Dreaming of Weight Loss: How Sleep Impacts Your Journey with Robyn Powers [Ep. 53]

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This is Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well podcast.

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I'm Lisa Salisbury And this is episode 53 dreaming of weight loss.

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How sleep impacts your journey with Robyn powers.

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This episode is part of the LivWell pillar of the podcast as sleeping is one of those habits that affects our weight loss, but sort of indirectly.

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Meaning not sleeping well is not going to cause you to actually gain weight what it does is affect the way we are able to function in the world.

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And it affects, especially our hunger hormones.

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So we are getting different hunger signals on days that we aren't well rested as opposed to the days that we are What I mean by it affects your hunger hormones.

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Is that is the ghrelin and the leptin that you're going to hear us talking about.

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Spoiler.

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It's the reason you crave more carbs when you're tired.

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before we jump in, though, I want to remind you to subscribe to the show so that you don't miss next week's episode with my extra special guest last week.

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I teased it a little too, but this week I'll give you a hint that she is the person that introduced me to life coaching.

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She was my very first life coach.

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I couldn't be more thrilled that she said yes to being on the show.

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All right now for today's episode.

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Welcome to Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well; the podcast for women who want to lose weight, but are tired of counting and calculating all the food.

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I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury.

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I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter.

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I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry, instead of worrying so much about what you are eating.

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My guest today is Robynn Powers.

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I am very excited about this episode because it's been a long time since we have talked about Sleep with an Expert.

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So, Robynn, welcome and please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background and what you do.

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Sure.

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Thanks for having me on, Lisa.

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My background is in women.

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Women's health and fitness.

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I've been working in the fitness industry for about 18 years now, and, uh, just recently switched over to helping women more holistically, not just with the physical aspect of, fitness, but also mental and nutritional and kinda all around, you know, everything that goes into living that healthy lifestyle.

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So I am a health coach for busy moms.

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I have a background in psychology also, uh, personal trainer, group fitness, pre and postnatal exercise specialist.

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So kinda a little bit of everything.

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And one of my most favorite topics to talk about is sleep habits and how they affect your overall health, because I think it's a kind of a neglected area.

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I think it's something that people.

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Tend to put on the back burner and maybe not really think about how it's really impacting their lives.

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Totally.

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I 100% agree.

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Sometimes it's the last thing we think of with regards to health or eating.

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It's like I.

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What are you even talking about?

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I'm, you know, I'm tracking my food, I'm doing my exercise.

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Like that doesn't have anything to do with it.

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And it has like everything to do with it.

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In fact, I, I had a client a couple days ago and she was feeling bad that she hadn't kept up with her movement routine that she had been doing for a while.

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And she said, well, I had been camping with my sister, slept on an air mattress, and it was freezing cold, like, It was terrible sleep.

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Terrible.

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And so essentially when she got home for a few days, she chose sleep instead of working out because she chose to sleep in and get a little extra.

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And I was like, absolutely, that is going to benefit you way more in those.

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Days, sometimes we do have to choose sleep.

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So let's get into it.

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What do you think is the relationship between lack of quality sleep and our ability to stick with our healthy habits or how it affects our healthy habits?

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I think it has a huge impact because when you are lacking that sleep, everything kind of goes downhill.

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Still your, your mood isn't as well as it should be, so you're feeling a little more depressed.

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I think everybody kind of knows when you're depressed, you're not thinking about, how do I live my life optimally?

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Right.

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You're just trying to get back to like an even.

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Field here.

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So you're not thinking about, oh, okay, let me plan the best meals.

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Let me make sure I'm doing the right exercises, getting the workouts in.

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You're not working on all those pieces that really help you live that healthy lifestyle because you're just too tired, you're not focused, you don't feel productive.

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And so that's kind of those things that you do to even better yourself.

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Kind of fall to the wayside because that's not even on your radar when you don't have the energy.

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How does that affect when someone is like, oh, I just don't really need as much sleep as other people or people that feel like I.

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I remember even as like as a child, my friend telling me, oh my dad, he only sleeps four hours a night.

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And I was like, that seems wrong to me.

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I like, even when I was little, I just thought, oh, I need a lot more sleep than that.

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Is there something wrong with me?

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And I feel like we have this idea that, oh, I do fine, but.

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What are some things that we are not realizing are happening because of lack of sleep when we think we're functioning fine, but really it, it could be like better.

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Right.

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So maybe, you know, you think you're getting enough sleep, but there's things that happen while you're sleeping.

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It's the reason for sleep is to reset, recharge.

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Kind of clean out those toxins in your body.

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So if you're not getting that sleep, those things aren't happening, which is gonna lead to all kinds of consequences.

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You know, not just low energy, not just feeling tired, but even put you at greater risk for all kinds of diseases or illnesses that you're not even probably putting together, because it's not like it's instantaneous, you know?

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Like, oh, I didn't sleep this week.

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Now I have cancer like that.

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That doesn't happen.

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So you're not.

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Really seeing immediate consequences necessarily, but you're not taking care of those long-term, uh, health issues either when you're not getting enough sleep.

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Mm-hmm.

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Can you talk a little bit more about what happens when we sleep?

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Yeah.

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So, when you're sleeping, that's the time that your body resets itself really.

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So the toxins are being flushed from your body.

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There are some things that can also affect that, such as eating before bed, drinking alcohol before bed, so that can affect it, but

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Affect it negatively, like mean it's not gonna happen if

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right, because your body is busy processing those things instead of working on clearing the toxins.

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But that aside, just sleep itself.

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That's when your body is healing, it's getting the toxins out.

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So if you're not doing that, you're setting yourself up for those problems.

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Right.

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And you're rebuilding.

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So say you had a really, you know, heavy workout that day cuz you're working on building muscle or you know, whatever it is you're working on, building endurance.

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If you're not giving your body that chance to rest and heal, then you're not gonna see the progress there either.

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So it's not just, you know, disease and illness, but it's also affecting your ability to improve on your physical fitness if that's something that you're working on.

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Okay.

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So every night isn't gonna be a great night.

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Obviously, we want to make the effort.

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To get those hours of sleep.

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I do have another episode where we talk a little bit more about sleep hygiene.

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So if you're struggling to get to bed and those kinds of things.

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I mean, really the simplest way to get eight hours of sleep.

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Which is the general recommendation is to go to bed eight hours before your alarm needs to go off.

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And it seems simple, right?

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It seems like, yeah, just do the math and go to bed.

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But things get in the way.

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Sometimes we don't, obviously, and then sometimes, you know, we wake up.

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It's not been a good a good night.

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So sometimes we are fatigued.

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How can we combat that on those days?

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And this is kind of along the lines where I talk to my clients about like you will overeat because we're not robots.

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And so we talk about strategies, what to do next.

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So what can we do to counteract some fatigue and keep it from affecting our weight loss goals?

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Absolutely.

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You know, we're not all perfect, we're we Don't live a perfect life where everything's gonna work out Exactly right.

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And yeah, you do have to make the effort to schedule that time for sleep.

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You can't just stay up late and then be like, oh, whoops, I'm supposed to be up in six hours.

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You know, you do have to think about it ahead time.

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And, um, having a consistent bedtime routine can really help.

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Um, things that you do that your body starts knowing, like, okay, this is time to shut down and be ready for sleep.

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But if you know something happens and you just didn't get that sleep, you know, here and there cuz it, it happens to all of us.

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Being aware, first off that certain things happen within your body when you don't get enough sleep can really help because then you start paying attention to these things as far as like, especially foods that you wanna eat.

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Can change based on how much sleep you get.

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So be aware that you might start feeling cravings for different things because you didn't get enough sleep.

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But once you're aware, I think it's easier to combat like, oh wait, I don't really need this candy bar.

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I'm just like craving it because I didn't get the sleep that I needed.

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So you know.

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I'm not gonna choose the candy bar cuz it's not really what I need.

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Let me pick some fruit.

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So I'm still craving something sweet, but it doesn't have to be a candy bar.

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I can go for some fruit.

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Getting those foods in that give you the nutrients, the vitamins and the minerals are gonna help boost your energy.

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Or, you know, don't go grab the, you know, gallon size coffee or, you know, adding, adding the caffeine and the energy drinks isn't gonna help you either.

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It's gonna set you up for that endless cycle of, okay, now I drank all this caffeine.

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Now I can't sleep tonight.

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Now I'm not getting enough sleep again tonight.

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It's just gonna snowball in you.

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It's gonna be so much harder to get back on track.

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Yeah.

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Caffeine use can be really detrimental to our sleep cycle.

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I know I've, brought this up on a couple of different interviews about reasonable caffeine use and seems like most of the experts I've.

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Interviewed have said, you know, somewhere between one and two cups of coffee equivalents, we're talking like a hundred to 200 grams of caffeine in the morning, eight to 10 hours prior to your bedtime.

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So again, that's another calculation you wanna do.

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Because of the half-life of caffeine, it does stick around.

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So in the afternoon, if we need a pick me up because we are fatigued, didn't get a good night's sleep, that's maybe where we wanna have a carb hit with.

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fruit like you're talking about, rather than going for either caffeine, extra coffee or the candy bar.

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So choosing some carbs to pick us up at that point would be better for your sleep routine than heading for more caffeine.

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Would you agree?

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Oh, definitely.

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Yeah.

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And, and it, it doesn't have to be even consuming anything.

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I mean, get up getting up and taking a short walk, going out, walking outside, into the sun, sunshine.

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Those are things that can boost your energy too.

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It doesn't have to be that I need to eat or drink something.

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Yes, that is such a good point.

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I appreciate you correcting me on that.

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And besides eating, let's talk about a few other things, so for sure.

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Like getting some sunshine, going for a walk.

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What else in the dead of winter if it were

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And the dead owner.

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Yeah, you must be like me and don't really like to be outside when it's cold.

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No, no, I don't really enjoy that.

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And right now it's lovely.

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We're talking here in the first part of the summer and so hopefully it won't be the dead of winter by the time I get this, um, out on the podcast.

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But, you know, we gotta have strategies for year round.

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Yeah, definitely.

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You know, I don't, I don't love it outside in the winter either, so you know, you can exercise in the house.

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Take a couple loops around inside your house.

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If you have a treadmill, if you have an exercise bike, if you wanna turn on the radio and dance for five minutes, you know it, it doesn't have to be some specific thing, just something that gets your blood flowing a little bit.

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Um, drinking more water.

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Make sure you get lots of water, can help boost your energy too.

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Perfect.

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Yeah, that is so important too.

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What a good.

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Foundation to remind ourselves of on, on this sleep episode.

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We think about these things that are like, how's that even possibly related to weight loss, sleep and water?

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But these foundations are, well, just that foundational to our weight loss and healthy habits.

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Absolutely.

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So, What about sleep with regards to hormones?

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I've talked a lot to a lot of different experts about hormones over the last couple of months, but tell me a little bit more about lack of quality sleep and what kind of hormonal changes that creates and does that keep us from losing weight?

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I kind of touched on a little bit already as far as you know, how, how you start to feel like you want.

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Certain kinds of foods, right?

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You get these cravings.

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So when we don't get enough sleep, it causes, Ghrelin to increase, which makes you crave it, makes you hungry, It makes you crave sugary and fatty things.

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Things that are gonna like boost that energy, short term at least.

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And then it also decreases leptin, which is the hormone that's responsible for making you feel full and satisfied.

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So if you have less of that, so now you're having cravings for the sugary and fat things, and then you're.

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Level of fullness goes down, so you just continue to eat more and more of it because your body's not telling you that you've had enough.

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That's like a huge thing if you're working on building a healthier diet and all of a sudden, like, or most days, if you're not getting enough sleep, you have these cravings that are so hard to, you know, overcome that just makes it that much harder for you to work on eating healthily.

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And then, um, cortisol levels increase.

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So, which we all know is a stress hormone, right?

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So it's not like you're actually stressing while you're sleeping, but your body releases that hormone because of the lack of sleep.

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So now you're getting this stress hormone.

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I think most people know that stress hormone can lead to weight gain, especially around the, the abdomen, the middle, which is.

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People least likely want to see the weight gain, right?

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They, that's where they're usually trying to get the weight off.

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If they're working on weight loss, But that also sets you up for things like heart disease and stroke and diabetes.

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So then your, um, having those cortisol levels increase in accumulating the fat on the abdomen.

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That is really, really helpful.

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There's so many changes that happen because of lack of sleep, and I think one thing that we, again, don't connect is that ghrelin and leptin hormone.

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Situation that you're having, you think like, why can't I control my cravings?

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And maybe you've listened to my cravings episodes and you've tried my, tips on thinking and, you know, processing and, and all of the life coaching type things I give you for cravings.

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Listen, if you don't have your sleep under control, it's very difficult to get on top of hormone problems.

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So we've got to get those in line first before we can really work on the thought part of what's going on with the cravings.

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And so I think a lot of people get really discouraged because the thought tools aren't working and.

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That's when we have to just check in like H how much are we sleeping?

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And chronically, not just last night, but in a chronic manner.

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So where do you see that affecting?

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Like how long?

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If somebody is like, okay, I'm a chronic under sleeper.

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And again, this is one of those things when we talk about emotions like depression or anxiety, I'm always on this podcast talking about.

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What I call little d depression, little a anxiety.

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This isn't clinical depression, clinical anxiety, things that need medication, but the, just the general emotions that we feel we are in a depressed state because we have not slept well or we feel nervous, we're a little bit anxious.

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So just so we're clear on that.

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But When we're talking about chronically unders slept, I'm not really so much talking about clinical insomnia that obviously you need to see a doctor.

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We're not doctors, but if you are a person who is chronically going to bed late because you are up reading or scrolling or online shopping or whatever, or maybe you're just working and you're like, no, this is.

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You know, I just need to work.

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If you're someone who doesn't make bedtime a priority, and now you've decided, okay, I am going to, so what I mean is we, we're not dealing with someone who has big eye insomnia, but someone who just isn't, hasn't made sleep a priority.

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So we've got someone who's chronically unders slept.

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How long would it take for that person to get their hormones sort of regulated by going to bed?

00:17:45.711 --> 00:17:52.701
Quote on time for, you know, how many days in a row, how, how long until we can sort of correct this problem.

00:17:53.333 --> 00:18:00.232
I mean, honestly, you know, with every night that you sleep the proper amount, it's gonna help you.

00:18:01.042 --> 00:18:08.782
I can tell you on, I used to be a chronic lack of sleep kind of person, and I've changed my weight in the last couple years.

00:18:08.782 --> 00:18:09.893
Ands made all the difference.

00:18:10.499 --> 00:18:16.288
so, you know, it's really not a, you know, set it and forget it type of thing, really.

00:18:16.499 --> 00:18:17.459
Do you know what I mean?

00:18:17.578 --> 00:18:19.348
Where it's not like, okay.

00:18:19.820 --> 00:18:21.471
I've done this for three weeks now I'm good.

00:18:21.560 --> 00:18:32.780
You know, like, it, it's gonna be something that you're, especially if it, it's been a problem in the past, it might be something you're continuously working on, you know, trying to increase that sleep.

00:18:33.471 --> 00:18:43.461
And with every night of adequate sleep, you're gonna improve, you're gonna have less of the cravings, you're gonna have less of the stress hormone.

00:18:43.881 --> 00:18:45.601
Um, so it's, it's not a set time.

00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:47.280
Do you know what I'm saying?

00:18:47.536 --> 00:18:48.316
Sure, yeah.

00:18:48.556 --> 00:18:57.826
It's gonna be bio-individual depending on how long you've been chronically under sleeping, but it's good to hear that with each night.

00:18:58.711 --> 00:19:00.030
We're gonna see improvements.

00:19:00.121 --> 00:19:10.711
So right away I think you're probably gonna see, we, we know right away on a day that we've unders slept, you're maybe not thinking as clearly.

00:19:11.070 --> 00:19:17.490
I'll tell you what, this is kind of a side note, but I've been at several sleep appointments with my mother.

00:19:17.641 --> 00:19:20.221
So my mom she's done several sleep studies.

00:19:20.490 --> 00:19:21.951
We've got her on a C P A P.

00:19:21.955 --> 00:19:23.911
She's switching to a BiPAP machine.

00:19:23.911 --> 00:19:24.540
She's a ter.

00:19:24.661 --> 00:19:25.500
It's, it's terrible.

00:19:25.500 --> 00:19:28.766
She's got, like, she stops breathing like 33 times an hour.

00:19:28.976 --> 00:19:31.165
It's severe sleep apnea.

00:19:31.435 --> 00:19:55.026
So, in talking with these doctors about sleep, What's been fascinating to me is that the reason she was referred for a sleep study in the very first place was for memory loss because she wasn't qualifying for what seemed to be, you know, dementia or Alzheimer's, and they're like, you, you have to see a sleep specialist prior to going into a neurologist.

00:19:55.536 --> 00:19:59.943
And sure enough, They are like, oh yeah, for sure.

00:19:59.973 --> 00:20:10.443
If you have short-term memory issues, we have to get the sleep under control well before we see a neurologist because we can't possibly know if there's.

00:20:10.818 --> 00:20:18.888
Actual memory issues until you're actually sleeping well and she thinks she sleeps through the night, which she does.

00:20:18.919 --> 00:20:25.578
It's just the stopping of breathing isn't creating adequate oxygen flow, so she's not getting into the correct sleep.

00:20:25.584 --> 00:20:30.709
So just a little side note, as far as like sleep apnea or snoring, if you have that.

00:20:30.888 --> 00:20:36.679
I mean, I've just been attending these appointments with her doctor and he's after me now because I.

00:20:36.733 --> 00:20:38.084
Admitted that I snore.

00:20:38.324 --> 00:20:40.513
And so he's like, I want you to get a sleep study.

00:20:40.513 --> 00:20:42.193
You've gotta go to your own doctor.

00:20:42.733 --> 00:20:43.034
You know?

00:20:43.034 --> 00:20:48.943
So if you are, all of this is to say that another effect of not getting.

00:20:49.338 --> 00:20:51.769
Quality sleep is memory loss.

00:20:51.769 --> 00:20:56.689
And so a lot of times I find women of our age, they blame midlife.

00:20:57.229 --> 00:21:00.798
They blame, oh, well I'm in my fifties, I'm in my sixties, whatever now.

00:21:00.798 --> 00:21:03.709
And and worry like, why did I go into this room?

00:21:03.709 --> 00:21:04.999
I don't remember why.

00:21:05.388 --> 00:21:08.419
And we don't always connect it to our sleep.

00:21:08.509 --> 00:21:13.189
And yet whether or not you have sleep apnea, that's a whole different topic.

00:21:13.249 --> 00:21:18.409
But if you are not sleeping well, you're not creating those memory connections.

00:21:18.999 --> 00:21:27.128
And so all of that can contribute to not making excellent decisions during the day.

00:21:28.058 --> 00:21:34.209
So whether that is with our food or with our choices with, um, choosing to exercise or not.

00:21:35.269 --> 00:21:37.699
It all can kind of be rolled into one.

00:21:37.699 --> 00:21:46.868
So it's just been fascinating to me with just being able to have access to these, doctors that are really focusing on sleep quality for my mom.

00:21:46.868 --> 00:21:51.828
That it's, you know, not just so that she can sleep, but also so her memory is better.

00:21:52.969 --> 00:22:00.588
The other thing I wanna say about that, what they're telling me is one of the best things that you can do to improve sleep quality.

00:22:00.993 --> 00:22:05.943
Is exercise and they're just constantly encouraging her to exercise.

00:22:06.003 --> 00:22:07.713
How do you see that link?

00:22:08.490 --> 00:22:25.078
Oh, I, I've definitely, seen a bunch of stuff about how exercise affects your sleep, because if you're not, using the energy you have in a day, You're, you're not tired enough to go to sleep at night a lot of times.

00:22:25.588 --> 00:22:28.348
And so you are having a hard time falling asleep.

00:22:28.348 --> 00:22:32.249
That delays sleep and then you still have to get up the same time in the morning, right?

00:22:32.788 --> 00:22:33.659
Uh, most of us.

00:22:34.056 --> 00:22:41.375
So, so you're, you're hurting yourself there and you know, just overall general health is better.

00:22:41.705 --> 00:22:46.625
If you're getting some physical exercise, you're in a healthier state.

00:22:47.151 --> 00:22:48.471
You get better sleep.

00:22:49.621 --> 00:22:53.361
Yeah, I think the exercise really just is the fountain of youth.

00:22:53.601 --> 00:23:06.230
The more and more I study it and learn and talk to people that it's just everything from, you know, it's, has very little to do, honestly with weight loss as far as our calorie burn.

00:23:06.530 --> 00:23:09.111
And it has way more to do with our mental state.

00:23:09.201 --> 00:23:13.750
And then we are in a better mental state, and then we make.

00:23:14.351 --> 00:23:17.951
Decisions that are more in line with our plan and our long-term goals.

00:23:18.671 --> 00:23:19.570
Oh, absolutely.

00:23:19.661 --> 00:23:19.931
Yeah.

00:23:21.191 --> 00:23:28.181
and just being, again, it's, it's this cycle, being well rested helps us to exercise.

00:23:28.691 --> 00:23:31.030
Exercise helps us to be well rested.

00:23:31.826 --> 00:23:32.125
Right.

00:23:32.131 --> 00:23:32.395
Yeah.

00:23:32.401 --> 00:23:35.006
It really is a cycle, and then I call it, you know, when you.

00:23:35.405 --> 00:23:38.016
Start off with the lack of sleep.

00:23:38.046 --> 00:23:40.086
It kind of makes everything else go downhill.

00:23:40.086 --> 00:23:41.976
And it's the snowball effect, right?

00:23:42.786 --> 00:23:44.226
It's like, okay, lack of sleep.

00:23:44.226 --> 00:23:47.915
Now I can't meal plan, I can't prepare healthy foods.

00:23:47.976 --> 00:23:49.236
Oh, I can't exercise.

00:23:49.240 --> 00:23:50.195
I'm too tired.

00:23:50.465 --> 00:23:53.976
I'm gonna drink all this caffeine or these energy drinks, and.

00:23:54.246 --> 00:24:04.776
Or you know, I'm gonna eat these, this cake and the cookies because I'm craving it, and then it starts all over again because you don't get good sleep again the next night and it just goes over and over and over.

00:24:04.776 --> 00:24:08.405
And it's hard to get outta that cycle unless you're really aware of what's going on.

00:24:08.411 --> 00:24:08.915
I think.

00:24:09.395 --> 00:24:12.875
Um, and that's really where it has to start, is being aware.

00:24:13.226 --> 00:24:18.715
That, that's what's causing it so that you can start to make the changes and maybe you're not making, you know, every change.

00:24:18.746 --> 00:24:30.093
Maybe you're not like, okay, I'm now consistently exercising and I'm gonna eat well, I'm gonna drink water and it, you know, but start with one thing that kind of breaks that cycle and then work from there.

00:24:31.337 --> 00:24:31.877
Totally.

00:24:32.057 --> 00:24:40.367
And I think hopefully by listening to this episode, you know, folks are aware now like, oh, maybe it is my sleep that needs improvement.

00:24:40.728 --> 00:24:43.307
So where would be like your first recommendation?

00:24:43.307 --> 00:24:55.458
Nation to start as far as if they, if someone is like, okay, I think sleep is probably the problem before I join a gym, before I, you know, throw out all the chips and cookies in the house.

00:24:56.387 --> 00:24:56.748
Right.

00:24:57.048 --> 00:24:59.968
If we wanna start on sleep, where would you have them start?

00:25:00.928 --> 00:25:04.137
I would have them start looking at what their bedtime routine is.

00:25:04.917 --> 00:25:08.218
What are they doing an hour or two before they go to bed each night?

00:25:08.548 --> 00:25:09.748
An hour or two.

00:25:10.018 --> 00:25:10.528
Wow.

00:25:10.768 --> 00:25:13.708
An hour or two, especially if they're having trouble falling asleep.

00:25:14.847 --> 00:25:22.528
Um, you know, a lot of people just delay going to bed, but some people lay in bed and they just have trouble falling asleep because their body is not ready.

00:25:23.218 --> 00:25:27.778
Because it hasn't been signaled that it's time to shut down and go to sleep.

00:25:27.778 --> 00:25:39.508
So if, if that's you, if you're having trouble actually falling asleep or feeling like it's time to go to bed, I suggest an hour or two before bed get those devices turned off.

00:25:39.508 --> 00:25:47.127
You should not have this, the blue light, the screens in your face because it tricks your body into thinking that it's daytime and time to be alert and awake.

00:25:47.577 --> 00:25:50.907
Even earlier on in the day, make sure you're getting some sunlight.

00:25:51.028 --> 00:25:53.218
Make sure you go outside, even if it's cold.

00:25:53.667 --> 00:25:54.718
Sit by a window.

00:25:55.107 --> 00:25:56.367
Sit by a window with you.

00:25:56.367 --> 00:26:01.438
You know, with the curtains open system, that sunlight gets in and lets your body know, okay, now it's daytime.

00:26:01.827 --> 00:26:08.508
So then when it does come to nighttime and time to start thinking about going to sleep, your body knows, okay, now it's not daytime anymore.

00:26:08.508 --> 00:26:11.807
It's time to shut down and relax and get that sleep that you need.

00:26:12.752 --> 00:26:17.343
And then I also talked about like the eating and the, and the drinking before bed.

00:26:17.343 --> 00:26:24.542
Don't eat right before bed cuz then your body is trying to digest, it's not trying to remove toxins and get the the best sleep.

00:26:25.022 --> 00:26:34.803
So even though you don't think that eating before bed is disrupting your sleep, You might not notice it, like it, it might not be a cognitive thing.

00:26:34.803 --> 00:26:38.042
You don't realize it, but it's still happening within you.

00:26:38.432 --> 00:26:43.593
It's interrupting the normal processes that are supposed to be taking place within your body while you sleep.

00:26:43.952 --> 00:26:46.113
Um, and drinking alcohol, same thing.

00:26:46.113 --> 00:26:51.542
It makes you feel sleepy, but it doesn't actually help you while you're sleeping.

00:26:51.542 --> 00:26:53.823
It disrupts your sleep cycle while you sleep.

00:26:54.792 --> 00:27:02.482
I think, the eating before bed I feel like has been a tricky, it's, it's tricky for me, and I'll tell you why.

00:27:03.292 --> 00:27:08.212
It was an old diet rule, you know, no eating after seven, no eating after eight, right?

00:27:08.242 --> 00:27:14.462
Which always just seemed to be some sort of diet rule that had no reasoning behind it.

00:27:14.462 --> 00:27:15.393
For me, I was like,

00:27:15.532 --> 00:27:16.913
What's this magical time?

00:27:16.942 --> 00:27:20.272
yeah, what, what happens if I take a bite at 7 0 5?

00:27:20.272 --> 00:27:21.173
Like what will happen?

00:27:21.653 --> 00:27:28.403
And then I, I decided, oh, this is just another way to cut calories, right?

00:27:28.403 --> 00:27:29.722
If we stop eating.

00:27:30.262 --> 00:27:37.553
And we used to have like a whole other snack that's like, oh, you know, 300 calories or whatever that we're not eating.

00:27:37.557 --> 00:27:38.603
So I thought, oh, okay.

00:27:38.603 --> 00:27:50.113
Well that's just a way To reduce intake, which there are some studies that show that as far as strictly weight loss goes, if you're strictly talking about weight loss, you could eat all your calories at 1:00 AM.

00:27:51.192 --> 00:27:56.563
If that was the only time you're eating right and technically speaking, you could lose weight.

00:27:57.133 --> 00:28:01.752
What we are talking about here is separate from those things, which is sleep quality

00:28:02.337 --> 00:28:02.688
Right.

00:28:02.688 --> 00:28:03.167
Sleep, quiet.

00:28:03.643 --> 00:28:07.182
Yeah, that's not what these diet rules were concerned about.

00:28:07.633 --> 00:28:26.803
I think those old diet rules were concerned more about intake and calories, and what we're talking about here is choosing to not eat a few hours before bedtime so that your body is not working, ondi digestion, so that your sleep quality is better.

00:28:27.143 --> 00:28:33.650
And then the next day you are well rested and making excellent choices about your health.

00:28:33.799 --> 00:28:44.569
So I just really love thinking about this quote unquote rule with way more behind it than this will just help me lose weight and reduce my intake.

00:28:44.630 --> 00:28:46.220
That's not the point here at

00:28:46.515 --> 00:28:46.734
No.

00:28:47.224 --> 00:28:47.555
No.

00:28:47.555 --> 00:28:48.184
not at all.

00:28:48.184 --> 00:28:49.444
that's not the main focus.

00:28:49.444 --> 00:28:58.625
The main focus is to keep your body running smoothly, functioning properly so that you can do all those other things that you wanna do.

00:28:59.509 --> 00:29:02.150
And, and avoid those long-term health issues.

00:29:02.450 --> 00:29:08.750
Um, I didn't really mention, I mentioned heart disease and stroke and diabetes, but also Alzheimer's is a big one.

00:29:08.750 --> 00:29:10.970
And you talked about the memory loss with the sleep.

00:29:12.410 --> 00:29:14.210
Alzheimer's is memory loss, right?

00:29:14.210 --> 00:29:17.960
Because those toxins getting cleared out, they're getting cleared from your brain as well.

00:29:17.990 --> 00:29:25.579
It's not just, you know, thinking about the other parts of, you know, everything else going on, the liver and everything that it's being cleared from your brain.

00:29:25.579 --> 00:29:26.779
So that's part of it.

00:29:27.484 --> 00:29:28.714
Yeah, perfect.

00:29:28.744 --> 00:29:38.224
It's so hard sometimes to think really long-term about our health when we are using our higher human brain to make our decisions about our health.

00:29:39.025 --> 00:29:53.630
So, It is that long term, but when we're thinking about what we're eating for dinner or thinking about what we're going to choose for an after dinner snack or mid movie snack, sometimes the future we're thinking of is just a couple hours away.

00:29:53.750 --> 00:29:57.470
It's just how am I gonna sleep tonight and.

00:29:58.220 --> 00:30:03.900
I bring that up with my clients a lot because we talk a lot about what your why is for reaching your goals.

00:30:03.900 --> 00:30:05.279
Why do you wanna do this?

00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:08.519
And often we're talking about long-term things.

00:30:08.519 --> 00:30:12.180
Well, I wanna live to be an influence for good on my grandchildren.

00:30:12.450 --> 00:30:16.470
Like that's a great why, but it is 30 years away, right?

00:30:17.190 --> 00:30:19.289
Like that's a long time.

00:30:19.900 --> 00:30:24.795
And so, We have to have these shorter term wise.

00:30:25.335 --> 00:30:33.724
And sometimes it's like, cuz I want to sleep well tonight because I want to wake up well rested because I want to wake up not bloated.

00:30:33.755 --> 00:30:36.964
And some of that is not eating right before bed.

00:30:37.674 --> 00:30:51.660
another one that just is sort of along these lines with being in bed is sometimes my clients will say, You know, I go out on these date nights with my husband and I tend to overeat when I'm at a restaurant and then I go home and I don't wanna, you know, finish off date night.

00:30:52.019 --> 00:30:53.640
And it's true, right?

00:30:53.644 --> 00:30:56.609
Like, and sometimes sex before bed can help us relax.

00:30:56.609 --> 00:31:04.890
It can be part of your nighttime routine and if you've over eaten, you may or may not be in the mood you know, have that sexy time with your partner.

00:31:04.890 --> 00:31:14.339
So I think it's a big thing too, because if it is part of your going to sleep routine and then you've overeaten and you don't feel like it, it, um, it really can affect things.

00:31:14.998 --> 00:31:15.268
Right.

00:31:15.906 --> 00:31:17.567
what else can you tell us about sleep?

00:31:17.567 --> 00:31:24.317
Anything else that we haven't covered here and how sleep relates to our health and our weight loss?

00:31:25.727 --> 00:31:27.106
I wanna say that.

00:31:27.116 --> 00:31:36.987
Like I said, I used to be the person who had a hard time going to sleep at night, and I think a lot of moms especially feel this because it's like, okay, the kids are in bed.

00:31:36.991 --> 00:31:37.977
This is my time.

00:31:38.426 --> 00:31:40.797
I'm gonna have alone time, so I'm gonna stay up late.

00:31:40.801 --> 00:31:45.596
Whether I'm watching a movie, reading a book, having that snack and wine, you know,

00:31:46.092 --> 00:31:46.511
Mm-hmm.

00:31:47.096 --> 00:31:48.086
I know what it's like.

00:31:48.616 --> 00:31:53.227
But once you put your mind to like, oh, my life is better.

00:31:53.227 --> 00:32:00.666
Like once I get that sleep, I have more energy, I have better relationships because I'm not snapping at people.

00:32:00.666 --> 00:32:01.987
I'm not irritable.

00:32:02.366 --> 00:32:07.826
I'm not feeling like stressed and all this pressure and anxiety on me anymore.

00:32:08.606 --> 00:32:17.321
And once you start to feel that and you wanna make the change, I think it's so important to take baby steps towards that.

00:32:17.561 --> 00:32:20.862
It's not, okay, I'm gonna start gonna bed two hours earlier every night.

00:32:21.281 --> 00:32:29.551
Cuz unless you are like superhuman, that is so hard to change your routine from, you know, gonna bed at midnight to, okay, now I'm gonna bed at 10 o'clock.

00:32:30.392 --> 00:32:32.461
That's a huge change to make.

00:32:32.521 --> 00:32:38.071
If you can set an alarm and say, you know, I'm going to bed a half an hour earlier tonight.

00:32:38.311 --> 00:32:39.451
That's not a big deal.

00:32:39.856 --> 00:32:42.136
Half an hour is pretty small, right?

00:32:42.557 --> 00:32:43.426
Start off there.

00:32:43.426 --> 00:32:44.747
Do that for two weeks.

00:32:44.866 --> 00:32:48.467
When that gets pretty easy, set it back another half an hour.

00:32:48.467 --> 00:32:52.186
You know, until you get to that point where you're getting seven to eight hours of sleep.

00:32:52.636 --> 00:33:00.586
Because if you think about it, if you add an extra hour to your sleep routine, that's like getting a whole nother night's sleep by the end of the week.

00:33:01.176 --> 00:33:04.906
I mean, how amazing is that to get a whole extra night's sleep?

00:33:05.146 --> 00:33:07.517
There's no making it up on the weekends, right?

00:33:08.086 --> 00:33:10.876
We're, we're not getting a whole nother night's sleep on the weekends.

00:33:10.906 --> 00:33:14.267
I, I don't think, I don't think most people are sleeping halfway through each day.

00:33:14.821 --> 00:33:15.271
No.

00:33:15.287 --> 00:33:17.656
Um, but it doesn't really work that either way, either.

00:33:17.656 --> 00:33:20.507
You cannot just make up for the sleep that you missed all week.

00:33:20.511 --> 00:33:21.196
It, it doesn't.

00:33:21.497 --> 00:33:26.017
But if you can get at extra hour every night, that is a huge difference.

00:33:26.762 --> 00:33:33.413
So start small, make it doable, cuz if it's not doable, you're just gonna give up and go right back to how you were doing it before.

00:33:34.032 --> 00:33:34.512
Perfect.

00:33:34.532 --> 00:33:35.282
I love that.

00:33:36.032 --> 00:33:36.363
All right.

00:33:36.363 --> 00:33:40.653
Why don't you, tell people where they can find you online if they wanna hear more about.

00:33:41.577 --> 00:33:44.117
About this and, the other areas of your expertise.

00:33:44.883 --> 00:33:45.363
Sure, yeah.

00:33:45.363 --> 00:33:46.893
You can find me on Facebook.

00:33:46.952 --> 00:33:48.303
Um, Robin Powers?

00:33:49.202 --> 00:33:49.472
Yeah.

00:33:49.472 --> 00:33:50.883
R o b y n n.

00:33:50.913 --> 00:33:51.482
Powers.

00:33:51.843 --> 00:33:59.012
I have a free, uh, Group for moms, busy moms that wanna work on their health, fitness, and wellbeing.

00:33:59.012 --> 00:34:03.692
And that's motivated moms for health, fitness, and a joyful life.

00:34:04.113 --> 00:34:07.383
And then I also have a website, simply embellished life.com.

00:34:07.923 --> 00:34:08.672
Okay, great.

00:34:08.702 --> 00:34:10.532
All those links, will be in the show notes.

00:34:10.532 --> 00:34:15.543
And thank you again, Robin, for coming on and for sharing all of your wisdom, it's been great.

00:34:16.148 --> 00:34:17.333
thanks so much for having me.

00:34:20.007 --> 00:34:21.476
hey, thanks for listening today.

00:34:21.777 --> 00:34:26.956
If you're ready to get some personalized coaching from me, I'd encourage you to schedule a free strategy session.

00:34:27.626 --> 00:34:35.217
Visit www.wellwithlisa.as.me or it's easier just to find that link in the show notes.

00:34:35.547 --> 00:34:38.757
We'll talk about where you currently are with your weight loss goals.

00:34:38.996 --> 00:34:40.856
And I'll give you some actionable tools.

00:34:41.036 --> 00:34:43.097
You can start implementing right away.

00:34:43.804 --> 00:34:48.474
Before you go, make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you can receive new episodes, right when they're released.

00:34:48.864 --> 00:34:54.014
And if you're learning something new and enjoying the podcast, I'd love for you to leave me a five star rating and a review.

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Thanks again for joining me, Lisa Salisbury in this episode of Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well.