EP 62:Sleep After 40: The Missing Key to Fat Loss, Muscle Tone & Hormone Health

0:00Hello and welcome back to Becoming Her, Fitter, Better, and Stronger Over 40. I'm your host and coach Shauna. I am 46, a wife, a boy mom, and a fitness and nutrition coach helping women over 40 become their best. And if it is your first time here, welcome. Make sure you subscribe if you are over 40 and trying to build your best body because I share all kinds of content helping you do just that. In today's episode, I am talking about something, a habit that you want to prioritize that you don't want to sleep on. Yes, pun intended, because it can make or break your body. fitness game, and that is sleep.

0:32So many of us know that it's important, but I don't think we understand why it's so important and some of the negative consequences that can come when it's not optimized, when we're not getting enough rest. And this is a tricky topic because as we are, 40, hormones are shifting, and that can impact our sleep. So today we're going to talk all about sleep, what happens when you get it right, what happens when you get it wrong, and some things that you can do to support your sleep so that you can have the best results from your workouts from your nutrition and bring everything together effortlessly so it doesn't feel like you are fighting against your body so that everything works for you instead of against you.

1:09Now after 40, our bodies just become more sensitive to stress. And lack of sleep is one of the biggest stressors that we can put on our bodies. Sleep is when our bodies repair and recover. It's when we regulate our hormones. It resets our nervous system. It's when the work that we're doing during the day actually turns into results overnight. When you get good sleep, your body moves into a calm and regulated state. This is when repair happens, muscles recover, inflammation comes down, your nervous system gets a break. This is also when hormones that affect your appetite, recovery, and stress, and body composition have a chance to regulate.

1:43When sleep is consistent, your body can do all of those jobs efficiently. But when sleep is broken, those jobs don't get done as well, and you feel the effects the next day. Lower energy, mental fog, shorter temper, Workouts feel harder. Recovery takes longer. Hunger feels louder. Cravings are stronger. You're tired but wired. Exhausted but unable to rest. Over time, that constant stress in the body builds up and progress will begin to stall. This is often when we might blame our bodies and then try to compensate by doing more, eating less, working out harder. But that actually will make things worse.

2:19So if you can relate to this and you know that your sleep isn't in a good place, you're getting less than seven hours a night or the sleep that you're getting is broken and not restful, let's work on that before we start to take away more food or add more cardio because that's only going to stress your body more and potentially make everything else harder and worse. Now, before we talk about how we can optimize that, let's talk about what it looks like when you do have better sleep because it can be a game changer. When your sleep improves, your body feels safe and it's when your body stops fighting you.

2:51Fat loss becomes more consistent instead of feeling unpredictable. Muscle will actually start to grow and look tone and define because recovery is actually happening. Your workouts are going to feel better. You're going to have that strength and energy in the gym and then your energy throughout the day will become steadier. No more crashing in the afternoon. Your cravings aren't going to be so loud because your hormones are regulated and working for you. So sleep is so magical and dialing that in can help progress, often without having to change anything else. Let's now talk about what can harm or help

3:20Shauna:your sleep so that you know exactly what you can do to support yourself. Sleep is influenced by our daily routines, our habits, and stress levels. And two things that can dramatically impact sleep are caffeine and alcohol, especially over 40 because we just metabolize them a little bit differently. Caffeine is something that just tends to last a little bit longer in our system. So if If we are having too much of it, especially later in the day, it's going to impact how well we fall asleep, stay asleep, and impact the quality of rest that we're getting. So capping off your caffeine intake around 12 to 2 p.m.

3:54Shauna:is a good idea, depending on what time you're going to bed. So that way you can fall asleep, stay asleep, and get that deep, restful sleep. I'm definitely not saying cut out coffee because I love my coffee. I have it every single day. I'm just saying be mindful of when you have it so that you can go to bed and get the best night's sleep possible. The other thing that we want to be mindful of is alcohol. It does make you feel relaxed. A lot of times it makes you feel like you can fall asleep easier, but same with caffeine. It's going to disrupt your sleep. You're likely going to overheat at night.

4:23Shauna:You're not going to get that restful, deep sleep. You'll wake up in the middle of the night and have a harder time going back to sleep. Ideally, you want alcohol to be something that's occasional instead of routine or daily. And this isn't about restriction. This really is about awareness. I personally took a break from drinking alcohol about three years ago, and I just really like life without it. I started to feel like the headaches that I would have the next day, the lack of energy, the mental fog, just from having like one to two glasses of wine really wasn't worth it for me. And I just like life so much better without it.

5:00Shauna:And that might not be your journey, but I'd invite you to explore that relationship and to experiment and see how you feel and how life feels without it, even just taking a break or minimizing it. And I think you'll find that you feel a lot better. Inflammation starts to get better. Your sleep will improve and your progress will start to improve just with that shift alone. And recognizing that you don't necessarily need something to enjoy your life or to enjoy social events can be really empowering. It was for me. So I encourage you to kind of look at your relationship with it and start to decide, like, is this supporting the life that I want and the woman that I want to be?

5:40Shauna:And again, it doesn't have to mean you swearing it off altogether, but maybe just changing the relationship with it so that you can feel your best. Now, another thing that's going to impact your sleep and your quality of sleep is your overall stress. And this can be tricky because I know we have a lot to juggle. We have a lot to manage. We have a lot of people, little people and big people that we need to take care of. And the other thing that makes us harder is hormones. Like as our hormones are changing, our stress load just becomes shorter. Like what we could handle before is kind of changing now.

6:11Shauna:So we just need to be aware of that. And again, be supportive of that. And one thing that I have done to make sure that I'm supporting that is to take some time to decompress, to actually regulate my nervous system. This doesn't mean a long, drawn-out routine. It's really simple. Ten minutes in the morning, I pray, and I take some deep breaths, and I center myself. And it doesn't sound like a lot, but it's so powerful. And so I encourage you to do the same. Find something that connects with you. Have some time in the morning or at night where you are just being intentional to help your stress.

6:45Shauna:That could mean journaling, maybe taking a bath, listening to some music, praying, breathing, connecting with yourself so that you can regulate your nervous system. It makes such a big difference, especially if you're doing it before bed. Now let's dive into how you can get the best sleep possible so that you can support your body and your goals. And this doesn't mean having a perfect routine, but it does mean having some routine because our bodies like that. We crave it. So things like going to bed and waking up at the same time, no matter what, like throughout the week, if you can, your body likes that.

7:17Shauna:It will get into a rhythm and it helps you with falling asleep, staying asleep and waking up at the same time. of dimming the lights at night. That just signals to your body that it's time to start winding down and it's gonna influence your sleep hormones to turn on so that way you are nice and sleepy by the time you get into bed. Things like dimming the lights at night, shutting down screens, and then giving yourself like a wind down routine is really gonna help trigger to your body that it is time to rest. And then environment matters too. So you wanna make sure that your bedroom is cool and dark.

7:50Shauna:Maybe use a sound machine, taking a hot shower or bath helps to cool your core body temperature making it easier for you to fall asleep you know think about all the things that you do for your littles to help them relax and get ready for bed you know they take a bath and you turn the lights down low you put their sound machines on you start to read to them all the things you do for them that help them relax and go to sleep start to do for yourself now if you are doing some of those basic things but you're still having a hard time either falling asleep or staying asleep there are some supplements that can help.

8:20Magnesium glycinate is the first one and most of us should be taking it. Most of us are deficient in magnesium and it really does help support your central nervous system. It's just going to help you get into that calm and relaxed state.

8:32Shauna:So taking that at night can be really supportive for your sleep. The other thing that I've added in more recently to help stay asleep is something called apigenin. And this was something that I heard about on the Andrew Huberman podcast. And I have found that it has definitely helped my sleep. So those are two things that you could experiment with. I will leave some information in the show notes to the supplements that I take and use. But if you are having a hard time relaxing, those are two that you can experiment with that would be really supportive for getting better sleep. Now, if you're anything like me and you're still doing all those things, but having a hard time sleeping, this could be a hormonal issue as well.

9:08Shauna:This was me just some short months ago. I was doing all the things. I was trying to really optimize my sleep because it was in such a bad way. I was getting broken sleep, having a hard time falling asleep, staying asleep. I'd be up hours through the night, waking up to three in the morning, wired and just could not fall back asleep. And it started to impact my quality of life. And that's when I understood and recognized that there was probably a hormonal shift going on. And I sought out some help and I had my hormones checked and lo and behold, my progesterone, which is your sleep BFF was low.

9:43Shauna:So I started my HRT journey in September and it is a game changer. Progesterone is that she is your, your chill bestie. Like she really helps to regulate your ability to fall asleep, but also just to remain composed. Like I was finding myself really easily agitated. Um, and it was harder for me to, to just stay composed throughout the day and I definitely feel so much better now that I have that therapy on board. And this is a personal decision for every single woman, but I think it's important to know that you have options. When your hormones start to shift at this age of perimenopause and menopause, there are several things that can start to happen that have negative impacts on your quality of life.

10:23Sleep is one, but we also have things like more risk of osteoporosis, loss of

10:28Shauna:muscle tissue, cognitive decline. So all of these things are important to be aware of and understand that there are ways for you to support your hormones and your bodies so that you can stay ahead of some of these problems instead of having to correct. And there are ways that you can safely support your body with bioidentical options. So if you're in that place where you feel like your body is changing, you're seeing changes with your cycle, your sleep, your energy, your regulation with your mood and you're in that 40 plus club, it might be worth exploring what your hormones look like and what potentially therapy could look like to improve all of those things.

11:03Shauna:If you are interested, I am working with a company named First Optimal. I will leave their information in the show notes. You can contact them for a free consultation and find out everything about what they offer and how they can help support you. So before we wrap up today's episode, I want to give you a little checklist, something that you can remember or come back to so that you can optimize your sleep because when you get this right, when you dial this in, everything gets easier. First, try to have some consistency with your bedtime and your wake time. Your body really thrives on routine. So if you can make that similar day to day, it's really going to help.

11:35Shauna:Next, try to have a little wind down routine at night where you're dimming the lights, putting screens away, maybe reading, taking a shower, getting yourself and your mind and body ready to sleep. Next, we want to be mindful with caffeine, making sure we're having it earlier in the day so it's not keeping us awake at night. Also with alcohol, we want to minimize it, keeping it occasional instead of daily so that we can get that quality rest. Next, we want to make sure that we have a supportive environment for sleep. So a cool dark room is just going to make it easier for your body to relax and to settle.

12:05Shauna:Next, I want you to prioritize sleep as much as you prioritize your workouts. If you're anything like me, you get in the gym and you know how to throw down. But then when it comes to resting, you know, having a rest day or getting to bed on time, it's one of those things that you kind of just shove to the back. But it's so important, especially now after 40, like we talked about, we're more sensitive to stress. So we want to make sure we are doing supportive things for our body so that our central nervous system can regulate, our hormones can regulate, our bodies can metabolize fat and build muscle and do all of the things we're asking it to.

12:39Shauna:If you dial in your sleep, if you prioritize it, all of those things are going to get easier. And finally, if you're doing all these things and you're still struggling, hormonal changes can be at play. So getting support can really be a game changer for that. And that wraps up today's episode. I hope that you found it helpful. If you did, I would be so thankful if you left a rating or a review. If you have show topics or ideas that you want me to cover, please comment below or DM me on Instagram. I would love to hear from you. And if you need help building your best body over 40, you can always find all of the ways to work with me in the show notes.

13:12Shauna:I offer my monthly membership or you can work with me one on one. All of the information is in the show notes. So check that out. If you're on the East Coast listening in real time, we are getting a huge snowstorm. So I hope that you are safe, you are warm. And until next week, keep getting stronger.