I must just be special and get absolutely 0 of them benefits.

And by ok shape in that I can run a mile in < 7 mins . I can cycle 10km in <20mins. I'm nowhere near as fit as I used to be a few years ago, but I'm getting there. Only really started up against a couple of months ago.

fwiw I've probably slept worse since starting up doing exercise again, although I imagine the exercise has just has 0 effect. My general mood is no better, etc etc.

And I was talking about the immediate effect and I'm not doing it wrong. Explain how it makes you feel awesome when you are exhausted, because it doesn't, you feel exhausted. You just have some crap going on in your head like sense of achievement which you confuse with it being a good feeling but your body itself doesn't feel good.