Five days on the Olympic couch, and you are starting to feel as if you've hit the cobblestones in the cycling road-race and gone straight over the handlebars.
Irregular sleep patterns, when you wake up, becoming disoriented and anxious over the fact that you are watching table tennis in the middle of the night, eventually sees you develop red dots all over your body. Then again, you think if such a blotchy look is good enough for 21 gold medal-winning Michael Phelps it must be good enough for you.
But what keeps you going, endlessly flicking the channels and the App one more time in search of a sport that for four years you've completely forgotten about, is the rousing human interest stories -- involving those individuals with the common touch. The Australian Olympic team is providing plenty of those stories.
Among the early Australian medal winners have been an exceptional female athlete who gave up being a motor mechanic to pursue Gold, another who admitted to devouring huge tubs of ice cream before events, and those who love showing a common national trait of being laconic.
The first Australian medallists of the Games -- the archery men's team of Taylor Worth, Alec Potts and Ryan Tyack -- seemed a bit surprised by the attention when they were pursued by the media to explain how excited they were to win bronze.
Television interviewers did their best to have them yahooing down the microphone, but they kept a lid on it. They had more events to compete in, so there was not yet any point big noting themselves -- especially as they were eager to win bigger prizes. They made the right comments, but there was no whooping or hollering.
Then emerged the irresistible, beaming smile of Catherine Skinner after she had won gold in the women's trap shooting event. This was someone we could really relate to.
Due to her persistence in wanting to be a successful shooter, her pursuit of a chemical engineering degree has taken eight years. She also had no qualms explaining that her diet was somewhat different to others at the Olympics. She has a serious sweet-tooth.
In one radio interview after her gold medal success, she admitted to altering her routine while in Rio.
"I had to adapt a little bit because I did my personal best a few years ago after I ended up eating an entire pint of Ben & Jerry's the night before for dinner," Skinner said. "So last night I had to sneak over to the McDonald's and get a big McFlurry."
Skinner's father, who encouraged her when she was 12 to try clay target shooting at their local bush club, was back on the family farm just out of Mansfield in the Victorian High Country. Daughter looked straight down the television camera to tell him: "Hi Dad. I did it."
Nice moment, as was the euphoria surrounding the Australian women's rugby sevens team's triumph. It was impossible not to be affected by their performances, or how their victory tantalised a nation.
Heading the Australian team was Sharni Williams, who had been a motor mechanic in Canberra before deciding several years ago to focus on sevens football.
Asked how it felt to win gold, Williams laughed: "Heavy. Seriously, this gold medal is heavy."
As touching was the haka performed by the New Zealand team after the final loss. Most of the players were in tears, but that did not deter them from completing one of the most stirring exhibitions of this traditional dances
And you just know the inspirational moments will continue over the next week or so at Rio.
We now await how Australia's oldest Olympian fares. Mary Hanna is 61, a grandmother, competing in her fifth Olympics in the equestrian dressage event.
When asked what the Olympic experience meant to her, she replied: "It's very addictive."
Bit like being on that Olympic couch.