In this episode, Stacy and Sarah chat about improving sleep quality and how to prioritize your responsibilities to reduce stress and allow for better quality sleep.
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The Paleo View (TPV), Episode 57: Sleep Troubles
- 0:00 – Introduction
- 0:46 – News & Views
- Stacy is feeling good – enjoying the beginning of fall and the tail-end of her birthday celebrations
- Things are quiet in Sarah’s neck of the woods, over the weekend they even attended a birthday party where the cake was made with rice flour and her girls were able to partake in dessert
- Sarah is also wrapping up edits and illustrations for the book
- Matt and Stacy are working on family time and loving it
- Stacy got a FitBit for her birthday, but it has sadly been a letdown because she was hoping for some heart-rate monitoring and for better accuracy with tracking steps
- Stacy does enjoy the FitBit sleep stats feature – it was eye opening to see how much sleep she is getting, and Stacy is now working to get a bit more sleep to be closer to the eight/nine hour marker
- FitBit does have some interesting features with water and calorie tracking if you are in to that
- Stacy shared some information on her lifting PRs that she recently hit – high-five Stacy!
- Sarah went for two runs last week and did a bit of jump rope and other forms of training, but listened to her body after some hectic days and didn’t push herself past her limit and focused on extra sleep instead
- Sarah is feeling stronger and is enjoying the improvements she is seeing and feeling
- On this week’s episode Stacy and Sarah will be addressing some unique questions regarding sleep challenges
- 18:56 – Science with Sarah: Sleep, Performance & Recovery
- It should be no surprise that mental and physical performance decreases after insufficient sleep – your ability to reason, remember, and think through things logically all decreases
- Even just one night of poor sleep will reduce your ability to recover from exercise
- All of the metabolic effects of exercise are slower to recover when you are getting poor sleep, which is a problem
- If you didn’t sleep enough and you exercise it changes how you sleep the next night
- You can increase the quality of your sleep by exercising, but you can decrease the quality of your exercise by not getting enough sleep
- It is important to realize that both sleep and exercise are tied into the same hormone system and are both incredibly important for health – you need to develop a strategy for optimizing both
- The signs of not getting enough sleep are difficulty waking up, relying on caffeinated drinks, sugar/fat cravings, feeling revved up at night, afternoon energy slumps, muscle soreness that is lasting more than two or three days with regularity, signs of wacky hormones
- 27:52 – Q&A
- Joanna – how can I improve my sleep quality while pregnant?
- Stacy struggled with sleep issues during all three of her pregnancies and recommends epsom salt soaks and an increase in magnesium supplementation, but check with your OB/Midwife before incorporating
- Stacy also suggests herbal teas and increasing your carb intake before bed
- Sarah notes that studies show that a really big meal 4 to 5 hours before you go to bed can improve the quality of your sleep
- Sarah also suggests hypno-birthing CDs
- Sarah also points out that you shouldn’t be working out too hard, and make sure you are going to bed early
- Stacy reminds folks that all of these things could also help those who are not pregnant
- Sarah notes that sleep quality and stress management throughout the day go hand in hand – keep your stress in check not just before bed
- (37:05) TJ – when is the best time to eat and workout as a overnight worker?
- Check Nom Nom Paleo’s post on the subject
- Be careful with Weight Watchers as you don’t want to starve your body of the nutrients it needs or you will further send your body into havoc
- Sarah is worried that TJ is not getting enough sleep and suggests squeezing in an additional nap as opposed to working out because you need to help your body wind down
- Stacy suggests using melatonin glasses and black out shades to help get to a healthy place with your sleep and hormones – once you find a good rhythm with your sleep schedule, it may work best to schedule workouts for when you wake up
- Sarah also notes that there may be an opportunity to walk while the kids are at sports practice, or do at-home strength moves while the kids are doing homework – look to The Paleo Solution for some tips on how to fit in exercise when and where it is convenient
- Sarah also points out that sleep quality will help you lose more weight than exercise will
- Stacy suggests handling meal prep ahead (Well Fed has a great system for this) of time so that you can squeeze in more sleep
- Stacy says to take a look at your overall lifestyle and to minimize stress and eliminate the extra things that are impacting your sleep quality – look for ways to simplify and strategically plan for what you will and will not do!
- In honor of improving sleep quality, this week’s show is under an hour – so go spend time doing the things that benefit you most, whatever they may be
- Get ready for some awesome guests on next week’s show!
- And don’t worry Amy Kubal will be on the November 15 show
- (55:24) Outro
- Joanna – how can I improve my sleep quality while pregnant?
Battered Fish