Most Poker Tournaments in my area are held at night time. They might start about 6-7pm and run until maybe 10-11pm. That works for most people and it's good for the venues who are trying to get some evening trade. When I first started playing though as a 50+ year old I was finding myself getting tired and fading out at the back end of tournaments when ideally that's the "Business End" when you need to be the sharpest. I knew very early that I needed to make some adjustments to my lifestyle if I wanted to do well...
I had given up Coffee when I turned 50, but my first option was to start hitting the Caffeine (and sugar) to try to stay sharp later in the night and before long I was smashing 2 or 3 cans of Coke in a night. Obviously that caused some health problems and I briefly went to sugar-free Coke only to realize that Aspartame and other sugar substitutes were probably just as bad (or worse).
I also started sneaking in a little Siesta of about 30-45 mins in the afternoon to try and reset the body clock when I knew I would be playing that night. That, along with the Caffeine worked for the Poker, but I was finding myself laying awake at night until 1-2am with an active mind and frequent reflux. As a result I would be an unproductive zombie the next morning for lack of proper sleep. I was doing well at Poker, but the impacts on my health and general well-being were not good. I had to figure out a better solution.
This year I think I've finally found the right balance. The siesta stays and the caffeine does too, but I cut myself off before it gets too late and then I am Fasting for about 14 hours a night. This has helped settle the reflux and I am getting to bed closer to midnight and with more poker experience my mind is less active at night too. In the mornings I am back to doing 30 minutes of Cardio Exercise at the end of my Fast and along with some other dietary improvements where I am focused on more Protein and Fibre with less Carbs and Trans Fat, I've actually started to drop some weight.
At the moment it's working. My Health is improving and my Poker is going well. Getting the lifestyle tweaks just right to balance the two has been a process, but I think I've finally managed to figure it out. Now I can focus on hitting both my Poker and Health goals together.
