Deep Refreshing Sleep, Ahhh!
What does your sleep currently look like?
Are you able to fall asleep easily most nights?
Do you stay asleep for most of the night?
Do you wake up feeling refreshed and don’t need caffeine to start your day?
Or…
Do you have trouble falling asleep without sleep aids?
Do you fall asleep but wake up and lay in bed unable to fall back to sleep?
Do you toss and turn all night?
Do you experience “restless leg syndrome”?
Do you lay awake in agony, muscles stuff and sore all over?
Does your brain keep you awake at night going a mile a minute?
Does it feel like a truck has run over you when you wake up?
Do you drag yourself through the day due to fatigue from not sleeping well at night?
Which category do you fall into right now? A, B, or a little bit of both?
Can you imagine if most nights you could fall into category A?
If you had asked me these questions when I was first diagnosed 25 years ago, the answers would have been from column B. Slowly throughout the years, I would have had answers from both columns. Now, today, most nights I can answer from column A. I fall and stay asleep most nights, all naturally, without medication, supplements, or sleep teas. What! How is that possible?!
I will teach you how to do this in my 1:1 fibro program. One of the key pillars to reducing your fibromyalgia symptoms of chronic pain, fatigue, stiffness (and every symptom in between) is getting a good, deep, well rested sleep. Without that, it feels like an upward battle to improve your health. That’s why we focus on sleep as one of the first stages in the program together.
As adults, we need 7-9 hours of deep, restful sleep every night for good health. We need sleep to survive, just like food and water. During sleep the body repairs cells, restores energy, and releases molecules like hormones and proteins. Nerve cells communicate and reorganize, to help support healthy brain function and the brain also stores new information.
The insomnia with fibromyalgia prevents the body from repairing itself, and hence, being able to reduce the chronic symptoms of pain and fatigue.
Before I was first diagnosed with fibromyalgia at age 13 (25 years ago), I spent 2-3 years tossing and turning at night, every single night. I woke up unrested and felt like a truck had run over me. I had chronic pain all over. I was stiff all over. I was achy. I felt fatigued. I felt like my brain was foggy. It was not fun to deal with, especially at school or playing competitive soccer.
The rheumatologist prescribed a medication for sleep. Although I was able to fall asleep and stay asleep with it, I did not wake up feeling refreshed, I actually felt more tired, as if I could sleep the day away. I remember trying multiple medications for sleep, and ultimately coming back to that original medication when nothing else really worked. I felt out of options.
Years later, when I discovered natural medicine, and started changing my diet and lifestyle, I learned that everything I do during the day, affects my sleep at night. Good sleep habits start as soon as you wake up in the morning!
I stopped taking the medication for sleep, and began taking supplements and herbal teas for sleep. Then, as my healing journey progressed, I no longer needed the supplements, just the tea. Now, today, I don’t need the tea anymore either. Most nights I fall asleep and stay asleep naturally! If you would have told me 25 years ago that I would be here today, I would have laughed at you, I wouldn’t have believed it. Not only that, but I wake up and don’t need caffeine to make it through the day. Double what!
Here are some tips to help you get started on a good sleep:
Try to reduce / remove caffeine from your morning routine. If you can’t remove it, don’t drink caffeine after 12pm.
Expose yourself to sunlight in the morning
Get outside in nature daily, breathe in fresh air
Focus on eating healthy, whole foods throughout the day
Take magnesium before bed
For more tips on getting a good night sleep to help reduce your fibro symptoms, feel free to book a free 20 minute discovery call with me to chat further about working together 1:1.
Cheers to living your best life with fibro!
xo,
The Nutritionist Mama
*Disclaimer - this is my own personal experience and not medical advice.