomfortable and I didn’t like it one bit. I felt sick when I knew I wasn’t but I started questioning myself anyway. Would I have a heart attack? Did I have asthma?

So I ran and lifted weights the last three days and I feel amazingly better than I did. My heartbeat and my breathing feel much closer to normal and my sleep has been out of this world. As a matter of fact, the Monday night after I exercised for the first time in two months my sleep was freaking fantastic.

Note to self: DON’T STOP EXERCISING FOR SUCH A LONG PERIOD OF TIME.