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January 23, 2006
Efficiency
I had a draggy 8-mile run to the tune of the theme from M*A*S*H this morning. The M*A*S*H theme song (extremely depressing song to have in your head while running, incidentally) can be explained by my indulgence in no fewer than eight M*A*S*H re-runs over the weekend. I catch pretty much every one I can and lament over the decrease in quality of network television output. The writing for that show was so good, as was the cast. Plus I get a huge kick out of Hawkeye's simultaneous cynicism and idealism.
And the Dragginess was because I was exhausted for reasons that were entirely my own fault. I allowed myself to slip into a night owl schedule over the weekend, and that coupled with the fact that I decided to go for a run at 10:30 meant that when I crawled into bed around 1 I didn't have a prayer of falling asleep. I was frustrated because I have, of late, increased my sleeping efficiency thanks to my friend E.'s Christmas present (the same one I gave her, according to a tacit pre-Christmas agreement we made) to me, Hot Teddy. For some reason it always takes me a really long time to get warm (as in an hour plus sometimes) when I go to bed at night, so I end up lying there shivering and unable to fall asleep despite layers of blankets, fleece pajamas, sweatshirts, and wool socks. The result is that spending 8 hours in bed nets me about 6 hours of sleep: an hour to get warm, another 20 minutes to fall asleep, then waking up too warm in the middle of the night and another 40 minutes to fall back to sleep after removing layers. With the little heater that is Hot Teddy, 8 hours in bed nets me 7 and 1/2 hours or more of sleep -- no hour of shivering, and no waking up overheated in the middle of the night, because Hot Teddy cools off over time.
For reasons that I suppose are easily explained by biology, most female runners I know complain of being cold a lot of the time. This makes sense, I suppose, because the biological purpose of the female body is to bear children, so when functioning efficiently it stores energy instead of burning it to create heat. Because female runners tend to be leaner than the general female population, not only do they not have as thick an insulating layer of fat, but our bodies are trying even harder to store what energy they can and so are even more loathe to waste it creating heat. Men's bodies, on the other hand, operate most efficiently when they burn excess energy as heat because the male's biological purpose requires a leaner ideal form. I keep trying to persuade my body that since I'm not planning on having a child anytime soon, it would be more to the purpose for it to burn energy to keep me warm rather than trying to squirrel it away as fat, but no dice. I wonder if my system is hard-wired to act in this way or, if the possibility of conception were removed, if my body would start behaving more like a man's (if the survival of the species were contingent upon my survival, rather than my body's ability to nurture offspring). Basically, my question is, if I lived in a world where I was completely surrounded by other females and didn't come into any contact with males, would my body start using energy differently? Studies have shown that when a woman goes from living with just other females to living with males symptoms of PMS increase, a phermonal reaction (I know, I shouldn't make that statement without backing it up with a reference, but I'm tired and feeling sloppy). I wonder if phermones affect to any significant extent the way our bodies use energy. I guess it doesn't really matter because I can't imagine I would ever find myself in a world where I didn't come into contact with men on a daily basis (and besides, I'd probably miss them, at least a little, if I didn't), but to my semi-delirious, sleep-deprived mind it seems like an interesting question.
Posted by alweiss at January 23, 2006 10:48 PM
Comments
I can't resist saying that I doubt that phermones alone cause women to experience more symptoms of PMS when men are around!
Posted by: Elizabeth at January 24, 2006 04:35 PM
Ha. I was actually going to make an aside to that effect, but then decided that I was already walking a fine line in suggesting that my life (at least in terms of my running and my physical comfort) might be better in a world where men were absent.
Posted by: alweiss at January 25, 2006 12:27 AM
What an interesting post. I often wish I could trick my body into burning fat and turning it into heat. If you could figure that out and patent it, I think you would be rich and famous!
I think you're being really smart about your running right now, by the way, and I too LOVE Mash!
Posted by: Barb at January 25, 2006 09:40 AM