BPM

It’s 02:38 and I’m still awake thanks to some really noisy bats currently living in the trees surrounding my house. It might also be because of the tall glass of cold coffee I had after dinner (I swear I’d given up coffee after 18:00 on weekdays but I couldn’t resist it today.) Anyway, I’m awake. Nothing else to do. So about half an hour ago, I decided to measure my resting heart rate. Fun! My grandmother has a high heart rate but she’s active and healthy, so the doctor was never too worried. I remember her counting her resting heart rate two to three times a day till she finally gave up worrying about it a decade ago. I think that might have brought her resting heart rate down a few beats, but who knows...

So I’ve counted five times till now and the results were as follows: 60, 60, 59, 60, 61. So my mean resting heart rate is 60. It was about 68 till a couple of months ago. But March has been exceptional and so has April till now. Ever since covid-19 social distancing and the subsequent lockdown, I’ve been working out more than ever. Less Netflix (and other streaming), more reading and house work. And then there’s that little bit of office work to finish too. Overall, I feel... not too bad. I tire myself out and sleep by 22:30 (today being the exception. Thank you, bats) which gives me less time to think and overthink the shit show that’s about to hit us soon.

After the second half of 2019 and beginning of 2020 feeling ill and weak, I was tired of feeling anxious, mildly depressed and generally pitying myself. Regaining my strength and stamina felt like the only natural thing to do. My body would heal slowly. It’s not yet at a 100% and I still have to iron out a few ailments in consultation with my doctor, but I think I’m on my path to normalcy. Ironically, this covid-19 lockdown - however terrible it may be for the world and me eventually, couldn’t have come at a better time for my health. How sic is that? (See what I did there?)

And the bats are still at it. Sigh...
Edit: they say that the best time to check for resting heart rate was just after one woke up. So I woke up at 06:40 (thank you loud shrill birds) and checked my heart rate five minutes later. 55!