twentyhood.

Coping Combos

Wed 25 Jun 2008 – 10.13

Coping Combo: Diet Coke and other junk

What’s a coping combo, you might ask? It’s the unique combination of food, sleep, drink, and other habits that we tend towards during times of stress, such as pulling an all-nighter or during a rush period of work. Everyone’s combo is slightly different, as is illustrated in a recent article on MSNBC Health:

For Tiffanie … it’s chips and salsa and sappy movie marathons. For Paul … it’s Chinese food and long weekends in bed. And for Susan … it’s skipped meals and late nights glued to the computer.

We pick our combos to cope with our natural afflictions from stress. Some of us can’t sleep, others eat too much, others get all jittery. So the cure often fits the symptom. Depending on our diet and exercise habits, our bodies are hard-wired to react differently during those late nights and stressful times.

“Everybody’s biology is a bit different,” [an expert] says. “I might respond to stress by getting more acid production in my stomach which will make me want to not eat at all or make me want to eat comfort foods that will absorb the acid.”

But it’s also emotional. The reason we have comfort foods is because they bring us back to a time and place when we were less stressed and generally felt better about ourselves and the world.

It’s interesting; read the article here »

And if you’re a gamer, I already touched on the subject of what to eat when you’re up all night saving the world from aliens, Nazis, The Empire, Orcs, and angry teenager boys from China.

During our University days, we see the coping combo in action. Chances are that even the most well-practiced and scheduled student will end up pulling at least one all-nighter* at some point or another. Studying for finals, finishing a project, or even moving into a new apartment/dorm can trigger stress and force us into our coping mode. I observed that while many of my classmates reached for greasy foods like cheesesteaks and pizza, I always opted for something more sugary like doughnuts or cookies. My standard finals week shopping consisted mainly of Entenmann’s products.

And unfortunately for me, I found myself in that position last night. At the office until 1 am, my body started to feel the effects. But instead of reaching for a black+white cookie, I just powered through and dived into bed when I got home. It seems my desire to cope appears more on the next morning than the night of. I’ve heard that Gatorade is great for hangovers, and I can attest to its benefits as a breakfast drink, especially if you’re feeling not only dehydrated, but also kinda weak and janky.

I also broke down and spend $4.71 on a Venti latté. Just to get my eyes open for a while. I don’t usually like to drink coffee in the morning, but when I’m running on 5 hours of sleep, I can bend the rules.

The other weekend, I participated in a record-breaking 74-hour podcast with Keith and the Girl. I stayed up the entire night broadcasting to the world, talking, laughing, and sharing. I drank coffee, I ate trail mix, and I was fucked up for a week after. While the night was enjoyable, not stressful, I found once again that such a dramatic slap to my own phisiology can hold me down for days at a time. I wonder if it’s simply my own biology or something to do with age. Maybe teenagers are much better to deal with stop-and-go sleeping and stress as opposed to their twentysomething counterparts. Maybe our ancient ancestors found themselves in stressful situations from a younger age, and the youth have better abilities to cope.

Of course the best way to cope is to not find yourself in these late-night, high-stress situations. Planning is the best way, but also the ability to say “fuck it”, and deal with results. It’s like I always say, “Life is not a challenge of how well you can plan, but rather how well you cope when your plans fail.”

* – my personal definition of an all-nighter is any night where I get 4 or fewer hours of sleep. A “true” all-nighter is something I’ve only twice in my life. I’m proud to say that during my undergraduate years I only did one all-nighter, and one true all-nighter. As a grad student I think I did one all-nighter and a couple of “late nights”, which are slightly less severe. As a professional I’m ashamed to say that I’ve done two all-nighters, both last summer for a client with whom I am no longer working. It totally wasn’t worth it. Also, I view all-nighters as the ultimate sign of failure. They are not badges of honour, they are tokens of shame.

posted by Scott in coffee, education, health & fitness, life.