Do you feel tired every day? Is fatigue or just plain exhaustion getting in the way of your life?
Yes, there are many things that can be depleting your energy- and in functional nutrition, we explore possibilities like imbalanced blood sugar, nutrient insufficiencies, digestive weaknesses, chronic inflammation, and more.
We need to ask this important question:
Is it possible you just need to get more sleep?
Sometimes, the simple answers aren’t always the ones we want to hear. Especially when those simple answers aren’t so simple to implement, as is the case for new moms everywhere.
But the truth is:
If you’re tired, you likely need more sleep.
In fact, the same applies if you’re struggling with ANY symptom getting in the way of you feeling amazing. You’ve got to get the foundations set before you move on to more things like lab testing, supplements, and targeted healing protocols.
I don’t think I need to convince you how wonderful sleep is. Yes, there are those outliers who say sleep is for the weak and can function great on 4 hours a night but I’m calling their bluff. It’s impossible and they’re likely running on stress hormones and will eventually crash. There are also many, many others who know they need sleep, but sacrifice it anyway and tell themselves it’s okay (i.e. if you’re setting your alarm at 4 am to work out before the baby wakes, I guarantee you that sleeping would actually be more productive unless you went to bed at 8 pm).
Humans need sleep. Period.
Even though our culture of hustle and do more- even at the expense of your health- tells us otherwise.
If you want good energy, happy hormones, healthy gut function, reliable hunger and satiety signals, clearer brain function, fewer cravings and mood swings, and more, 7 hours at minimum is necessary. But I’d rather see you get 8-9 hours.
And while you do want to be getting the same amounts each night during roughly the same hours, your sleep needs actually are going to increase based on a lot- especially if you’re pregnant or postpartum, are healing from any injury or illness, are experiencing a ton of stress, and even likely when you have your period.
I know that we’ve got lots of responsibilities, roles to fill, and people to take care of, and the list goes on. Plus, we’ve gotta squeeze in time and care for ourselves, too. Sometimes, consistently getting enough sleep can be TOUGH, but it’s worth getting rid of anything unnecessary- like the late-night social media scrolling or the crack-of-dawn workouts- to make time for even just an extra 30 minutes.
Look, I know your me-time is precious and I want you to make it happen. But maybe, try looking at sleep as the ultimate me-time. If you’re not getting enough good quality sleep, your body is not able to rest, rejuvenate, and rebuild, and it’s going to affect everything from your energy to your brain function to your hormones and more!
Okay, so how do you actually get more sleep?
