5 Steps to Better Sleep {S2E3}
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In today’s episode I’m discussing one of the biggest challenges of motherhood: Sleep. Not baby’s sleep, mum’s sleep. Many people expect mums to be tired and exhausted in the early days, but are often rudely surprised by the fact that broken sleep continues for many more years! And as a result many mums accept their lot and resign themselves to the fact that perhaps sleep is just not for them right now. But is that really true?
Although our children may be responsible for waking us in the middle of the night, I believe that there are many things we do ourselves to sabotage our own sleep. The way we spend our time and energy during the day makes a difference, and often gets in the way of a good night sleep. In fact, often we set ourselves up for terrible sleep from the very moment we wake up (or more likely, woken up!) in the morning.
So in this episode I’m sharing:
The health effects of chronic sleep deprivation
The 3 factors that determine sleep and how you might be working your own biology to sabotage your sleep
Five ways to get better sleep starting from today
I think sleep is really important and we don’t need to just accept that we just won’t get much sleep again. We all know that we are calmer, more patient, more motivated, more engaged and focused parents when we feel rested and have more energy. You don’t have to resign yourself to watching your children grow up from the sidelines simply because you don’t get a good night sleep!
There are many major health issues that arise from regularly getting fewer than 6 hours of sleep a night:
Destroys the immune system
Doubles the risk of cancer
Determines whether you’ll develop Alzheimer's
Disrupts blood sugars so you look diabetic (even if you’re aren’t medically diagnosed)
Increases chance of heart attack and stroke
Causes weight gain, even if you’re dieting
And on a more prosaic note - the number of road accidents caused by not enough sleep exceeds those caused by alcohol and drugs combined. Most of us know very well not to drink and drive or drink first thing in the morning before going to work…so we should view a lack of sleep in the same serious light in terms of the risk
By the end of this episode you will have practical steps to improve the quality of your sleep so that you feel better rested and have more energy to be the engaged, patient, fun mother you always hoped to be.
The Lullaby Trust’s Safe Bed-Sharing Guidelines: https://www.lullabytrust.org.uk/safer-sleep-advice/co-sleeping/
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