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Post gig exhaustion


SpaceChick
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[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1401630982' post='2465325']
last night I was playing with my band in a holiday camp for aliens?!)
[/quote] Yes - I've played in Sheffield as well. I get knee ache from the humping and dumping , my throat gets sore from trying to be Noddy Holder and my ears - which are jacobsed anyway - often ring a bit but that's all because I'm too old to behave like I'm a teenager on stage , don't look after myself and should probably pack it in. What I do do to avoid the sort of next day lethargy I think you mean is have a decent wind down when I get home. Bit of proper music like Beethoven or Mahler low in the background , proper cup of non-poncy coffee out of jar and I sit in my socks and undercrackers for an hour or so thinking about bugger all and dipping cheese thins into humous and Heinz salad cream*. Works for me - I wake up at 7am ( no alarm clocks ever - I refuse to own one) in boat/wargame/fell walking/ mode as required , regardless of what stupid time I got in. * other pseudo French egg and oil based rubbish should not be available

Edited by Dr.Dave
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The best thing, I've found, for being generally tired, is actually exercise. I never believed this. I mean, how can doing more make you feel better?

I don't necessarily mean exercise the day after, more so just keep it up regularly and try and fit it in the night before the gig, or even better, just before the gig.

My usual routine is a run on the treadmill three times a week. I barely ever get a mid afternoon slump now. I generally get more natural highs now from just things like a warm day or a good day at work...like a 'content' feeling, which is good. I think part of this is because I'm more active. My bass and potential band work does suffer though. Less time for bass/guitar!

After a ridiculous stag do this weekend, involving two very full on late nights, I felt fine yesterday. Tired today, but I know once I've had a day to recover today I'll be normal tomorrow.

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I seem to be knackered more on the mon after say a sat gig.
Just used to it now though. In at 3am or so usually after packing down and unloading into the studio.

Home for a disturbed night's kip due to a teething 13 month old and then woken by a playful 2 yr old at 6 or 7am!

Love an early night on a sunday before a busy week in work!

I try to keep quite fit to help keep my energy levels up, and eat pretty well so I do Muay Thai 3 times a week and will cycle to work a few days too.

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[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1401704466' post='2465928']
The best thing, I've found, for being generally tired, is actually exercise. I never believed this. I mean, how can doing more make you feel better?

I don't necessarily mean exercise the day after, more so just keep it up regularly and try and fit it in the night before the gig, or even better, just before the gig.

My usual routine is a run on the treadmill three times a week. I barely ever get a mid afternoon slump now. I generally get more natural highs now from just things like a warm day or a good day at work...like a 'content' feeling, which is good. I think part of this is because I'm more active. My bass and potential band work does suffer though. Less time for bass/guitar!

After a ridiculous stag do this weekend, involving two very full on late nights, I felt fine yesterday. Tired today, but I know once I've had a day to recover today I'll be normal tomorrow.
[/quote]


This has to be it.

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I regularly exercise (Cycling, MTB) and regard myself as reasonably fit.... But after a good hour or so of dancing around like a loon on stage with my bass, and drinking a fair amount I must admit I do get the 'Next Day' exhaustion.

The drink probably doesn't help, but still.....

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I get the same thing as most people. I do find it hard to go straight to sleep. The wife is usually in bed asleep so I have to watch tv or something for half an hour or so before going to bed. The worst ones are the mid-week gigs where I have to get up at 6.45 for work the next morning.

At the weekends I have found that if I stay in bed past 9am the morning after, i'll be sluggish all day, generally set myself up with a boxed set and stay on the sofa - the longer i stay there, the harder it is to get up.

BUT... If I get up before 9 and force myself to do something (DIY, Car repairs or Housework etc.) I don't get the all day sluggish feeling, in fact any tiredness generally wears off about 1/2 hour into the task. But come the end of the day I hit the sack and go straight to sleep.

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[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1401715124' post='2466066']
I wonder if its just a muso thing to not like mornings.

Some people, like myself, are useless before mid day anyway. Gigging just makes it worse. At least these days I dont need to get up early vey often.
[/quote]

I believe that there's a whole pseudo-science based around the principle of 'larks' and 'owls'. Not musicians only; the whole population can be categorised in this way, apparently. Some folks are early birds, others stay up late. It's difficult to do both for very long, though, unless one is old. :blush:

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[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1401723621' post='2466176']
I believe that there's a whole pseudo-science based around the principle of 'larks' and 'owls'. Not musicians only; the whole population can be categorised in this way, apparently. Some folks are early birds, others stay up late. It's difficult to do both for very long, though, unless one is old. :blush:
[/quote]

What I meant was is it a trait thats common with musos. Like being left handed, dunno if its my imagination but there does seem to be a connection with sinister people being musical. Surely cant be a coincidence that the majority of the guitar players I've fitted in with over 40 odd years are leftys.

Circadian rhythm sleep disorders is well documented, more than just a pseudo science these days I think.

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To the initial posting..... Do you wear earplugs on stage. The difference in fatigue I found was amazing. Loud noise wears you down. Mixed with the ringing in the ears that keep you buzzing when you get home.
The circadian rhythm thing is massive too. If you look at health issues from shift workers.... If like a lot of us you work a normal day job and gig through the weekends then you are juggling two lifestyles.....

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I never drink alcohol when I play, I have enough trouble staying focused due to being in constant pain following a car accident 20 odd years ago and the pain killers and booze don't seem to mix.
I am normally still buzzing for several hours after a gig.
I get home and end up having to eat something and chill in front of the telly for an hour or two before crawling (often literally) up to bed.
The next day can be rather hit or miss but mostly I am creamed.
Can't stop going out and playing though.

Edited by Nick Riffed
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I echo what others have said. It's more rock and roll to drink during gigs, but I learned the hard way, that having a bottle of whisky next to me during gigs was a mistake. Alcohol dehydrates, and saps your get up and go.

These days, lots and lots of water before and during the gig. I'm the lead singer/Bass player/Front man, and it takes a lot out of you to perform a gig for an hour and a half, and hump the gear in and out, before and after the gig. I find it physically very tough, but then I'm getting old too.

Another important bit of advice I got from someone in the know, was to eat, and eat [i]plenty[/i] before the gig, carbs carbs carbs.

Gigs are workouts for me, and I sweat like a glass blowers arse too, so I have to fuel up or crash and burn.

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Gigs are workouts for me too. Past few months we've been doing weddings every Friday/Sat night, with the occasional Sunday, and come the 2nd night, I'm shattered. We also travel in a campervan, so we can't shower between gigs, having to wash at service stations is starting to lose its novelty.

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I can't imagine gigging without pint ( or bottle of Brown if we're anywhere south of Barnsley) in my drinks holder. Only a couple though.

I agree with the 'nervous energy ' thing but it's easy to underestimate how much physical work a gig involves for most of us. Loading cars and vans , humping stuff up and down fire escapes.Of course we get jacobsed. It's like moving to a new bedsit after a days work. Never the best thing to start working when your body clock says it's time to start chilling which is exactly what gigging represents.. Esp. true for those of us who's day jobs aren't physically demanding. I expect those who have a day job that's mentally taxing and stressful find gigging a good release - but mine isn't so I wouldn't know.

Why do we think Mick Jagger's still doing it ?? Because the last time he carted a 4x12 up stairs in the pissing rain at 1 in the morning was 1963 !!!

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I suffer from anxiety before the show, no matter what show it is, and a beer is the only thing that helps me. I've tried rescue remedy, kalms and other placebos and nothing is working. I think being a MU member, they have contact details for you to see a doctor about it, I need to read up on it ideally..


Anyone else suffer from Anxiety before a gig? And what do you do to calm it?

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