Why don't I feel recharged after I sleep? How to sleep like my baby girl.

During my first Facebook Chat on Yahoo Health 2 weeks ago, although the topic was sex and libido, everyone was asking me why they were so tired and what they could do about it. So I wanted to bring my thoughts and functional nutrition know-how here to you! It's so nice to do this healthy living stuff together.Ideally, you would fall asleep easily around 10pm, wake up refreshed around 6am and you not wake up at all in the middle of the night.Why is this ideal? Not because your mom wants you to do it, but because it syncs perfectly with your adrenal output of cortisol. Cortisol in the right concentration is actually a big part of what wakes you up in the morning without an alarm clock.Tweetable: FLOsleep means I don’t even need an alarm to wake up!I too struggled with sleep and fatigue for years due to my hormonal issues. In addition to being overloaded with estrogen, deficient in good gut bacteria, chronically sick, overweight, hypoglycemic, not to mention missing periods - I couldn't fall asleep until 1 or 2 am and I couldn't drag myself out of bed in the morning - and that grog-fog would not lift until after lunch.So I've lived this situation like you might be experiencing it now, and I'm here to tell you, you can fix this with food and some lifestyle changes!By the way, I don't use an alarm anymore because I fixed my cortisol issues. Frankly I hate that jarring noise first thing in the morning, it’s definitely not good for the adrenals.

Disconnected Sleep Cues

The biggest issue we face is that we somehow get it in our heads that we should push past our fatigue. We learn this at an early age and we lose the ability to feel the cues for sleep that our body is sharing with us. I see this with my daughter now. She gets tired, rubs her eyes, wants a little sip off the nip, a cuddle, and then she's out. There's no fighting it, it's a routine and she sleeps often!We on the other hand, push, push, push, and get so wired and chronically fatigued-feeling, that we can't discern our bodies system shutdown signals for immediate sleep.

What's your sleep story?

1 - can't fall asleep until super late = you're getting a surge of cortisol too late in the evening and it's keeping you awake2 - wake up around 3am = toxic liver3 - super light sleeper, any little thing wakes you up = vitamin K deficient4 - wake up super groggy = hypoglycemia5 - wake up to urinate = magnesium deficiencyThe long term solution here of course are the first 3 steps of the FLO protocol - stabilize your blood sugar, heal your adrenals, and detox from estrogen. However, I want to put you on a path to better sleep THIS WEEK so I've also got some quick fixes for you to try.

FLO Fix:

1 - late night cortisol surge - take oat straw tincture at 5pm and 8pm2 - toxic liver - take milk thistle at 3pm and 6pm3 - light sleeper - calcium w/vit K4 - foggy wake up - no carbs at dinner5 - chronic urination - take magnesium glycinate dailyEat this today to sleep better tonight!Of course supplements alone won’t fix your sleep issues, so I wanted to make sure you had a better sleep meal plan - each of these meals have been curated with foods that address all 5 Sleep Pattern Problems!B: Steel cut oatmeal with bananas, blueberries, and flaxL: Buckwheat brussels sprout salad with sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, and a dressing of mustard, lemon juice, coconut oilD: 4 oz turkey tenderloin, spaghetti squash primavera with zucchini, peas, broccoli florets,and shitake mushroomsOther Sleep Promoting Essentials:For those of you who are really needing support, add these lifestyle changes to the food and supplements listed above:1 - No Caffeine - try Kukicha Twig Tea by Choice Organics or Organic Rooibos Chai2 - Install an App - Use a blue light filter on your laptop to decrease the stimulating light you receive from your devices3 - Move - 20 minutes - anything you can do - walking, stairs, yoga4 - Orgasm - But, not with your vibrator! Get in bed, spend some time, and fall asleep right after!

Now, we want to hear from you!

First: What's your sleep story?Second: Which #FLOsleep fix are you going to try tonight?Third: You know every one you know is hormonal – spread a little good ovary karma and share this article on social by clicking the buttons below

Need more Hormone Help?

If you’re needing some health upgrading, it’s time you started you looking into what’s going on with your hormones.I’ve designed a 4 day hormone detox and evaluation to help you understand exactly what’s out of whack and how you can start getting back to balance so that your hormones no longer have to suffer.Click here to get your FREE detox and evaluation!