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How to Fix Sleep Debt or Ease out of Dieting
So now that we talked about all of the problems with too little sleep and with dieting, how do we fix it?
{This is Part 3/3 of this series. See Part 1 here and Part 2 here.}
One step at a time.
With both of these scenarios, our body has been denied a basic need. It may take time to rebuild your body’s trust in you. That’s okay. We’ll get there with time and effort.
Create habits.
Your body will deal with what you give it, for better or worse. When it’s deprived of something (in this case, food or sleep), it will first intensify the signals for you to sleep or eat.
Once your body gets the picture that you are going to ignore those signals, it will stop sending them. That is one reason why your diet or lack of sleep might feel easier after a while.
We need to work, through consistency and habits, to reestablish and respect normal signals.
With sleep, try to go to bed at the same time- even if it’s later than you’d like. Then move it up by 10 minutes for a few nights. Then another 10. Whatever can work for your schedule. Your body will get used to this and start sending sleep signals at an appropriate time and with consistency, those nighttime cortisol levels that were keeping you awake at 11 pm will start to diminish.
With food, if you’re skipping meals, start with breakfast, ideally within an hour after you wake up. Then, plan to eat something at least every 4-5 hours. You might not feel hungry at first. But your body will get used to it and over time, your body will start to expect food at that time and will respond (appropriately, and healthfully) with hunger.
If you’ve been restricting the amount of food you’re eating, try adding one extra serving of food per day. Then work up to two, and so on. Again, a good rule of thumb is to go no longer than 4-5 hours without eating.
Give yourself grace.
This has been the hardest for me.
I feel like I should be able to balance everything – work, kids, time with husband, cleaning the house, showering, exercise, sleep – but right now, I’m in a phase of life where it is really a challenge.
I am blessed to have others willing to help, but it is difficult to ask for help. This season will eventually pass and things will get easier. (I’m counting down to April – my other two kids were about 9 months old when they stopped waking for night feedings.)
If you’ve been told by anyone – your doctor, your family, a magazine or other media – that you need to diet to be healthy or you need to lose weight to be healthy, it may come as a surprise that you don’t.
As women especially, we are told, “Eat less, eat less, EAT LESS!” Until when? Until we’re eating nothing? Not only does that sound like a really boring way to live, but I’m not sure how I’m supposed to do all.the.things when I have (literally) no energy/calories and am constantly hungry.
If you are worried…
…about what a healthy eating plan (or eating in general) looks like without dieting, contact me. That’s why I’m here!