Professional Women & Working Mums: Grab my FREE Burnout Recovery Guide.
Coffee anyone?
Whether you’re a hard working career woman coping on just 6 hours a night, or a mum with young children keeping you up at all hours, sleep deprivation is serious business.
If you’re in the first category, whilst you may feel like your body has adjusted, the science disagrees.
(And PRO TIP: Caution if you tend to fall asleep within 5 minutes of lying down – this is a known sign of sleep deprivation.)
And as for mums? Did you know that the average amount of sleep new parents lose in the first year is about 585 hours?!
It’s no surprise that sleep deprivation makes us irritable. But the negative effects don’t end there…
Lack of sleep increases the likelihood of anxiety and depression, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
PLUS if you’re trying to lose weight, you might be interested to know that multiple physiological changes occur when we are sleep deprived including increased cortisol and ghrelin levels (our hungry hormone), decreased leptin levels (our full hormone) and impaired glucose metabolism.
If you’re eating well and exercising regularly, lack of sleep could be the weakest link in your health chain.
Here’s how to change that.
1. Prioritise sleep.
It’s easy to think that you should be doing other things with your precious time.
And it’s true, sometime you just have to knuckle down and cope to get through a particular period – a newborn baby, a work project or finishing that renovation work before the in-laws turn up for Christmas.
But if you are long-term sleep deprived it’s important to make practical changes to improve your situation.
Whether it’s delegating work, making a deal with your partner to take a shift with the baby, or succumbing to that afternoon nap… DO IT.
The washing up will (unfortunately) still be there when you wake up and that does. not. matter.
2. Wind down.
You can’t go from 100 miles an hour to zero and expect to enjoy good sleep.
For 30 minutes before you hit the hay, turn off anything loud, bright and demanding and take the time to do something quiet and introspective.
Read a book, write in a journal, have a cup of herbal tea, gaze at the stars or take a bath.
Simply taking a hot shower can be beneficial as the cooling down of the body triggers the hormones that promote sleep. Which brings us to the next point.
3. Make the room cool.
Body temperature and our sleep to wake cycles are closely related and we sleep better when our environment is not too warm.
But cooling down isn’t the only trick you need to know about.
4. Take a tech break.
Technology has its perks but the bright light emitted from handheld and desktop devices, particularly the blue light, has been found to seriously disrupt sleep.
Turn off devices at least 30 minutes before bed, longer if possible. Put your phone on aeroplane mode and put it out of reach over night.
5. Sleep schedule. (Not just for babies!)
Aim to be in bed by 10pm and wake around 6am.
If you’ve always wanted to be an early bird your first step is to get to bed early. Seems obvious but it’s not that easy if you tend to stay up late.
Use your wind-down time to get you in the habit of sleeping by 10pm and plan what you’re going to do with your time when you first wake up.
It really is a great time of the day. *eyeroll…
6. I know I said 5 steps… but that was assuming you’re exercising…
So if you’re not, then schedule in a daily movement session. Regular exercise is a huge help when it comes to sleeping well.
And here’s a BONUS fact!
Women may actually need more sleep than men. YES!
In fact up to an hour more, so ladies don’t feel bad that you find it harder to get up in the morning, you could truly need that extra sleep!
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Professional Women & Working Mums: Grab my FREE Burnout Recovery Guide.
Kelly Moriarty is an online health & nutrition coach and founder of The Green Body Plan.
After 5 years as a veterinarian Kelly was unhealthy, stressed out and generally dissatisfied.
She now helps professional women make the same changes she did to beat burn out, lose weight, recover their energy and take back control of their health naturally.
kellyannmoriarty.com 