Today, the 1,000 mile mark was reached. Around 10:15, as I walked to Dr H’s offices, the odometer rolled over from 999 to 1,000 miles. This is my cumulative walk distance as recorded from January 1st of this year.

A photograph of this event is required. The above self portrait was taken during the past week and is actually a double exposure. The shadow on the right hand side reflects me as I was prior to the start of intensive aerobic walk therapy. I am dumpy, plump, perhaps even a smidgen rotund. The shadow to the immediate left shows me as I am now after completing 1,000 miles of intensive walk therapy. Thin, much taller, narrow as a beanstalk, or a very long 2 by 4. It has been quite the journey.

As a teenager, I read The Thousand Mile Summer. This a narrative written by Colin Fletcher describing his perambulation up the length of California carried out in 1958 (Checked the date. Still have the book upstairs). Fletcher later went on to write The Complete Walker which contains the following passage:

But if you judge safety to be the paramount consideration in life you should never, under any circumstances, go on long hikes alone. Don’t take short hikes alone, either – or, for that matter, go anywhere alone. And avoid at all costs such foolhardy activities as driving, falling in love, or inhaling air that is almost certainly riddled with deadly germs. Wear wool next to the skin. Insure every good and chattel you possess against every conceivable contingency the future might bring, even if the premiums half-cripple the present. Never cross an intersection against a red light, even when you can see all roads are clear for miles. And never, of course, explore the guts of an idea that seems as if it might threaten one of your more cherished beliefs. In your wisdom you will probably live to be a ripe old age. But you may discover, just before you die, that you have been dead for a long, long time

I grew up with this passage and took it very much to heart.
 

In Other News –

The prior post on Sleep and Kaizen described the “Increased Discovery Potential” of Evidence Based Recovery.

I have made a recent discovery. When waking in the middle of the night I have felt hot. I was able to confirm this heightened body temperature by using a digital thermometer to obtain an under arm temperature reading. The data set is not large but the evidence suggests spontaneous arousal in the middle of the night is associated with a body temperature 1 degree Fahrenheit higher than normal waking temperature. I have also recorded this same elevated temperature at those times when I seek to force myself to sleep, but am unable to do so.

There is an emerging relationship between body thermo-regulation and my disrupted sleep wake cycle. Body temperature peaks and kicks me out of the sleep state in the middle of the night. If I attempt to retire during a high body temperature event, I will be unable to do so. Having made this discovery, I am now seeking to capture more body temperature data on a regular basis and will report back after the 30 day data collection period.

A review of Wikipedia shows a long listing of sleep disorders. One family of sleep disorder is called Circadian rhythm sleep disorder and this subset lists a disorder named Irregular sleep–wake rhythm (ISWD). The description of this disorder closely matches my own experience. One of the listed causes is brain damage:

ISWD has various causes, including neurological disorders such as dementia (particularly Alzheimer’s Disease), brain damage, or mental retardation. It is thought that sufferers have a weak circadian clock. The risk for the disorder increases with age, but only due to increased prevalence of co-morbid medical disorders.

When I search for further information on ISWD I become lost. But I do find one research paper that describes the positive effects of aerobic excercise on hippocampal function and increased blood serum BDNF and a second paper that describes an excercise induced marked increase in

I am now searching for research papers on how I might transform into an aging rat in order to benefit from these findings. More seriously, and to the point, the hippocampus is located in the rear portion of the brain, the area I believe was subject to an intense compression pressure wave at the instant of impact during the March 6th accident. Contemporary research is resulting in a changing appreciation of the role of the hippocampus. It was once thought to be primarily responsible for the fine tuning of motor muscle control. It is now believed to have an impact on emotions, memory, and arousal, all functions in which I have suffered impairment.

I need to thank N for her help is starting me down this 1,000 mile path.