A new lease on life

Second chances and a renewed energy for life and living.

Human beings are remarkably resistant creatures. We also adapt to our environment incredibly well. Whilst the term “new normal” is still too soon to be used again, generating covid flashbacks, it’s amazing what humans can (will?) accept as just how life is. We can talk about this on a more societal level another time, but this week I wish to share an individual’s case…mine.

For years, I came to accept that my low energy and low mood was just who I was, thanks largely to my depression and personality characteristics. As it turns out, there was an overlooked, third significant factor – possibly even the primary factor, but it’s early doors. As I briefly mentioned in my opening article for 2026, after undertaking a sleep study test, I had been diagnosed with severe sleep apnoea.

So, while I was getting a good amount of sleep, the sleep that I was getting was not of good quality. Poor quality sleep affects us in so many ways: energy, motivation, mood, cognition, focus, memory, hunger etc., not to mention its comorbid relationships with many other health issues. I had come to accept my ways as normal. I rationalised it away; you’re getting older, you’ve always been this way, you can’t afford to spend this kind of money on something that probably isn’t the case, it’s your depression, you’re just overweight, your body is just responding naturally to your heavy thinking, emotional sensitivity and outlook/worldview. Now, I’m not saying these aren’t factors, but the early signs illustrate I might have been overstating their impact, and I was wrong on one of the primary causes.

Photo by Ante Hamersmit on Unsplash.

I’m currently trialling a CPAP machine and the difference is…wait for it…night and day. I wake up, alert and ready to go. I don’t feel I need more sleep or rest, I feel well-rested and recovered. My mental acuity reminds me of what it once was. I hunger less. I don’t have drop offs in both energy and sharpness. I’m going to sleep between 1-2 hours later than I have done and even at that point I’m still functioning well. Whilst I did sleep sound before, I was a prolific snorer. Now, I’m quiet as a church mouse. My periods of apnoea (temporary cessation of breathing during sleep) have dramatically reduced from nearly 50 episodes per hour (and over 90 on my back), to next to nothing. I’m awake between 4:30-5:30am after 6-7 hours of quality sleep ready for the day ahead.

“I feel like a new man, a million dollars, reborn, whatever phrase you wish to use. It feels like I’ve been given a new lease on life to start reclaiming my passion and will.”

I have yet to love working out mind you (that possibly will never change), but even in the short period since starting this trial, the sets are easier and I recover quicker. I don’t feel as lethargic. I don’t feel like my body has some kind of restrictor on it limiting what my muscles feel they can do more of.

“This is as much a psychological and spiritual rebirth as it is a physical transformation.”

The flow-on effects continue as this second chance I’ve been given has also impacted the relational side of my life in a positive manner. While I’ve stopped short in treating this as a panacea to all my woes, the reluctance to accept too much of a good thing, it has been a truly welcomed cornucopia. Some things that I had written off in life before this, now seem a possibility. On the second morning, I experienced genuine excitement and joy towards an interest of mine that felt both natural and foreign, causing me to weep tears of remembrance and a rejuvenating soul.     

My mother and father are in hospital this week for separate procedures. I can only hope that my new lease on life spreads to them and this wave of renewed energy for life and living endures.

Related article links

• Positive emotion and energy

• Life and Death

• Caring for others and caring for yourself

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