258-SYNCPodcast_WomenMoreSleep

[00:00:00] Jenny Swisher: Welcome friends to this episode of the Sync Your Life podcast. Today we’re diving into how much sleep women really need. This is a topic that keeps coming up in my circles and it’s with good reason. Turns out many of us have known for a while now that we just simply require more sleep than our male counterparts.

[00:01:14] Jenny Swisher: Yet science is just now catching up. Why? Well, simply because most research in the health space has been done on the male body because women’s hormones make things too complex according to researchers. It hasn’t been until the last decade or so that pioneers in this space are finally stepping up to the plate and looking at the female body and even the menstrual cycle and how it pertains to things like sleep.

[00:01:35] Jenny Swisher: Everything I’m sharing with you in today’s podcast comes from PubMed, which I’ll make sure that I link up for you in the show notes, but I have to say all of this makes sense to me. As a personal story, I can attest to the fact that in the 18 years that my husband and I have been married, I have seen firsthand how much better he functions on little sleep and how poorly I do.

[00:01:53] Jenny Swisher: In fact, when my oldest daughter was born, and of course she only seemed to want me during the middle of the night, I burned out completely. Talk about adrenal fatigue. I was the definition of adrenal fatigue as a newborn mom.

[00:02:03] Jenny Swisher: Sleeping less than four hours a night with a newborn, I know every young mom listening can remember this haze. Even the caffeine doesn’t touch the newborn mom woes. And I know for me, when it came time to consider a second child, I didn’t have it in me. I just didn’t. I literally had burnout with adrenal fatigue, and as much as I wanted more children, I didn’t physically think I could do it.

[00:02:23] Jenny Swisher: Enter my compounding pharmacist, a good friend of mine, and someone very knowledgeable in hormones. And when I told him about where we were with life and how we wanted to have more children but I was feeling really burned out, his answer was simple. He said, well your husband can just take on the nights.

[00:02:37] Jenny Swisher: Huh? I mean, trust me, my husband and I have shared responsibility of child rearing, but what did he mean? He went on to tell me about the sleep differences between men and women and even the hormonal differences and I couldn’t believe just how much all of it made sense. Fast forward to 2020 when we adopted our youngest and my husband became the primary night parent, I put that in quotations, and our roles reversed.

[00:02:59] Jenny Swisher: It shocked me how much better he handled the lack of sleep than me. Now granted, I do suffer from migraines and he does not, but still the evidence was there. We know that on average, even couples without children Women require at least 20 to 30 more minutes of sleep in the morning than their male counterparts.

[00:03:15] Jenny Swisher: While men may more likely pop out of bed in the morning, women likely require more of a slow get up. Once again, I know this is true in my situation. One study shows that while men require seven quality hours of sleep per night for optimal health, women average a need for eight hours and 27 minutes of quality sleep per night with more like nine to 10 hours on their menstrual period.

[00:03:37] Jenny Swisher: Can I get a hallelujah for more sleep on our periods, please? I mean, this makes total sense. Our estrogen and progesterone have hit rock bottom when our bleed begins, and our hormone tank is on empty. And we are just ready for a freakin nap. And now we have the research to show that we really do require that nap.

[00:03:55] Jenny Swisher: So what about women in perimenopause, women who are 35 and over who claim that sleep is one of the first issues that can arise? Oftentimes, women in their 40s will complain to me about their anxiety or their inability to fall or stay asleep once perimenopause hits. And it makes physiological sense.

[00:04:12] Jenny Swisher: Progesterone is our calming hormone that aids in relaxation and sleep, and as it declines naturally in perimenopause, it makes sense that our ability to sleep well does also. This is yet another reason why women should consider bioidentical hormone replacement therapy and a functional approach to their health.

[00:04:28] Jenny Swisher: Using bioidentical progesterone in perimenopause can be a game changer, and I have said that from experience. So if we know better, we can do better, right? Perhaps now is when we give ourselves grace and say, Yeah, I’m tired and I require more rest. Taking time to do the things that rejuvenate us, to simply lie down or to sleep more or to go to bed earlier, might just be exactly what we’re missing.

[00:04:50] Jenny Swisher: In the SLEEP program, I discuss the five fundamentals of hormone balance, and the first one is sleep for good reason. Sleep is our ultimate reboot. It’s our brain’s downtime for hormone recharge. SLEEP If we aren’t getting adequate sleep, we’re putting ourselves into the negative when it comes to fighting any hormonal imbalance.

[00:05:07] Jenny Swisher: We can’t exercise or diet our way to hormone balance, but by prioritizing sleep first and foremost, we can truly be on our way to making the right strides. So my question for you today is this, how can you get more quality sleep? Do you have a sleep routine? Are you making it a priority in your own life?

[00:05:25] Jenny Swisher: I will link up my favorite nighttime magnesium and L theanine combination supplement that I use to help with sleep. But I just want to say here that making the time to create a nighttime routine is key for everyone. Especially in our late 30s and 40s in that perimenopausal decade. Let your husband be the one to make the coffee in the morning.

[00:05:43] Jenny Swisher: You stay in bed for a few minutes longer if you need to. After all, you’re the caretaker to many and you wear all the hats and you deserve and require the extra rest. My friends, this is a really important topic. And while it’s very, very basic in nature, it’s important to note, that’s why I wanted to make a special podcast episode for this.

[00:06:00] Jenny Swisher: Every single day, I have women in my inbox complaining about their energy. They’re tired, they’re fatigued, they’re not keeping up with their kids and their families and all the crazy schedules. A lot of times, I really do think it comes back to the fact that we think we’re supposed to be living in a man’s world.

[00:06:15] Jenny Swisher: We’re supposed to be living a 9 to 5 circadian life when really we’re infraredian. and we truly as women require more sleep. So I don’t know about you, but I’m going to start putting some timers in my phone. I’m going to start making sure that I get to bed at a decent hour, that I’m blocking out the blue light, that I’m allowing myself enough time in the mornings to get with it and to get moving because truly this is what women need.

[00:06:36] Jenny Swisher: Finally, the research is being done on women and we can see that women do in fact require this much sleep. I hope this has been helpful to you, my friends. Consider it your permission to sleep in next time you can. Share this out with all your friends, and until next time, we’ll talk soon. Bye bye.