Hi,
I need to ask about something different now:
Since we started building our house, I practically can’t sleep in anymore. I feel fine otherwise, sleep 8 hours – completely normal – but I’m extremely tired. I’m not stressed or worried at all. I’m actually very happy that we’re building and already excited about the house. But during the day, I almost fall asleep standing up. Is that normal? Does this happen to others as well? Is it normal to feel so drained while building a house?
I hope this will go away after moving in, and even though I’ll be completely exhausted, I’ll still be happy. What do you think?
I need to ask about something different now:
Since we started building our house, I practically can’t sleep in anymore. I feel fine otherwise, sleep 8 hours – completely normal – but I’m extremely tired. I’m not stressed or worried at all. I’m actually very happy that we’re building and already excited about the house. But during the day, I almost fall asleep standing up. Is that normal? Does this happen to others as well? Is it normal to feel so drained while building a house?
I hope this will go away after moving in, and even though I’ll be completely exhausted, I’ll still be happy. What do you think?
Are you sure it’s because of the construction?
An ex of mine was constantly tired during the day – he could sleep anytime, anywhere. A sleep study then diagnosed him with sleep apnea. Ask your wife if you snore loudly and if she might have noticed that you stop breathing briefly during sleep.
An ex of mine was constantly tired during the day – he could sleep anytime, anywhere. A sleep study then diagnosed him with sleep apnea. Ask your wife if you snore loudly and if she might have noticed that you stop breathing briefly during sleep.
Hi katho,
Regarding the house construction, I can’t say much. I think you’re probably like ypg – you’re thinking about everything and trying to have everything planned (and monitored). The constant uncertainty about whether everything will go as planned and the ongoing replanning are likely taking away your inner peace. Right now, you probably can’t fully relax and unwind. If that’s the case, moving in should take some of the burden off your shoulders.
Here’s a small example from my experience:
When my wife was pregnant, my “inner pressure” kept building up. For me, this showed as various problems with my lower back (lumbar spine). Two months before the birth, I could barely move, relying multiple times a day on strong painkillers. Sleep was almost impossible. Yet, I had to function. Starting from the week our son was born, I suddenly felt much better. For the past year, the back pain has completely disappeared.
I hope that this psychological stress won’t have similar effects on me when we finally break ground. Then I’ll have to give up several tasks I planned to do myself (landscaping, painting, flooring). When you can hardly even tie your shoes… For now, despite the planning stress, everything is still going smoothly.
By the way, these days I’m regularly exhausted from standing – again because of our little one, who has been waking up every night between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. (deep sleep phase) for months to tell us he’s hungry. Right now I’m grateful to have a commute of more than an hour by public transport to work. At least there, I can somewhat catch up on my sleep deficit.
But look at it this way: just a little over two more months, including a (more or less) recovery period at Christmas, and you’ll have made it through.
Regarding the house construction, I can’t say much. I think you’re probably like ypg – you’re thinking about everything and trying to have everything planned (and monitored). The constant uncertainty about whether everything will go as planned and the ongoing replanning are likely taking away your inner peace. Right now, you probably can’t fully relax and unwind. If that’s the case, moving in should take some of the burden off your shoulders.
Here’s a small example from my experience:
When my wife was pregnant, my “inner pressure” kept building up. For me, this showed as various problems with my lower back (lumbar spine). Two months before the birth, I could barely move, relying multiple times a day on strong painkillers. Sleep was almost impossible. Yet, I had to function. Starting from the week our son was born, I suddenly felt much better. For the past year, the back pain has completely disappeared.
I hope that this psychological stress won’t have similar effects on me when we finally break ground. Then I’ll have to give up several tasks I planned to do myself (landscaping, painting, flooring). When you can hardly even tie your shoes… For now, despite the planning stress, everything is still going smoothly.
By the way, these days I’m regularly exhausted from standing – again because of our little one, who has been waking up every night between 1:30 and 3:30 a.m. (deep sleep phase) for months to tell us he’s hungry. Right now I’m grateful to have a commute of more than an hour by public transport to work. At least there, I can somewhat catch up on my sleep deficit.
But look at it this way: just a little over two more months, including a (more or less) recovery period at Christmas, and you’ll have made it through.
f-pNo schrieb:
...When my wife was pregnant, I felt increasing "internal pressure." For me, this showed up as various issues with my lower back (lumbar spine). Two months before the birth, I could barely even crawl and was relying heavily on strong painkillers several times a day. Sleeping was almost impossible. Still, I had to keep going. Starting the week our little one was born, I suddenly felt much better. For the past year, the back pain has completely disappeared. That sounds very familiar to me. I’m not taking pain medication, but my whole body seems to be completely tense. Let’s hope this ordeal is over in 2-3 months.
kaho674 schrieb:
That sounds very familiar to me. I don’t take painkillers, but my whole body seems to be completely tense. If your lower back is affected as well, you might also have trouble falling asleep. It helps to elevate your legs (this flattens the lumbar spine and allows the muscles to relax better). This elevated leg position is also achieved in hospitals through adjustable beds.
Of course, regular people don’t have such beds at home, so you need to find alternatives. At first, I used a plastic storage crate padded with a blanket. Later, I tried—don’t laugh—a gym ball. It looks pretty silly to get into bed with an 80cm (31 inch) high ball. But it has the advantage that 1. the ball is softer than a crate, 2. you can do various exercises on it, and 3. eventually you can kick the ball out of bed (which is harder to do with a crate). I ended up sticking with the ball.
Okay, enough about health issues. This is almost like a retirement club where everyone shares their various ailments and complaints.
I want to share a bit about my experience: We decided to build a prefabricated house because we didn’t want to deal with a lengthy construction period. Our son was born at the same time the concrete slab was being poured. On top of that, it was the busy end-of-year season at work... every November/December, our clients go crazy...
We lived about 30 km (19 miles) away from the new home, so almost every evening we drove 60 km (37 miles) round trip to the empty house just to air it out. On top of that, we often received calls during lunch from very skilled craftsmen who pointed out small planning errors or gave practical advice on how things could be done better. So, this meant frequent visits either for inspections or "minor acceptance" (they needed a non-binding signature at the end of their work), or meetings with the site manager. All this combined with sleepless nights... you can probably imagine how it feels.
We were constantly on the phone, sorting out this or that, or because the site manager was repeatedly falling behind schedule. Unfortunately, we had little luck with a novice professional, meaning I ended up taking over his work to avoid a planning disaster.
After the interior work, there were 4 weeks of DIY effort every free minute... always with the child in tow. It’s exhausting, but with the goal of owning our own home, you manage to get through it. I even stopped drinking coffee. Anyone who knows me would be surprised because I am a coffee person. Without coffee, I usually can’t write a single line of code or run a database query.
What helped me wonderfully as a "replacement drug" was green tea. It has roughly the same amount of caffeine and is gentler on the stomach. Don’t buy just any cheap stuff from the supermarket – go to a tea shop and get some oolong or white tea, get yourself a nice teapot, and enjoy those moments of calm while drinking tea. Those were my relaxing breaks apart from the evening cuddles with my little boy.
These small breaks give you the energy you need.
Now, six months after moving in, I still find myself organizing this and that. Childcare, the daycare job, my wife is working again, the garden is still not done, and inside the attic and technical room are still unfinished. It’s probably time to slow down again. Society tends to push you to keep up this pace. Five weeks, and then it’s Christmas... A good time to decide to stress less.
We lived about 30 km (19 miles) away from the new home, so almost every evening we drove 60 km (37 miles) round trip to the empty house just to air it out. On top of that, we often received calls during lunch from very skilled craftsmen who pointed out small planning errors or gave practical advice on how things could be done better. So, this meant frequent visits either for inspections or "minor acceptance" (they needed a non-binding signature at the end of their work), or meetings with the site manager. All this combined with sleepless nights... you can probably imagine how it feels.
We were constantly on the phone, sorting out this or that, or because the site manager was repeatedly falling behind schedule. Unfortunately, we had little luck with a novice professional, meaning I ended up taking over his work to avoid a planning disaster.
After the interior work, there were 4 weeks of DIY effort every free minute... always with the child in tow. It’s exhausting, but with the goal of owning our own home, you manage to get through it. I even stopped drinking coffee. Anyone who knows me would be surprised because I am a coffee person. Without coffee, I usually can’t write a single line of code or run a database query.
What helped me wonderfully as a "replacement drug" was green tea. It has roughly the same amount of caffeine and is gentler on the stomach. Don’t buy just any cheap stuff from the supermarket – go to a tea shop and get some oolong or white tea, get yourself a nice teapot, and enjoy those moments of calm while drinking tea. Those were my relaxing breaks apart from the evening cuddles with my little boy.
These small breaks give you the energy you need.
Now, six months after moving in, I still find myself organizing this and that. Childcare, the daycare job, my wife is working again, the garden is still not done, and inside the attic and technical room are still unfinished. It’s probably time to slow down again. Society tends to push you to keep up this pace. Five weeks, and then it’s Christmas... A good time to decide to stress less.
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