Why on earth does sleep matter for my hormones?
Let’s be honest, many of you probably had this thought cross your mind in some way. “Enough about sleep. I need real solutions to my painful periods and PMS. Let’s talk about that!” Well, guess what?
It’s ALL connected.
That’s right. In fact, sleep is one of the biggest pieces to get locked down if you want a chance at getting your hormones balanced. If you’re not sleeping, your hormones aren’t regulating.
I like to think of it the way I used to use (let’s be real, still do) my laptop. I hope I’m not alone in this, but I was the person who used her computer constantly with a million tabs open at once on a browser that was always open. On top of that, I never turned my laptop off.
It was CONSTANTLY running you guys.
Then one day it freaked out and stopped working. I couldn’t figure out what was going on! I reached out to a tech savvy friend of mine, and they told me to give my computer a break and shut it down. It took someone wildly over-qualified to tell me that keeping my laptop on “sleep” mode doesn’t actually let it sleep. It is never able to turn off and truly rest.
How many of you have felt like this before?
You lay down and try to sleep but your mind won’t stop racing, or your brain won’t shut-up as I fondly say? Technically you are in bed and resting, but you toss and turn or simply wake up feeling like you didn’t really get to fully turn off and sleep.
You are NOT alone!
So, what can we do? So. Much.
Sleep Hygiene
Keep your bedroom and bed for sleep only. Working in your bed or bedroom during the day can cause your body some confusion on what you are supposed to be doing in that space.
Block Blue Light
We are not meant to be inundated with blue light at night. The sunset is filled with warm red and orange hues for a reason. Blue light triggers a hormone called Cortisol to keep pumping. This is the hormone that gets you rolling in the morning and helps you get ish done all day. We do not want it running the gamut at night. When the sun goes down do your best to not turn on all of the lights in your home. Keep it dim. Candles and warm lighting is the best. I love my salt lamp at night!
If you are needing to be on your electronic devices or are going to be watching TV, then get yourself some amber glasses. These help to block the blue light so your cortisol starts to chill out. In turn, it then helps to boost Melatonin production. The lady of the night as I like to call it! Melatonin helps to make us sleepy and ready for bed. You can find them on Amazon for as cheap as $10 if you don’t care about looking like you’re in a lab!
Boost Melatonin
I already mentioned that blue light blockers are a major help with this, but there are also certain foods that can help boost your melatonin production. Pineapples, bananas, and oranges are great options for aiding melatonin.
Meditation
This can be an absolute game-changer for getting deep restful sleep, as it helps alleviate the mental and emotional stress you carry unknowingly. It also helps to calm your nervous system, which is essential for getting your body into a healing and resting state for sleep.
These are practical and effective ways to help elevate your sleeping game so you can get your body on the right track for healing and balancing your hormones! You got this!
Your pillow is calling your name.