Are you waking up tired and with no energy? Did you know this is a sign that your hormones aren’t working properly? And as a busy mom, I know you do not have time for that nonsense! No time to be tired - but all you want to do is sleep!!!!! Stick around, I’m going to help you hack your way to more energy with some simple shifts in your daily routines that will have you naturally energized every day EVEN if you’re still getting up during the night with your children!

Watch the video above, listen to the audio version, or continue reading below!

Today we’re going to be talking about some powerful hormone-balancing tips to wake up energized!

Even before having children, I was struggling with extreme fatigue (chronic) and it definitely didn’t get better after becoming a mom!

Despite being exhausted every day, it would take me hours to fall asleep!

Then in the morning, I could barely get out of bed, I was sleeping through my alarms, and I was groggy for most of the day.

Even on nights that I fell asleep right away, I could sleep 10+ hours and still not feel any better!

I remember all of this starting in my early 20s and thinking that I was way too young to be feeling like this!

In my quest to address other health issues related to my hormones that I was experiencing, my day-time energy started to improve but I was still really struggling with that morning fatigue and that’s when I learned more about how our hormones impact our sleep/waking/energy cycles

So buckle up and get ready for an in-depth lesson into this because I see this way too many times in my practice and I know moms need to hear it!

First, let’s talk about the fact that a successful morning actually starts the night before!

Develop a healthy bedtime routine

This looks different for everyone!

But mine looks like cleaning up, quality time with my husband, making my list for the next day/week, or sometimes journaling, lights turned down low, off my electronic screens by 9 pm, shower/teeth/face, bed by 10 pm

But it didn’t always look like this, it used to be that I’d stay up till 10 pm, watching tv, eating snacks, and completing any work from earlier in the day, then by the time I was in bed, I’d scroll on my phone for 20 minutes before tossing and turning to sleep well after 11 pm.

With a young child at home, who still sometimes wakes up during the night needing comfort, this is obviously not a practical routine!

Now here’s why mine looks so different nowadays: 

Melatonin is a hormone that is responsible for helping us feel tired at night.  Biologically, it responds to the rising and setting of the sun.

But when we’re in front of our screens (TVs, tablets, laptops, cell phones) the blue light (and yes, even the night light options on our screens) interfere with natural melatonin production - meaning that our body stops producing it in the evening and delays the production until you are no longer in front of a screen. 

So you’re no longer producing a hormone that helps you feel tired in the evening and helps you fall asleep - and this probably isn’t surprising to you as I’m sure you likely have used a melatonin supplement at some point to help with falling asleep!

Now, the second issue with this disruption to melatonin production is that our body will then pump out cortisol (our stress hormone) to replace the melatonin. And this is to keep your body alert. It’s now entering a fight or flight state - which is going to increase the likelihood of irrational thoughts, fears, behaviours, AND racy, anxious thoughts at bedtime.

In order to avoid the use of supplements, for the average person, the simple solution is to make a commitment to yourself to be off your screens 1 hour before the time you want to be going to bed.  This will give your body sufficient time to begin producing enough melatonin to help in the process.

Making a list of things to do and get done tomorrow will help calm the anxious thoughts that come creeping in and provide you with a clear mind to go to sleep with.

There are a lot more simple actions you can take on a daily basis to improve the quality of your sleep, and I’ve shared them in an article on my website, which I’ll link in the description of this video. Be sure to check it out and feel free to print them out so you have an active list in your face every day to remind you of your options.

Now, the second piece of the puzzle that we want (well, we need) to address is your mornings!

Develop a Healthy Morning Routine! 

Having a good night’s sleep is key to waking up feeling rested and energized, but it’s surprisingly not the only factor!

What’s the first thing you do after turning off your alarm in the morning? Is it check all of your messages, emails, notifications, and social media feeds? Because if so, this is part of the problem.

Just as our body responds to the setting sun every night by producing melatonin to help us fall asleep, our body has a similar but opposite response in the morning!

Morning sun exposure (to our eyeballs) helps produce two important hormones: (1) cortisol, which will be responsible for waking you up and giving you that peppy step in the morning; and (2) serotonin, which is actually your daytime happy hormone and will help with your sleep the next night!

This is because our brain requires serotonin in order to MAKE melatonin at night! So without enough serotonin, you’ll struggle to make the melatonin required the next day.

So the simple solution is to create a morning routine where the first light on your eyes is the sun, and ideally, you’re going for a 15-20 minute walk early in the morning (as early as you can when the sun is up) in order to help regulate those hormone productions!

Now this isn’t always easy because of scheduling, time commitments, work commitments, family commitments, etc. I get it. So maybe it means opening all of your curtains in the house and only checking your phone an hour after being up. Maybe it means going for a walk at 9/10 am instead of 6 or 7 am. Maybe it takes time to develop a consistent routine that works for you and the family.

That’s okay! 

The point is, now that you KNOW what’s causing your morning fatigue and late-night sleep issues, you can work to create routines that work for you.

So get to it! Go create your nighttime and daytime routines that are free from screen lights in the evening and morning, and help your body work WITH its natural systems and cycles to have you feeling energized, happy, and amazing every day!

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