Rooted Mama Podcast
Episode 12: Optimizing your Sleep
Hello friends, welcome to another episode of the Rooted Mama podcast. Today we’re going to talk about sleep. Sleep is one of those things that no one really wants to work on. It’s not really very sexy or exciting, but it definitely is a key piece of our health.
What you need to know about Sleep [00:00:15]
So researchers have found that the ideal amount of sleep is about 7.5 hours. Obviously there can be some individual variation with that, but I think for most people you’ll feel the most rested after waking up from a 90 minute sleep cycle.
For example, it’s better to wake up at 7.5 hours rather than sleeping an extra 30 minutes because you’re essentially interrupting your sleep in the middle of a cycle, whereas if your body’s able to finish that cycle, you will wake up feeling more rested and refreshed. So here are some general rules I recommend for sleep.
One, develop a sleep routine. This does not have to be big and complicated. But you need to be able to cue your brain that it’s time to wind down and go to sleep. I would recommend avoiding screens or blue lights about an hour before bed. And so for me, practically, I have blue light blocking glasses that I put on and I make my kids wear about an hour before bed to kind of cue their brains of like, okay, it’s time to start winding down and getting ready to fall asleep. Because perks of modern civilization is yes, we have lights at night. But the downside is, the dark is really what cues your body to start making melatonin. And so if the sun goes down, but all the lights are still on, your body’s like, wait, it’s not time to go to sleep, all the lights are on. Darkness is a really essential cue for your brain to be like, okay, it’s time to wind down and go to sleep.
Cool Down Before Bed [00:01:43]
Next, it’s really important that you keep your bedroom cool. There’s some variation in the recommendation, but I would say on average, you want it to be about 68 degrees or less. Because when you keep your body cool, you actually get deeper, more restful sleep. There’s actually a study I read that talked about how they were using cold therapy as an intervention to treat insomnia, where when they kept things lower, the temperature lower, people actually slept better, even if they dealt with chronic insomnia. It was a very interesting study. I’ll try to find it so I can have Hannah put it in the show notes.
Nutrition as an aid to sleep [00:02:17]
Next recommendation is to prioritize your nutrition. We talked about this in the last episode, but magnesium and vitamin D are both critical nutrients to your body. So if you’re helpless sleep and your body makes melatonin from serotonin, so if your mood is regulated and it has the hormones you need, you’ll actually be able to get better and more restful sleep.
Sunlight in the morning [00:02:37]
Next, get sun exposure early in the morning. You want your eyeballs exposed to the sun, not sunglasses, your eyeballs in the sun, ideally between the hours of 6am and 8am. This can be tricky to do, but I count any amount of time as a win. But that early morning sun exposure really helps set your circadian rhythm into a good pattern. And it really, just like we need darkness to cue the melatonin, we need daylight to cue our other hormones to balance and reset the whole system.
Next, I would recommend doing something relaxing to help you wind down. Scrolling social media is not going to relax you. It really needs to be more intentional than that. It can be yoga, reading a book, although it kind of depends on the book because certain books I find very stimulating and then it makes it hard to relax. But if you’re not doing that, then you should read a book that’s more relaxing. I think that’s a good way to do it. So it needs to be a book that you feel very content putting down. So not necessarily like a thriller novel, but something that you find relaxing that helps you kind of get into that space. I really enjoy reading a book to my kids at bedtime. I think that really helps cue their brain that it’s time to go to sleep. And I find the process relaxing and enjoyable as well.
Exercise as a Sleep Aid? [00:03:50]
Next is exercise. Exercise is, I think for some of my clients, it’s been a real game changer. The clients I’ve seen who actually are consistent with their working out, it makes a huge difference in the quality of their sleep. And I think the time of day of exercise also makes a difference.
If you’re exercising late at night, that’s really going to mess with your system because you’re going to get all those, the dopamine and the happy endorphins from exercising, you’re going to get that at night and that’s going to make it harder for your body to actually wind down and go to sleep. So really earlier in the day is much better for exercise if you can.
And a point that I want to make here, if you are having chronic sleep issues, I really do recommend going to see an expert. I’ve worked with several clients now that we’ve gotten their sleep apnea addressed and it’s made a world of difference in not just their mental health, but their overall health as well. Like for a lot of clients, it wasn’t that I needed to work on their depression and anxiety. It was that we needed to fix their sleep and make it where they’re not suffocating at night and they felt tremendously better. So if you’re having sleep issues, I would recommend meeting with someone who can get you screened for sleep apnea. And I think that’s a really good way to see if you have a sleep disorder because it could just be, you need to have better habits and better sleep hygiene. That’s a possibility.
But for some people getting that diagnosis and getting that treated makes a huge difference in their health. I would say for most people with sleep issues, they generally fall into one of two categories.
The first group just kind of lays there and they can’t fall asleep. Whereas the second group, they lay there, but their mind races and they can’t fall asleep. So the cause is a little different here.
So for the first group, I’d recommend if you’re, if you’re in bed and you just can’t fall asleep, I’d recommend getting up after 20 minutes and doing a chore or something boring until you feel tired enough to lay back down.
For the second group of individuals, I’d recommend a more in-depth screening as it could be something more. It could be ADHD. It could be anxiety. It could be mania. There’s lots of other things. It could be for clients who struggle with this.
How the Nervous system Effects Sleep [00:05:45]
I would recommend go to go back and listen to the nervous system episode because more likely than not, you’re probably running in the sympathetic system. And your body’s having trouble winding down and actually getting into that restful state. So you can actually fall asleep and sleep well. So as you learn how to support your nervous system, you can actually shift your nervous system back into a ventral vagal state. And so it’ll be much easier for you to be able to calm, calmly fall asleep at night. And sometimes healing the nervous system takes some very intentional work because you have to deal with the underlying emotions and subconscious beliefs that are driving that train.
I feel like I talk about this every episode, but it’s just, it’s literally the key to everything. In my opinion, I found this to be true after me and the kids took break method. I noticed a profound shift in my nervous system. I, there was one day in particular where the kids were arguing in the kitchen and I was trying really hard to oppose my pattern and not go in and try to control and micromanage everybody. And I was like, I was like feeling like I was like anticipating like, Oh, they’re going to fight. They’re going to fight. They’re going to fight. And finally, I just had this moment of like, so what? Like if they fight, like they’ll either work it out or they’ll ask for my help and I’ll go help them. Like, I don’t like anticipating this makes no sense.
And that was the moment that I was finally able to be like, so what? Like the world’s not going to end. Kids fight. Like I have to let this go. And when I, when I did that and I was working through my break work, I noticed that I was just so much more calm and not saying that like, Oh, I never get upset anymore. But my overall level of stress went down exponentially because I was no longer on edge and anticipating that something was going to go wrong. And so when you work on your pattern, it really helps balance that nervous system.
And what I found interesting for my daughter is that the more she opposes her pattern and she comes out of her kind of push everyone away behavior, the better her periods are and the fewer cramps she has. A lot of her health around her period and her cycle, I think is very much so connected to her nervous system and her mental health. And so I think that’s a really good way to help her.
The Brain Body Connection [00:07:53]
The brain and the body are truly interconnected. And so my goal with this episode is now that the kids are back in school, I am hoping I’ll have time to make worksheets for each of these episodes. And I’ve been wanting to make these forever. So you will be able to find those resources in the show notes at shelbyleppin.com. And if you have any questions, feel free to send me an email info@shelbyleppin.com.
Thanks for listening friends. We have two more episodes in this health series, and I’m really excited to dive into it and teach you more about health and sleep and really set you up with the foundational principles that you need to know to support your overall health.
Click Here to get the Optimize your Sleep Worksheet.
Links to Sleep Supplements:
Non-melatonin sleep supplements/ $10 discount code: https://amare.com/en-us/g10/1637900
I use these for my kids and they are fantastic: https://www.amare.com/et/qxn1zp/1637900
Amare Sleep Supplement: https://www.amare.com/et/1shwcg/1637900
Dr. Parsley Sleep Remedy: Sleep Remedy: Capsules – Salutoceuticals (docparsley.com)