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Do you have trouble falling asleep at night? Feel wiped out but still can’t doze off? Do you wake up in the middle of the night, and struggle to fall back to sleep?
Do you wake up feeling tired, groggy and irritable? Are you one of those people who can’t talk to anyone before their first cup of coffee? Do you need caffeine to stay awake during the day?
You are not alone. Upwards of 70% of Americans report some kind of sleep issue.
That’s… a lot.
But consistent, chronic sleep issues are not something we should just write off as “well that’s just what life is like now” or “that’s just part of getting older”.
Your sleep issues have a root cause, and with some work you can fix them.
How many hours of sleep we get each night is individual to us and how much rest our bodies need. So don’t get super fixated on a specific number as a goal.
In an ideal world, you would easily drift off to sleep around the same time each night, and wake up feeling rested in the morning.
Hopefully, you’re able to sleep uninterrupted all night, and if you do need to get up to use the bathroom you are able to fall right back to sleep.
Of course, most of us have to wake up to alarms much earlier than our bodies want to, but hopefully we have rested enough that this is not too disruptive.
You can’t “make up” sleep you lost during the week over the weekend, either. Sleep and your body’s rest and recovery are all about consistency, not quantity.
Believe it or not, most issues around trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or not feeling rested in the morning have to do with stress and blood sugar balance.
When we experience stress, our bodies switch to “fight or flight”, meaning we are not prioritizing rest and recovery, but survival. Stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline pump into our blood to keep us awake and alert.
This is fine if you have to run away from a predator chasing you once in a while. But the problem is we are stressed out all day, every day. So our bodies aren’t able to shut off “fight or flight” to let us rest.
Secondly, we eat for 16-18 hours a day, and most of what we eat is chock full of refined carbohydrates and added sugar. So we ride that blood sugar roller coaster from the time we wake up to right before we go to bed, and wonder why we can’t fall asleep.
But that’s not all! Every time we spike our blood sugar, we create a stress event. So not only are we chronically stressed out about our jobs and politics and finances, but when we eat we put our body in survival mode.
Lastly, so many of us use bright devices like laptops, phones and TV screens well into the night. That bright blue light tells our brain that it is daytime, and time to be awake. So your sleep hormones like melatonin are suppressed, while your wake hormones like cortisol are elevated even more!
Avoid added sugars
Eat whole, nutrient-dense foods with plenty of protein
Avoid caffeine after 2pm
Stop eating at least 2 hours before bed
Eat whole veggies and starches in your evening meal
Turn off personal devices 1 hour before bed
No bright screens in the bedroom
Find ways to destress
I bet this is something you would love to solve for yourself or someone you love, but maybe don’t know how.
Good news: my 6-month 1-on-1 program is designed to help fix your sleep issues, and MORE.
We’ll find simple swaps in your day that will help you sleep better. We’ll track your food, movement and mindset, fix your blood sugar balance and get your energy dialed in.
If this sounds like you, or someone you care about, I’ve got a spot for you in my program.
Ready? Let’s go!
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