183. Getting more sleep as a mom (giving up the nightowl life)

Simple on Purpose | Intentional Living and Parenting

I am a decades-long nightowl, but it doesn't always serve me well in motherhood. Some years ago I made 'sleep' my health goal (not becoming a morning person, but simply heading to bed earlier). I want to share the benefits of sleep and strategies that can help you give up that nightowl life. Products recommended here may include referral links to Amazon. If you click through and buy something I may earn a commission, at no cost to you. In this episode I talk about: How sleep was handled in our upbringing How technology impacts our experience of motherhood The cultural expectations for sleep and self-care as it pertains to moms How moms are trying to get self-care, in ways that it impacts their sleep The benefits of sleep Being a nightowl, the benefits and the costs Strategies to set a sleep goal Addressing the things that keep us up Strategies to make sleep easier Building up self-trust with yourself The need for rest Having more rest in your day and week All the related links: Grave's disease (My Thyroid, My Frenemy {Grave’s Disease to Hypothyroid} Reading books instead of social media (4 simple habits that make my momlife better) Studies and information on the benefits of sleep: the Sleep Foundation Memory consolidation (Healthy Sleep, Harvard) The role of sleep in emotional processing Intentional phone habits episodes + worksheets Feeling addicted to your phone Setting intentional phone habits Brain dump (blog post) Magnesium drink powder to help you relax, and this one to help you sleep Ashwaganda Blue light blockers (the ones I use here) Enable red tint on your phone (instructions here) Greyscale your phone (instructions here) Study on blue lights and circadian rhythms Huberman Lab Toolkit for Sleep Exercising for better sleep (John Hopkins Medicine) Building self-trust with yourself (podcast episode) Getting a day of rest, as a mom (podcast episode) Church and chill day (family rhythms) Full transcript (unedited) 0:08 Hey friends, it's Shawna, your nerdy girlfriend and counselor from simple on purpose.ca. And I'm excited for what we're going to talk about today we're going to talk about the topic of rest. We're continuing on with the series on meeting your needs. In the last episode, we talked about nourishment. And I told you, I was going to continue on sharing these basic needs, we have these basic actions of self care. And I don't want to tell you what to do. But I want to share my journey with it. And with each topic, I want to address the culture that impacts how we relate to this basic need, and how I've changed my own mindsets about it over the years. Additionally, the strategies that have helped me with this basic need that have helped me to take better care of myself. Today we're going to talk about sleep and I want to share with you how I went from what I see myself as a night owl. A morning tragedy. tragedy is a good word for it. And someone who never really intentionally rested in a week. And I think I've really become someone now who loves an early night. I love a good tuck in. I'm not a morning tragedy, maybe I've downgraded but maybe a morning bumbler would be a better, I'm still not awesome in the mornings. And I think I am someone who prioritizes rest in the week. And you maybe can feel that I'm painting a picture of how I used to be this night owl. I have been a night owl since I can remember. I was a teenager with insomnia. That's how I would have labeled myself. I just adopted that mold of being a night owl. And that reputation of just being a miserable human being upon the waking hours. If you ask my little sister, she'll tell you, the many glares and snares that her otherwise happy sister would dish out to the whole family at seven in the morning like these innocent bystanders. 1:59 Just getting my wrath, my morning wrath. And as a teenager,