Month: May 2023

Matrescence

5 ways to manage postpartum fatigue and function on little sleep (that don’t include coffee!)

Whether it’s tending to your sick children, a racing mind due to financial stress or anxiety, your little ones waking from nightmares or bet-wetting, newborn night-feeds…

…or your body just being super used to being woken and then waking automatically when there’s no good reason (gah I hate this one!)…

…and you find yourself getting super frustrated that your partner seems to be oblivious to it all! (like seriously!)

…disrupted sleep is bloody tough!

To put the scale of the issue into perspective, studies suggest on average we lose the equivalent of 2-3 MONTHS of sleep in the first 6 years of motherhood! Faaaaarrrk!

Lack of sleep affects our mood, appetite, patience, cognition, and energy levels, which can make parenting and work (life let’s face it!) even more challenging.

That’s why I wanted to share some insights I’ve made during my struggles these last couple of months, so you have more tools in your toolbox than just a bazillion coffees to make it through the day!

Most of you likely rely on a good ol’ cuppa joe, but maybe you’ve had so much your adenosine receptors are downregulated and caffeine no longer gives you the kick used to…

…or you’ve got flagging adrenals, and the gitters and anxiety caffeine gives just makes you feel worse!

So, what’s a girl to do?

Here are my top tips to help you get through the day!

 

  1. Yoga Nidra

Yoga Nidra can be a game changer as studies show 30 mins of practice is equivalent to 2 hours of deep sleep!

It also helps reset the nervous system to manage stress better, which is especially useful when sleep deprived!

I’m recording 10- and 20-minute versions for my Radiant Mumma’s soon but let me know if you’d like a copy by replying ‘Yoga Nidra’ and I’ll send them to you!

 

  1. Breathwork

By increasing oxygen flow to the body and brain, breathwork can help to energise you and reduce fatigue, while also boosting mindfulness and focus, leading to a greater sense of alertness.

You can use breathwork to stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system, promoting relaxation and reducing stress and tension. This can lead to a calmer and more centered state, which can contribute to a feeling of increased energy and vitality.

Or you can use breathwork to activate the sympathetic nervous system providing a temporary energy boost and improving focus.

I like to use a combination I learnt from Ari Whitten that includes breath holds.

Breath holds increase carbon dioxide levels in the body and can stimulate the respiratory centers to increase breathing rate and depth upon resuming breathing, which leads to improved mental clarity and alertness.

I’m recording my favourite short 5-min practice for my Radiant Mumma’s soon so reach out and say ‘breathwork!’ if you’d like a copy.

 

  1. Sunshine & nature

Sunshine, especially in the morning, is like coffee for your eyeballs!

It stimulates your Cortisol Awakening Response helping to set your circadian rhythm (your sleep wake cycle) for the day.

Sunshine also helps convert the cholesterol in your skin to vitamin D, and it provides you with free redlight therapy to help charge your mitochondria (your cellular energy makers).

If you live in a place that gets little sunlight through part of the year, check out a Sperti Vitamin D Sunlamp for the family and/or redlight therapy.

Combining this with time in nature, ideally with bare skin on the earth, is also going to ground you.

Grounding appears to improve sleep, normalize the day–night cortisol rhythm, reduce pain, reduce stress, shift the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic toward parasympathetic activation (from fight, flight, freezer to rest, digest, repair), increase heart rate variability (resilience to stress), and reduce blood viscosity (better oxygenation of tissues, and nutrient transport).

 

  1. Adrenal cocktail

Our adrenals are like the body’s generator, kicking in when the main line (inc. the thyroid) needs an extra hand – like it does when we’re under stress from lack of sleep!

The adrenals are where our stress hormones are made, which are stimulatory and give us that get up and go (AKA get the hell outta there if there was a tiger chasing you).

They do this, however, by breaking the body down to produce quick fuel (glucose) – this is partly why our carb cravings go up during times of stress.

The adrenal cocktail contains nourishing nutrients for the adrenals.

I like to have mine either mid-morning or mid-arvo…or both!

My standard go to recipe is:

  • 4oz/100ml pure orange juice from real oranges
  • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar/Pico Potassium or ⅛ teaspoon potassium chloride
  • ¼ teaspoon unrefined sea salt (I like Crucial Four or Mizzi)
  • 1 heaped teaspoon baobab powder
  • 4oz/100ml coconut water or filtered water
  • 2-4oz/50-100ml raw milk/coconut milk
  • 1 tablespoon collagen

 

  1. Shilajit

The active ingredient in shilajit is fulvic acid. It is the same thing that the microbes in the soil create to uptake minerals – and minerals are what’s needed for energy and for your body to function.

It acts as a delivery system to drive the 84+ organic minerals into the cell.

It’s believed to help transport other nutrients in the body, facilitate energy production within mitochondria, and support the body’s detoxification processes.

A 2012 study published in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology found that shilajit helped reduce symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome in test subjects. 

Researchers noted that shilajit might help improve cell functions in the body, which means it may reduce fatigue at the source of the problem and increase energy levels naturally.

You can get a 5% discount on the shilajit I buy HERE (use code CARLA).

Start very small and work up to about a pea size of the resin dissolved in hot water with a little honey (cos it tastes bloody terrible if you don’t!).

It’s best to take shilajit first thing in the morning as it’s so energising – you don’t want it to affect your sleep!

 

Which are you going to try first?!

Off course, on top of these resources that help get you through the day, your sleep quality and sleep hygiene (the practices and habits that promote healthy sleep) are going to be something you also want to work on…but I’ll save that for another post!

I’d love to hear your favorite go-to tips for getting through the day, so I can share them with other mummas!

 

Matrescence

Nervous System Regulation vs. Mineral Deficiency: Which do you need?

I don’t know about you but everywhere I look on social media at the moment I see people talking about dysregulated nervous systems!

It should be no surprise given the health of our nervous system is integral to our well-being…yet whilst I use and recommend practices like breathwork, mindfulness, meditation, time in nature etc., which are all hugely beneficial here…I feel like most of these people are leaving out a key issue necessary for us to be able to properly regulate…
 
The key thing they’re missing is that most of us are severely mineral deficient, and this massively impacts the ability of these practices to manage our nervous system regulation effectively.
 
So is it nervous system regulation you need to focus on, or is it’s a mineral deficiency you need to restore?…

 

Symptoms of a dysregulated nervous system

  • Frequent energy slumps
  • Attention/concentration problems – brain fog and trouble focusing
  • Digestive issues – bloating cramping, reflux
  • Hormonal issues – PMS, dizziness, fluid retention
  • Anxiety, worried thoughts, frustration
  • Trouble sleeping
  • Mood swings, irritable, snappy, overreacting, emotional

 

Symptoms of a mineral deficiency

…see above!

Yep they’re the same! So what’s the answer?!

Well, they each lead to the other so that’s kind of a chicken and egg situation.

What causes nervous system dysregulation?

Nervous system dysregulation can happen when we’re in the fight/flight/freeze mode for too long.

This branch of our autonomic nervous system is called the sympathetic nervous system in contrast to our parasympathetic side, which is associated with rest/digest/repair.

In simple terms the sympathetic response is the ‘stress’ response and when we have too many stressors inputting to our system (our body) it causes numerous drains on our mineral reserves which are needed to make energy, as well as allow proper absorption of nutrients, movement of wastes and nutrients in and out of cells, proper nerve conduction, and much more.

Stress is a constant state of on.

It stimulates the production of cortisol at the expense of our sex hormones, and energy is conserved from the various systems in the body, in order to respond to the ‘threat’.

This means ‘less vital’ systems slow (things like reproduction and digestion) as energy is burned up with ‘being on’ all the time.

Whether they’re imagined stresses about the safety of our children, real stressors with a challenging relationship, or external stressors like toxins in our environment, our body essentially responds by burning through vital mineral stores needed to make the energy required to respond.

As mums we can have a constant input of worries, tasks to arrange, things to remember/organise/plan for etc. on top of fighting kids, annoying toy sounds, house chores, work and financial stress, spilt drinks on your newly cleaned floor, escalating piles of laundry…all draining our reserves.

So whilst working to calm your nervous system with things like breathwork, thought-work, meditation, and time in nature will most definitely help slow mineral loss whilst also helping you manage your stressors and stay more calm…

…if you aren’t properly replenishing your mineral stores that keep getting called on each day, with adequate nutrition and supplementation…it’s going to challenge your ability to do this well.

But…

If you could also support missing minerals that actually help calm the nervous system internally by taking a supplement and eating certain foods…

Well, it’ll be a heck of a lot easier for you to achieve more peace and calm and you’ll get more lasting results, quicker.

Ok so that’s the nervous system work to help manage emotional stressors first, which will help slow the drain on minerals, but what about the other way round?

Could a mineral deficiency occur first, which then goes on to impact your nervous system regulation and abilty to cope under stress?

Sure can!

Your nervous system may be doing absolutely fine then:

  • Your diet doesn’t contain enough of the right nutrients to properly nourish your body – maybe you’ve switched diets, started a different routine that has different demands on you, or you have some other external influence that effects how and what you eat.
  • You have a baby which depletes you of 10% of your minerals, and these reserves aren’t sufficiently replenished, then you experience sleepless nights, breastfeeding, and big changes to your life that further deplete you.
  • You have a toxic burden that your body is unable to clear which drains your mineral reserves A common one I see here is a copper imbalance that is impacting your iron metabolism and depleting your ‘zen minerals’ driving anxiety, irritation, and intrusive thoughts whilst also hindering the body’s energy production. Another is mercury toxicity draining zinc, which impacts stomach acid production and hence digestion and absorption of nutrients, whilst also hindering the body’s defence against gut pathogens, which further deplete the body and contribute to even more toxic burden.

If any of the above happen then vital minerals needed to help maintain a calm nervous system and produce sufficient energy may be lost, and this may lead to nervous system dysregulation.

So what to do?

Nervous system work alone won’t replenish depleted mineral stores needed to properly regulate yourself and allow your body system to function optimally, and…

…working just to replenish your minerals with diet and supplementation isn’t going to be sufficient if your lifestyle stressors keep you in a sympathetic domnant state that continues to drain you.

But, if you knew which minerals you were deficient in, you’d know which foods and supplements you needed most to help your body replenish and manage all it’s trying to do…kinda like mitigating for the inevitable stress we get in life…

…then topping up with the nervous system support is going to ensure you don’t keep on depleting those stores, thereby allowing your body to switch into rest-digest-repair mode, replenish and be more resilient to stress.

You can’t have one without the other if you want to properly heal and feel amazing…believe me I’ve tried!

I believed I could be the mum that could do it all right now in that moment.

The business, the clients, the homesteading, the parenting, the homeschooling, the ‘wifeing’, the good friend, the self-care rituals, the homecooking, the chores…

I could biohack my way to achieving everything now that I knew exactly what my body was missing.

But my nutrition couldn’t out run my draining lifestyle.

My mineral levels remained low, my worst symptoms little changed, despite all my nutritional therapy.

I needed to find another way.

I learnt we can do everything and anything we want…just not all at once.

We move through seasons in our own life, our monthly cycle, and in our mothering role.

Truly healing our depleted broken bodies requires 3 key steps:

  1. Uncovering the hidden stressors and drains that are depleting us and/or causing our dysfunctions
  2. The right nourishment with quality food, supplementation, rest, and sleep
  3. Nervous system healing and transformation to connect back to ourselves and our passions

That’s when our light stops being dimmed and we can radiate as the beautiful lights that we are.

There’s levels to healing in each of these areas, and this can be overwhelming to tackle when we’re already feeling fried and overburdened.

This is why I developed my 3-phase program, Radiate from Within, to help walk you through the steps all in your own time, whilst being supported in a community of women doing the same!

I’d love to see you on the inside!