Key Takeaways:

• Consistency is key when it comes to establishing a healthy sleep routine. Going to bed and waking up at the same time every day can help regulate the body’s internal clock and improve sleep quality.





• Creating a relaxing sleep environment is crucial for promoting restful sleep. This includes decluttering the bedroom, using aromatherapy, and minimizing noise disturbances.





• Managing stress throughout the day can significantly impact sleep quality. Incorporating relaxation techniques such as yoga, meditation, and deep breathing exercises can help reduce stress and promote better sleep.





• If you’re unable to fall back asleep after waking up in the middle of the night, get out of bed and engage in a relaxing activity until you’re feeling sleepy again. This can help prevent you from associating the bed with being awake and promote better sleep efficiency.





• Doing a brain dump before bed can help clear the mind and reduce racing thoughts that may interfere with falling asleep. Writing down tasks and concerns can provide a sense of relief and allow for a more restful sleep.

Quotes:

• “If you’re not sleeping, you can’t do anything else. It just trickles down into everything.”





• “I need to be more consistent and more intentional about what I’m doing during the day and in the evening to get better sleep.”





• “Creating a relaxing sleep environment and establishing a consistent sleep routine are key factors in improving sleep quality.”

Resources Mentioned:

About Christine: 

Christine Meyer is an Ace Certified Health Coach, Certified Health Education Specialist, and a Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant. She has over 14 years of experience in the health and wellness field and helps mid-life women go from foggy to focused, by helping them restore their restful sleep. Her coaching focuses on lifestyle changes, which includes stress management and time management skills. She is a wife, mom, and new Grandma and resides in Southern California.

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Connect with Christine:

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  On Facebook: Facebook.com/Christinesleepcoach

  
  


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  On Instagram: @Christinesleepcoach

  
  


• Book a consultation: CLICK HERE 
  
  


• Download Christine’s Free gift: The Sleep Tips Ebook

 

Episode Transcript:

0:00:00 – I don’t think there are enough people who talk about the importance of sleep. You know, people will do like nutrition or workouts and stuff like that, but it’s like if you’re not sleeping, you can’t do anything else. I mean, it just trickles down into everything.
0:00:13 – (Laurie): I’m Laurie Mallon, and this is the results without Restriction podcast, the show where results have nothing to do with weight and everything to do with setting and reaching health and fitness goals that focus on what we’re achieving and not what we’re doing losing. We’ll talk about deprogramming from diet culture and get expert advice on reclaiming your relationship with food and movement. Join me on this journey to get results without restriction.

Welcome, everyone. Today’s episode is a little bit different. It’s part one of a two part episode where I’m sharing my experience participating in a 30 day sleep challenge that I recently completed with the help of sleep sleep health coach Christine Meyer. Now, you may remember that Christine Meyer was previously a guest on the show. If you listen to that episode, you’ll hear me admit to Christine that my personal sleep habits are not that great. They finally caught up with me a few months ago.

I found myself chronically exhausted, and it was having a negative impact on pretty much every area of my life. So I reconnected with Christine and she agreed to help me with my 30 day sleep challenge. The 30 day challenge started with Christine and I meeting virtually for a better sleep strategy session so that she could understand my current sleep situation and struggles. Then she sent me a restful roadmap, which was a summary of our call and printable action plan for me to use during the 30 days of the challenge.

This episode is a recording of our strategy session. In the next episode, I’ll be recapping my challenge experience and reviewing my results with Christine, so be sure to check out that episode after you listen to this one. So now have a listen in on my virtual sleep strategy session with health coach Christine Meyer.

[Beginning of the Consultation Recording]
0:02:02 – (Christine): Welcome. Basically, what we’re going to do is talk about your sleep habits. You know, what’s going well, what are you struggling with? And at the end of the session, we will decide together four action steps that you can start implementing over the next 30 days to help you with your sleep, and then I’ll be sending you everything we discussed and the goals that you’re going to be working on. Tell me what’s motivated you to seek help with your sleep.
0:02:27 – (Laurie): I’m so tired, christine. I’m tired all the time. I was at the point where I was just so tired all the time, and I was like, oh, my God, I’m dying. Like, something has to be seriously wrong with me because why do I feel like this all the time? And then I got an apple Watch, and I started wearing it to bed, and my watch was like, oh, by the way, you have a double digit sleep jet. And I was like, well, shoot, I had no idea my sleep was. Was that bad. Like, I know sometimes I stay up a little bit late or sometimes I get up too early and it’s like, we have pets and I have a kid and, like, things interrupt my sleep. So I was like, I didn’t realize it was that bad.

So I was like, okay, I need to do something about this. And then we had our podcast, and I was like, I definitely want to do something about this. Did a few things, and I can see when I do these things, it gets better. When I don’t do these things, when I do my own thing, that debt climbs. And I’m like, what I need is a routine, a habit. I need a block of time that I dedicate to establishing really good, like, sleep hygiene or, like, a nighttime habit. Because I’m getting to the point that when that sleep debt is getting high, I’m just useless during the day. I’m just counting the hours until it’s socially acceptable for me to go to bed.
0:03:41 – (Laurie) Like “please let my son go to Bed soon so I can go to bed.”
I need to be more consistent and more intentional about what I’m doing during the day and in the evening to get better sleep.
0:03:53 – (Christine): So when you’re doing the things you need to do, sleep is good. And you notice that when you don’t do the things you need to do, it’s not so good. What keeps you from that consistency of being in a routine?
0:04:04 – (Laurie): When I make the choice to go to bed early and I don’t have my phone at night and I get caught up, my sleep jet gets under 5 hours, I feel great. And I’m like, oh, I can stay up and watch tv with my husband or watch a movie after my son goes to bed or something, and it’s like, I can’t keep doing it because then my sleep debt climbs up, then I’m exhausted, and then we do the whole thing over again. So, yeah.
0:04:27 – (Christine): So you tracking your sleep debt kind of contributes to that pattern. It sounds like looking at the numbers and seeing what you’ve accumulated or if it’s going up or down, would that be right?
0:04:38 – (Laurie): I’ve made the observation that when that sleep debt goes down, how I feel, I feel a certain way. And when I feel that way, like. If I didn’t, if I saw the number and it said like four and I still felt like shit, I wouldn’