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

…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!

2. 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.

3. 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).

4. 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

5. 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!