It’s long been the case that the standard response to the question ‘how are you’ is ‘I’m fine’. However the friends I speak with and every potential client I have an initial fact finding chat with, no longer answers with ‘I’m fine’. I’ve noted that the response I get time and time again is ‘I’m tired’.

My own inner voice for a couple of years I too noticed had become a combination of ‘I’m tired’ and lots of audible sighs!

So why is it we are all so tired?

It’s no surprise in a fast paced world with ‘always on’ technology that continuously stimulates us, that our brains are tired. I was part of the telecoms industry selling everyone ‘3 screens to change their lives’. TV’s, Tablets and phones mean for many people a cacophony of noise! Our brains rarely get any rest.

This noise also gives us ideals on how to live, how to look, what to think, it’s a big marketing machine ultimately designed to sell to us.

It’s not lost on me the irony of writing this in a blog post aimed at your mobile phone.

Hopefully this blog post is more useful than a call to action to spend.

The other reasons why my contemporaries are all tired are a combination of mid life responsibilities, our food environment and lifestyle and the rollercoaster of ageing and hormone fluctuations.

Many women find themselves with established careers, a wealth of experience and knowledge and often the frustration of workplace changes or evolutions. It’s an observation that workplaces often overlook the experience of long term employees for the new and shinier strategies. Whilst I’m all for innovation and progress I’ve seen too often how poor hires with ‘new ideas’ can affect the very culture of a good business and existing team. If I had a pound for every woman that tells me about workplace frustration making them exhausted! The note to business leaders here is to engage with the experience in your business to help shape and land the changes. It’s basic ‘change curve’ strategy.

Often women in mid life( it’s a technical term it’s not a label I identify with) have older children, going to university, moving out, staying home saving for a deposit. Sometimes they have grandchildren too.

Sometimes referred to as the ‘sandwich generation’ many women have ageing parents that require them to have some level of caregiving responsibility too. I didn’t appreciate this until this became my reality.

Women are juggling careers, children, parents and an onslaught of digital media.

Then, just to add the icing to the cake, quite literally, we are bombarded with ultra processed, calorie dense, hyper palatable addictive food. This at the very time our metabolism stops being as efficient as it once was.

It’s no surprise to me that we grab convenience foods to make ourselves feel better. Nothing gives a legal quick hit of feel good dopamine like a handful of jelly babies! These were my hit of choice. For others it’s chocolate, or donuts, for some it’s wine and crisps.

So what is the solution to this tiredness and fatigue, well it’s sleep.

Now, as simple as that sounds I know that is much easier said than done.

So why is sleep so important now?

A lack of sleep directly affects our metabolism.

It messes with grehlin our hunger hormone, it makes us eat more than we need. This is often the quick fix sugars. It also adversely affects leptin, the hormone that tells us we are full. This means we over consume calories. We eat calorie dense foods and we eat them quickly often on the go or at the table whilst reading a screen!

This is an issue for everyone not just mid life women. However we have the added issue of reduced oestrogen and reduced muscle mass.

Reduced muscle mass is a combination of ageing and often years of dieting with no resistance training to preserve the muscles.

In short, lack of quality sleep increases our waistlines.

So, what can we do about it?

1. Have protein before bed!

I still know lots of people who have toast as ‘supper’. Perhaps they have sugary cocoa as a drink. For others it’s a night on the sofa with chocolate or wine.

When we consume carbs/sugars after around 8pm it can interfere with sleep.

As your body processes the sugars you get a blood sugar crash around 3am, this causes your body to release a cortisol spike( the stress hormone). This wakens you up to eat as your brain thinks it’s in danger with not enough sugar. This is why some woman report not being able to get back to sleep and often having a snack during the night.

Try not eating after 8pm or try a protein pudding or nuts or yoghurt before bed.

2. Getting to sleep can be an issue for many. This is where digital detox becomes important. A bedtime routine of setting an alarm and hour before bed to get organised for the morning( prep breakfast/lunch or lay out gym clothes or whatever). Stay off the screens! If you have a phone charging by your bed put on do not disturb settings. Listen to a bedtime meditation or story. Sound changes brain waves, there are lots of tracks to help with sleep.

3. Practice gratitude before sleep, if you have my gratitude beads these are your visual prompt to have them by your bedside. Gratitude changes our brain chemistry.

4. If your issue with sleep is temperature control. Perhaps it’s night sweats or hot flushes this is where oestrogen replacement helps. Using micronised progesterone instead of synthetic can be helpful too. This has a mild sedative effect and helps with sleep. Body temperature regulation specialist nightwear can help too.

Scandinavians have a routine of opening all of the windows to cool the room and using heated blankets. Air temperature is important for sleep.

Having a shower or bath before bed also helps as you have a core temperature drop afterwards which induces sleep.

5. Magnesium glycinate is great for sleep. Many of us have magnesium deficiency. It helps relax our muscles and nervous system. This is often the game changer.

There are lots of supplements that may help, l-theanine, ashwaghanda, 5htp. It’s important to check with your healthcare provider on suitability for you. Sleep tea with valerian or passionflower, chamomile and lavender are also helpful.

The most important thing you can do for your health and my number one question after, how are you? is how is your sleep?

#sleep #metabolism