Often, any little change that you can make to perform better is going to make a difference. This is particularly true when it comes to sleeping. Even if you get a lot of sleep each night, it may not be the best quality of sleep. Today’s guest breaks down what good sleep is and how to get it.

About Lexie Gray

Lexie Gray is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and Certified Personal Trainer who believes in making healthy living simple. She works alongside women who love strength training to help them improve their sleep with sustainable diet and lifestyle changes for enhanced energy and real results. Through 1 on 1 and group coaching, Lexie realized that quality of sleep was her clients' biggest hurdle to successful change. Her holistic health coaching program focuses on less stress and more sleep for happier women with healthier habits.

Knowing if the Sleep You’re Getting is the Right Kind

In this episode, Lexie talks about the body’s many clocks and how they work in sync with each other. This all ties into the circadian rhythm. When this rhythm is disrupted by stress, diet, genetics, or anything else, a whole bunch of negative consequences follows.

But how do you know you’re not sleeping well. Fatigue is one obvious sign. Lexie describes other signs to look for as well. Blood sugar crashes, hormonal imbalances, and not seeing the results you’re looking for when exercising are all signs that you’re not getting the sleep your body needs.

How to Improve Your Quality of Sleep

This isn’t to say that there’s little to be done to boost your quality of sleep. Certain lifestyle habits will improve circadian rhythms. These include getting the right exposure to light and darkness, maintaining proper temperatures, eating well.

Although one of the best things we can do for our sleep habits is to sync them with natural light patterns, this can be nearly impossible to do with a modern lifestyle. Lexie talks about habits and gadgets that will help. From using blue light blockers to doing calming activities before bedtime, there are methods for improving sleep.

What is one thing you can change to support better sleep? Leave a comment on the episode page!

Got a question you’d love to hear me answer on the show? Leave me a voice message here!

In This Episode

How Lexie found her interest in helping women overcome sleep challenges [3:15]
How circadian rhythms are part of a complex system [6:30]
Lifestyle habits that will impact circadian rhythms [9:50]
Identifying the signs of poor sleep [17:00]
The connection between stress and sleep [26:30]
Easily instituting healthy sleep habits with a good routine [30:50]

Quotes

“This is a huge issue. A lot of women are not able to sleep enough or getting good quality sleep. Even if you’re sleeping a ton and waking up tired, there’s something to work on there.” [5:07]

“The master clock is overseeing the whole body. But the pancreas, and the gut, and the liver are also sending feedback to the master clock. They’re all definitely connected.” [9:05]

“Because our circadian rhythm is affected by stress, so is sleep.” [27:00]

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Links

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10 Tips for Better Sleep

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