How’s your sleep? Do you get enough? Are you able to stay asleep, or do you wake up and toss and turn for hours?
Do you wake up feeling refreshed? Or are you groggy and need to hit your snooze over and over? Are you trying sleep remedies and supplements without success?
Here’s the thing, your sleep is one of the biggest things that can help, or hinder, your health, weight, energy and mood. And your HORMONES can be a reason you may not be sleeping. Sleep, along with energy and weight, is one of the biggest reasons women seek help from me in my hormone testing and health coaching programs.
I get it, I struggled with my sleep for YEARS. I know for me, not sleeping is one of the worst things EVER! I had some hormone imbalances with my adrenals and thyroid that caused very bad sleep for me for a long time. This was many years ago, and was one of the reasons I became certified in Functional Medicine.
One of the hormonal balances I had was really low cortisol during the day, and high cortisol at night. I will guarantee you that if you have high cortisol at night you will not sleep!
I was able to heal, and now my sleep is pretty good, most of the time. I still have some struggles but I know what I need to do with habits, food, supplements, stress and exercise to sleep well.
Yeah, that sounds like a lot, but as we age as women, it takes more care around these things than it did.
Here’s the thing, you need sleep for your cells to recover every day. It’s essential to get GOOD QUALITY sleep every night in order for your body to work it’s best. And it’s a myth that you can actually “catch up” on sleep. Sleep deprivation is a real thing that can become a chronic health problem.
Did you know that there’s a scientific relationship between lack of sleep and weight gain too? yikes! There’s also a relationship with stress.
I don’t want you to suffer like I did for so long!
Your HORMONES affect SLEEP!
- Your Blood Sugar is super important here. If you eat too many carbohydrates and sugars for YOUR body this can cause your blood sugar to have highs and lows not just during the day, but also at NIGHT, and can interrupt your sleep. Of course, this can make you tired the next day, have cravings and stress-eat high sugar foods that further imbalance your blood sugar and interrupt your sleep.
- Your Cortisol (stress hormones) affect your sleep too. If it’s high at night you can have trouble going to sleep or staying asleep or both. If it’s low you can wake up really tired, feeling like you haven’t slept.
- Peri-menopause and Menopause- this is when your hormones are changing during your 40’s and 50’s. It’s a totally NATURAL change but when your estrogen and progesterone start declining, this can affect your sleep, especially when estrogen goes low.
- This is where Hormone Testing comes in. You need to know what your blood sugar, female hormones, and cortisol hormones are doing (high or low) and then you can know how you can fix it with nutrition, lifestyle and supplements. It’s also important to not randomly take supplements for “adrenal health”. There are very specific supplements I use for high or low cortisol, so you have to TEST.
Here are a few more things you can do for better sleep:
- Caffeine-If you love your coffee, or tea (like me), or energy drinks, have a cut off time by noon or earlier. Some people take up to 24 hours to excrete caffeine, so if your sleep is off then ditch the caffeine for a while and see.
- Alcohol- is a tricky one, as alcohol can make you feel sleepy and relaxed at night, but it keeps you from going into the deep sleep rhythms, and you need to cycle through all the sleep stages for healthy sleep. Ultimately you will sleep better without alcohol, so play around with it.
- Increase protein and lower sugars and carbs to balance blood sugar, and to not have blood sugar swings or wake up hungry in the middle of the night.
- Be aware of Stress in your life, and how you can reduce it with lifestyle and self-care.
Because I learned to balance my blood sugar and cortisol with my food and supplements, and I manage my stress, AND I know what my hormone testing says, now I can:
- Sleep through the night (with only having to get up once or not at all)
- Being able to fall asleep easily
- Get through the day without a nap
- Have steady energy throughout the day because I slept
What would you do if you had better sleep?
If you need some support, I have your back. Getting your hormones and health on track means you may need to ask for support, when you can’t do it all by yourself.
That’s what I’m here for, so let’s chat in a FREE Healthy Hormone CALL! Come talk with me, no obligation! It’s about getting an idea of where you are and where you want to go. Maybe it takes some hormone testing, or nutrition or supplements, or some health coaching.
And here is a free guide for you on “5 Steps for Women to Have More Energy” click HERE to download!
