Thrive series: How to end consistent sleep deprivation

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You're listening to the healthy and thriving career moms podcast where every week, you will learn about healthier habits and hacks to create and support a healthy and thriving lifestyle. As a busy mom. I'm your host Wendy. And I truly believe that the best gift you can give to your family and the world is a healthy thriving.

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Let's dive in so hi Billy and welcome to today's episode where we are getting stuck into the topic of sleep. Now I know this is quite a sensitive one when it comes to busy moms working moms, because it is something that is so elusive to us.

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I saw this quote the other day which made me chuckle which says some days I'm so tired, I can't sleep. And I don't know about you, but I've definitely been there and I saw another one that did make me chocolate some more which says I don't want to sleep like a baby. I want to sleep like my husband.

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And isn't that so true? I mean, what is it about being a mum where you're just tuned into every single sound and you're the one that gets up in the middle of the night and gets woken up. I had that last night with my five year old she came through telling me she was cold. And we need to change your PJs and by the time we did all that and I got back into bed I sat there staring at the ceiling for half an hour trying to get back

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to sleep and so this morning when I woke up I was so groggy and you just think and have a child and have my child I love my job. But honestly guys, it's so much more than just maybe not sleeping that well every now and then if you find yourself consistently sleep deprived, they are going to be some serious health consequences, which is what we're going to talk about today.

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But before we do that, I just wanted to paint the picture on some of the core jobs your body is doing while you sleep and why they're so important. As some of these you might know. Some of these might be new information to you. And you might think, oh gosh, I didn't realize that. And that was it for me when I really started to delve into sleep and looking at how that really factored in my overall health.

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I realized how important sleep wise and I've actually been on such a journey with sleep. The last few years I'm a self confessed night owl getting off to sleep isn't the easiest for me because my brain is always going at a million miles an hour and I want to do all the jobs and all the things or want to say I can watch all the Netflix that I've had to work really hard on cultivating good sleep habits.

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And it was actually a book that I read a few years ago by Arianna Huffington, which spoke about the sleep revolution and just how as a society, we are so sleep deprived we're actually walking around in such almost like a drugged state. You know, they actually say that it is more dangerous to drive tired than it is to drive under the influence. And I know that I've been there. I've had a few sort of close calls as a mother

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Where I've Been sleep deprived up all night with the baby or, you know, had a period of disturbed sleep. And I've been driving along and I actually feel myself getting sleepy or even have like not at all for that second, I'll admit it. I'm not perfect that's happened to me. And it really put the fear of God in me to think right. Sleep is an absolute fundamental and I know there's situations where we can't help our sleeping affected.

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But then I also think our lifestyles nowadays are not helping the sleep thing and that's why not withstanding the circumstances we can't work out because life takes over. It's actually the stuff that we can affect and that's really what I'm talking about today. So let's get stuck into those important jobs. So number one, your brain is sorting information. And why this is so important is because this is how long term memories are created.

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So even if you just think of all those special moments with your child and maybe if you find yourself being quite forgetful or not remembering things very often it could be that because you're not sleeping well enough or you're not getting that quality sleep, your brain isn't actually able to sort information. Number two is your hormones go to work. There are a multitude of hormones that get released while you sleep.

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And these hormones assist in many processes including regulating your sleep, repairing growing muscles and controlling your appetite. Which is why when you have had a bad night's sleep, you are so hungry the next day and you want to reach for all the naughty things that you know are just going to actually make you feel more groggy and tired. But it's because your body is really craving that hits of insulin, that sugar cane that is going to give you the energy to keep going.

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Number three is your immune system releases cytokines. So these cytokines help your body fight trauma, inflammation, and infections. So it's not a secret that when we're overtired, we all know we're more susceptible to get some case in point we've had a number of nights now just over with my little girl who really trying to work hard and getting her stay in her bed at night but that is causing us a lot of disrupted night's sleep.

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And yeah, my husband woke up this morning, he said but scratchy throat here we go. And that's because we know he's not getting enough sleep now. I've recently got over that which shall not be named on this podcast. And so yes, I know how it feels to be rundown and get that and just not feel good in yourself. So no one wants to feel that way. So let's make sure that we are giving our immune system a fighting chance with good quality sleep. Number four are our moods.

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So when you're sleeping your brain is processing your emotions. So when you're not getting enough sleep, you have more negative thoughts and emotional reactions and mental health issues. are strongly linked to poor quality sleep. So things like depression, anxiety, those kind of things can really be triggered. And I know for a lot of other sort of mental disorders like ADHD, sleep is such a key thing for managing that.

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And so just think like when you've not had enough sleep, something's so what seems so insignificant can trigger you. And you can absolutely I mean, I had it the other day my daughter wouldn't get ready and I was saying put your shoes on put your shoes on any Can anyone relate? And I found myself shouting at her and it was like, I was so embarrassed and my mom was standing right there and she

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didn't say anything but her almost being like windy. That was an extreme reaction for the fact that she wouldn't put her shoes on and use all the Hmong guilt that comes with that but that was because I was feeling so tired in that moment that I just lost my shizzle so we don't want that

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we don't want to have our moods all over the place. Number five is improved concentration and productivity. So as I said earlier, that reduce the can have a similar effect to being drunk. And also that poor concentration, lack of coordination, lack of motivation, reduced memory brain fog, problem solving skills, that's really difficult to name just a few. So sleep is going to help improving all of that. Number six is cortisol levels

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decrease. And this is important because it is known as this hormone. That's cortisol. And this drop in cortisol really assists us in managing stress. So if you're going through a particularly stressful period in your life, say you've got a lot on with work a lot on with your personal life, whatever it is, often you end up sacrificing sleep because you've got so much to get done. The problem is that stress builds up in your system that cortisol hormone builds up in your

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system like water in a bar, and if you don't unplug the bars, as in go to sleep, so that it can process that stress is going to overflow. And that's that's going to happen basically moods all the things we've talked about illness, that kind of thing. So really that and the long term fatigue and the mum burnout that can come from that is you know, a lot more chronic and serious. And finally, number seven, your sympathetic nervous system gets a break. And so why is that important?

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Well, essentially it controls your fight. or flight response. So there's research that shows that decreased sleep increases activity in your sympathetic nervous system and your blood pressure. And this in turn affects your ability to control your stress levels as well as increase your risk of heart disease. So that is another reason to really work on your sleep routine, then I don't know what it is. But I know you might be thinking it's all good

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and well to talk about this, but you might be in a season of your life right now where sleep is eluding you. Maybe you have a newborn or a child that's going you know having nightmares or night terrors or his bedwetting or maybe they're older and they teenagers and they staying you know, keeping you up till all hours because you're worrying about them coming home or whatever it is you always are going to have a stage of your life that you're going through.

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So these tips and strategies that I'm about to share with you I just want to say take this in the context of your life right now. If you're in a newborn stage, you can whenever you can, and obviously take these tips and apply them to your life stage. Ultimately, the objective should be to improve the quality of your sleep by introducing some healthy habits. And this will allow you to increase quality of sleep and if you can get more consistently, especially if you are at that stage right now where you really need to have sort of radical transformation in your sleep routine.

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If you feel like I'm actually talking to you right now you feel really convicted of some of the things that I've been saying, you know, here's the thing that you need to work on all the other healthy habits, you trician at wellbeing, got health, time management, all that kind of thing. I really believe all of it comes to the linchpin of sleep. So before I share those these are my sixth go to strategies to help you prioritize sleep. I just want to draw your attention to my thriving five course.

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Are you ready to start or reset your healthy habits that maybe you're short on time or you're just not sure where to start? You're exactly the person I created. By thrive and five minute calls for reset your healthy habits and just five minutes a day so you can start to thrive in all aspects of your life and health. And the best part is it's totally free to get it go to

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Wendy griffith.co.uk forward slash thrive and five or go to the link in my show notes for more information right back to today's show. Right so back to my helpful tips to help you prioritize your sleep. So first up, I am going to challenge you to go tech free before bedtime. Now I know this is a tip that people say all the time but I'm going to help you with this one.

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Okay, so I have spoken about this on a few of my podcasts episodes now about the blue lights of screens and how that is literally messing teams and how that blue light is actually blocking the melatonin which is the sleep hormone that gets released in your body which makes you feel tired, especially now as we're coming more into summer time.

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I'm recording this in May of: 2022

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Your body's really confused. I mean if anyone's tried to do in the summertime here in the UK, you'll know the struggle is real where we're saying yeah, I know it's loads outside but it's nighttime. So if you think about that happening with the lives from the screens, and we're staying up late and why is it that you keep wanting to flick to the next episode, go go go because you know, because your body is gone.

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Oh, I'm awake, I'm awake. Whereas actually if you put on a simple thing like a pair of blue light glasses, which you can literally buy on Amazon for 999 that is going to help block the blue light, which means if you pop those on an hour before your bedtime, say your Casa Grande at 10 o'clock and you pop those on at nine o'clock at 10 o'clock I promise you you will be feeling sleepy you will be feeling ready to go to bed as opposed to not wearing them. And that is just such a simple little tip.

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But honestly see how that helps you because if you get in the scroll hole at nighttime, you get into bed you've come upstairs you brush your teeth put your PJs on, you've got into bed, and then you get on your phone and you scroll. I mean I'm just not going to tell you how much that's going to affect you. My strategy is to turn my phone on airplane mode can I leave it on the other side of the room most of what that

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also is good. A double whammy on is in the morning when my alarm goes off. And I have to get up and walk across the room and kind of up and then when I'm up I'm like well I'm up now. There's no point in getting back into bed. I just keep walking straight to the bathroom. smash my face with cold water. So two thirds of the price of one there. And I even have activated app alerts on my phone as well. So at nine o'clock at night my phone goes into I suppose I could

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sleep time mode and it doesn't come back on until seven o'clock in the morning which means that obviously my alarm will work but it just it's not that trigger of notification. Things distracting you so I know that okay even if I am sitting watching the telly with my hubby or that is where my focus is and it's not getting distracted by phones and notifications. Tip number two is to avoid big meals fatty and spicy food before bed.

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So giving your body needs about two to three maybe even four hours sometimes after dinner to process what it's eaten before heading to bed. That's what you need to consider. Otherwise it's spending most of its time while you're sleeping. Eating food rather than focusing on other important functions which I've already shared, it needs to be doing so if you do need a snack go for something like so. So actually last night I was feeling quite peckish. So I made myself a small little

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bowl of popcorn. So popped popcorn. I love it. It's the cheapest healthier snack that you can do. And that to me was like okay, just something light and then I'm not affecting my sleep rhythms too much. Number three is a pre bedtime routine and I have actually done a whole podcast episode on this called evening routine was episode four of season two of the healthy and thriving career man's podcast. So check it out. But just very quickly in case you haven't listened to this, we all know how important routine is for our kids. Especially before bedtime.

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So why do we not include ourselves in that process? So give yourself I know for me, I've got to give my daughter a lot of time to wind down and get her ready through the process of a bath or a shower. And then there's reading time and then I know she doesn't go to speak straightaway. She might sit read once I've left the room and so think about all that and how that relates to you. So when someone says me or my

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bedtime, I go to bed 11 and I sleep until six or I get like six, seven hours, whatever it is. Do you go to sleep straightaway? I mean, some people do. My husband does that. If you're like me, I need to read wine down. So I use the 30 minutes or so before bed to wind down by doing things like choose my clothes for next day or putting my workout gear out so I'd have to trip over it and fall into it on my way out of bed in the morning or I

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do my beauty routine or just mentally because an awful day with a brain dump. Number four is monitor caffeine and alcohol intake. So caffeine obviously affects your ability to fall asleep and you may notice this more as you get older. I always never have caffeine after 3pm because this really can affect my circadian rhythms. So those sleep rhythms that I've really carefully cultivated and work to alcohol also affects the quality of your sleep.

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So yes, hopefully some wine but perhaps be mindful of your intake close to bedtime. Why is it that you know just when you go and I just had this recently I'm in a year of celebrating people's 40th birthday. So we've had quite a lot of late nights and celebrating 40 years and what I tend to find if I am out and I am having a few drinks is I will stop drinking at say 10 o'clock and switch to water because I know that the closer I drink to bedtime,

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the more disruptive my sleep is actually going to be. Why is it that when you do have those big nights, you actually find your wake up in the morning so tired so groggy, because your body hasn't been able to sleep properly. So that's something to be mindful of. Number five is Your bed should be the sex and sleep. I said yes, I did. I firmly believe that our bodies respond well to mental associations and having a strong connection to your bed is important.

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And having that safe space in your room that your brain and body associates with relaxation wine downtime, so I personally do not advocate for having a TV in the bedroom or having that on just before falling you know going to bed or falling asleep with the TV on because this leads our brain processing the information within processing the day. So that's just my personal opinion. And you may not agree with that.

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But I just think there's been so much research done and you know talking about the epidemic that exists with teenagers nowadays because they sitting on their phones staying up late to all hours of the morning scrolling on the phones, and it's just that blue lights in our brains is just not helping us. And finally, number six is movement. The movement or exercise during the day really promotes good sleep, but rigorous exercise before bed is really not something I'd recommend. So when I say movement,

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I mean walking, dancing, playing with your kids doing Pilates or whatever floats your boat. I personally love a good hip workout and I also have recently in the lab have fallen in love with paddleboarding which is something I love to do more in the summer months in the winter months here in the UK. They find something that you enjoy doing and you know, there's no surprise the association with how well you sleep to when you've had a day where you've done some great movement and exercise.

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So that's just a tip I would highly highly recommend. But guys quality sleep is achievable. And really when we realized just 20 years, we really should prioritize our sleep. But as always, I'm not about boiling the ocean Be realistic about what is achievable to begin with. start implementing those two to three healthiest sleep habits. Don't try to do all the things I've suggested just pick one or two that you can implement. And remember I always say progress over perfection.

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Life is still gonna happen, but a little consistency will make a big difference. So I hope today and I look forward to talking to you on the next episode. Thank you for tuning in today I'm so grateful for you. If this episode has resonated make sure you visit Wendy Griffith dot code at UK to discover more of my content and my fantastic free resources to support you in thriving. Or if you'd like to continue the conversation further. Drop me a DM by Instagram at Windy perfectly healthy. I'd love to hear from you. Until next time, keep driving.