Ep 9: Practical natural tips for better sleep. Women edition

This episode winds up the previous two where we have been focusing generally on  sleep in women. Here we share a couple of natural and practical tips for better sleep.

Also, I would like to feature guests on future episodes who would like to share their experiences with sleep disorders. It doesn’t matter which stage you are at now- whether you have gotten treatment already or are still looking for solutions. We would like to build a community where we share our experiences in order for others who could be going through the same to learn and  also get some insights on how to manage some conditions. 
reach out to me on info@mamsleepconsultancy.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hello everyone, welcome to the Sleep Lab Podcast. If you are new here, thank you for choosing to spend this time with me. And for those who've been here before, thank you for your consistent support and for always showing up. That's a loyalty I I really appreciate. Today's episode is more of a continuation of um the previous two or so episodes where the focus was mainly on the sleep in women. Um we touched on several unique aspects on sleep uh the uh according to how women experience sleep and uh that make the sleep experience significantly different different for women. So today our focus will be on what uh practical tips or natural practical tips that women could sometimes in some cases also apply to improve sleep. I'm saying sometimes because sleep is quite individual and whatever could be working for someone could not work for someone else, so they're just practical tips that someone could try. And also to emphasize on a few things the hormonal fluctuations throughout the menstrual cycles, pregnancy, and monopoles, menopause all show up in the body of a woman by affecting the body temperature, mood, anxiety levels, and ultimately sleep quality. And to add on the daily responsibilities that women already carry, the mental load and stress, it does make sense that sleep gets greatly impacted for one just by being a woman. So the goal here isn't perfection, but rather a rhythm that supports uh your body or things that could make all these circumstances that uh probably one cannot do away with, but rather optimize the sleep. So, one powerful but often overlooked tip is syncing your sleep with your menstrual cycle. In the first half of your cycle, you may feel more energized and sleep more easily. In the days leading to your period, sleep can become lighter and more restless. And during this time, reducing stimulation in the evening and prioritizing calming activities can go a long way, and that alone can already make uh a few differences. Although, like I said, for some people maybe they don't even experience any much difference, but for some it's quite pronounced that the sleep changes throughout the cycle. And next, let's talk about um winding down or creating a wind-down ritual that uh your body doesn't switch from busy to steep to sleep instantly mostly, so it's necessary that we put this into consideration because the body needs a transition. A wind-down ritual might include dimming the lights, drinking humble tea, stretching or journaling. The key is actually consistency, so it doesn't really matter if you get to do all this at the same time, but at least consistently try to do something, and when you repeat the same calming actions each night, your brain starts associating them with sleep. So support your hormones that way because hormones balance plays also a big role in sleep quality or in how it affects the sleep quality. Simple habits like eating balanced meals, including healthy fats and avoiding heavy sugar intake, particularly late at night, can help stabilize your system. Also, getting sunlight in the morning helps regulate the internal clock, making it easier to fall asleep at night. Another thing is uh caffeine awareness, whereby it's um it's it's also one of those things that doesn't also apply to everybody uniformly, but caffeine might be affecting your sleep more than you think, even if you fall asleep easily, caffeine can reduce the quality of your sleep. So, and a tip, a useful tip, could be limiting caffeine to earlier in the day instead of maybe late in the evening. I've had also a few people where they don't even feel any impact of caffeine at all, or actually some where caffeine is more of a calm serves the other way, so it's good to observe how your body reacts to certain things now, especially something like caffeine, and adjust accordingly. My next point would be creating a sanctuary, like so, like the environment where we sleep in affects greatly the quality of our sleep. For example, where it's wet next to a road, noisy, and just not like let me say not flat, a place with a rugged landscape, and that environment uh that uh doesn't welcome sleep will definitely affect your sleep. So uh let me say it the other way around: an environment that welcomes sleep should have soft lighting, be cool and quiet at the minimum. This at least uh like the cooling in terms of temperature is like not overheating because sometimes for some people they really get cold or they need to dress more warmly or layering up clothes, but at least even if I mean in terms of layering clothes or blankets, it's more practical than you that's something that one can actually easily change while they are sleeping than the temperature of a room. So in case of heating or all or or using uh artificial sources of warmth, it's in important to make sure that these are more on the cooler side, and some people also talk of needing noise or like white noise or like some something in the background, or light also, but this should also stay on the soft side, like not stimulating those kinds that make like the whole building vibrate, or the whole neighborhood also not going to sleep. If you could be needing something like this, you just keep the keep it in the softer side because also at times maybe needing too much stimulation could already also point out to like stimulation in terms of maybe needing more wilder, rougher kind of noise or light, could already be directing maybe towards um a sleep structure that's disrupted or that's that's already not um conditioned to how let me say natural sleep should look like something else which um is also um let me say crucial is calming the mind and how does this work? A mind that's racing and busy keeps sleep at bay. Techniques like breathing deep, meditation, or writing down one's thought can help release mental tension. That's quite obvious because at times, like for us to get to really sleep or to relax, if our mind is still working on some things, sometimes it actually actively keeps the whole body also walking along, and the sleep doesn't feel any restful because sometimes depending on the kind of things uh mind could be working on, they could slide into dreams and for some people it could look like nightmares or dreams that would keep them also staying awake. Another point would be moving your body, regular movement help improve the quality of sleep, although the timing matters as well. Sometimes going to do very active exercises or things that accelerate the heart rate so much shortly before sleeping, work anti like work against getting better sleep. So it's advisable to move uh such maybe say rigorous exercises earlier in the day and opt for the gentle movement like stretching or walking in the evening. Um, in conclusion, I would just like to encourage us to be gentle with ourselves. Phases in life like pregnancy, postpartum, or menopause where sleep will be disrupted are there, and we like the usually stages that don't last forever, so it's good to at times look at them positively and knowing that even if they come with challenges, there are at times solutions or there are already tools to help navigate these stages. So it doesn't mean um you live through these phases struggling alone, but get the help that you'd need, reach out to specialists who can guide through this period, and it doesn't mean that one is a burden or to like like something that one should be ashamed of, but look, getting help is actually a sign of strength, and the options of making each of these phases lighter for us as women are there and should be talked about actually more than they already are talked about. And if you are in a position to be vocal about them, I encourage you to do so. And if you already um maybe have gone through an experience that you feel can be helpful to others, also don't hesitate to talk about it. Thankfully, we live in an age where at times even thing forming things like self-help groups are a bit easier because this can also like at times just talking about finding a group of people or a group, a platform sharing uh the same struggles or where people talk about the same things can at times already be helpful than going through something alone. In conclusion, I would like to say that improving sleep naturally is about small consistent changes and not overnight transformation. Your body knows how to regulate a lot of things on its own actually, but sometimes it needs the right support. So, I thank you so much for listening and for spending this time with me on this episode. I encourage you to come again to leave to interact um on on a lot of social media pages or platforms as Sleep Lab Stories. I encourage you to drop a comment or leave messages. I would like to have series in the future, probably where I maybe talk to people one-on-one, where they share the for those who would like to share their experiences publicly or to just talk. I would like to make this platform more interactive that maybe in future we can have a guest, or or actually a guest would be more sense per episode or once in a while, where we share experiences and uh how things go through because, like I said, at times it's just about sharing someone else hearing and knowing that they're not the only one going through something is already much helpful than if you are all going through the same thing but are quiet about it. So reach out and leave a comment on from whichever platform you're listening to this, or also write me an email at info at mamsleepsea.com. I will be very glad to hear from any of you or those who would be interested to feature in my podcast in future. Thank you so much and have a good day or good night from wherever or whichever time you are listening this from