Are you craving better sleep now?

Have you had some sleepless nights recently? Are you waking up with a headache or fog?

My Guest and “Coaching Client”

My guest today is Flipping 50 virtual gym member and we’re inviting you to listen to a coaching call to support her sleep right now. I suspect many of you listening have had the same challenge- I know I have.

You’ll hear her say she’s “having lots of coffee” in order to do the workout program she’s in. Sleep disruption affects so many of our goals and best intentions. So I wanted to help Rosi and big thanks to her for agreeing to share this because you too may find answers here.

COVID19 means it takes a little more effort to get better sleep now. Immediately we want that if we’ve suffered from a poor night. But we also want and need sleep for our immune systems.

What You’ll Hear

You’ll hear Rosi say if she’s tired all day it’s hard to plan meals. The simplest of decisions feel overwhelming when you are sleep deprived. That can become a viscous cycle because what you eat impacts your sleep. Sleep impacts your exercise. And then exercise impacts your sleep and your meals. It’s all so tied together, but for so many Flipping 50 women sleep is the glue that holds us together. Especially now.

Routine and schedule support sleep and mealtime ease.

So here’s our call.

How To Prioritize for Better Sleep Now

You heard me help Rosi plan ahead, prep ahead, so she doesn’t have to make decisions last minute. So while you’re foggy and can’t focus just keep your mind on one thing at a time.

First, choose some recipes you can make for dinners. Ideally, they’re one-pot or one- pan recipes you can make a batch of, even if that’s a batch of grilled chicken and veggies and roasted potatoes.

Make choosing recipes your only goal today.

Second, figure out your grocery list. If you’re having trouble finding produce at the store, see if you can think about alternatives for recipes. If a recipe calls for zucchini – what would be another watery veggie you can use? If a recipe calls for winter squash what other resistant starch or dense vegetable could you use?

Make that your goal tomorrow.

Then make a date to go to the store with your list when you do have time and energy.

Last make a date to make those things on the weekend when you can stick one pan in the oven, another in the crockpot and create a couple options that you’d actually look forward to during the week.

Now you’ve planned. The biggest decision you have to make at the end of the day is which one to warm up.

Better Sleep Now Tips:

• Carbohydrates at dinner
• Waking at the same time daily*
• Magnesium with dinner

*during COVID19 if you are truly sleeping allow yourself to get the extra sleep for your immunity benefit. If you’re just lying there and awake go ahead and get up.

What Kind of Carbs for Better Sleep Now?

We discussed carbohydrates at dinner. We’re talking about resistant carbohydrates that support stable energy. My favorites are sweet potatoes, brown rice, quinoa, beans, and legumes. Here’s why they help.

We create a hormone called serotonin from carbohydrates. That’s your feel-good hormone that helps us relax and have calm. Late in the day your cortisol goes down we can get edgy making it hard to relax and sleep well. Serotonin can offset that.

Getting up at the same time of day and getting natural sunlight for about 15 minutes first thing in the morning will boost your melatonin level at night. That sleep-regulating hormone gets you to sleep. Magnesium will keep you there.

You’ll want to experiment with magnesium amounts and the right type for your needs if you choose to take that step. So many of us are deficient and magnesium not only supports sleep, it can help with regularity, metabolism, headaches, and hundreds of other functions, one of which is your immune system.

Accountability matters

To seal the deal on success you not only have a plan and tell someone, you actually report to them at a specific time about what you’ve done and how it went.

After our call

A final note I shared with Rosi after we stopped recording is not to own it. Don’t make insomnia your identity. It’s temporary. You may be having nights of lower quality of sleep but that is just a phase, it’s just passing through. Don’t let it take up residence or identify yourself as someone with insomnia. Even if you’ve had this for longer than COVID19. Allow yourself to think of it as situational phase in your life when it came and went. Like a cold, this is going to pass.

I’m also going to link a progressive relaxation that I’ve done with the Flipping 50 community recently in 4pm PST sessions we’re doing during COVID19.

During the call Rosi mentions a STRONGER program she’s doing. She’s referring to a 12-week Flipping 50 strength-training program designed for women in menopause. The doors to the program open a few times a year. I’ll link to that program where if you’re listening and it’s not open you can get on the notifications list for special early bird rates when it is open again.

A favor

Was this episode helpful? I’d love to know if this helps you get better sleep now. Do you have a question? Leave it below the show link at flippingfifty.com/better-sleep-now

If you want some Done For You (DFY) support you can get my Food Flip now during the COVID19 for 50% off. Usually reserved only for Flipping 50 strength program participants and Café members I’m answering the call so many of you have about wanting support right now. It’s a 28 Day program I’ve made specially priced using foodflip50 and I’m going to gift participants with 2 extra weeks to see you a little further into what I hope is more normalcy by then. Click here https://www.flippingfifty.com/food-flip and use foodflip50 to get your pre-program head start now. Doors close April 29.

Please leave a rating in iTunes if you enjoy Flipping50. It really helps me keep spreading the word to women Flipping 50 that they can feel and look as good as they did when they were 30 as long as they don’t exercise the way they did when they were 30.