Speaker 1 (00:00):
I mean, that might be pretty, I’m sure people can, can relate. Most, most people have absolutely pandemic hair, so <laugh>, uh, okay. Awesome. So I, I it says we’re live. Hopefully we are. Okay, cool. And if, if not, we will just, I can upload the recording cuz it is recording. So, awesome. Awesome. So I’m here with Sophie Shepherd, a functional diagnostic Nutritional practitioner. That’s a mouthful.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
It is <laugh>
Speaker 1 (00:31):
And Holistic health Coach and also the host of an amazing radio show that I, uh, got a chance to, to jump on and share some tips about sleep, uh, a couple weeks ago. And we decided that we should do a little follow up here and talk all things sleep, stress, and digestion, because of course, all of those things are connected and interplay with each other. So, Sophie’s gonna be sharing some, some knowledge bombs on hormones. We’re gonna talk about sleep, why it’s so important to get sleep, how sleep impacts hormones, how stress impacts sleep, how stress impacts hormones, and how it all kind of fits together here. So we got, we got a lot to talk about. Um, so why don’t we start off with chatting a little bit about how all of these things kind of interplay stress hormones, digestion, it’s kind of this, you know, inner web of, of, of hormones triggering releasing sleep. It’s like it can’t get complicated, right? It can’t. So why don’t, why don’t we start off chatting a little bit about, you know, how all of this is connected, stress, sleep, hormones and digestion.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Yeah. I think, well you, you kind of said it, it can get really, uh, hard to figure out and get complicated. But one of the things I love about what you and I do is we try to make it not complicated for people. Yeah. And if, if you all take nothing else away from our conversation today, know that when it comes to this stuff, the basics and the foundations are so essential. So when we can optimize sleep, when we can optimize digestion, when we can optimize our hormones, these are are crucial. And so much of it can be regulated by what we put in our mouth, how we manage our stress, how much sleep we’re getting. Like those just foundational things can really make a huge difference. Especially when you’re talking about more complicated things like the hormonal cascade that happens in women’s hormones, which is my specialty, or digestion, which is also one of my specialties. Um, we wanna make sure we always come back to the foundation. So I’ll just say that first in case anyone’s like, oh gosh, it’s gonna be so complicated,
Speaker 1 (02:39):
<laugh>. Yeah. We’ll try to, we’ll try to speak as simply and, uh, actionable, you know, give some actionable takeaways for like, what people can do that, you know, are curious about maybe what tests they should get or, you know. Yeah. That’s, that’s important. Cause a lot of people, they know that something’s off because they’re not, and maybe their menstruation is off or something. Hormonally is just not right. And maybe they even had a, some sort of quest test done, but they don’t really know, you know, how to make sense of it. Their doctor really doesn’t know how to holistically treat it. So I, I think why don’t we start with talking about how sleep and hormones, you know, the importance of how when we optimize our hormones, how that impacts our sleep and how when we get better sleep that impacts our hormones. I think that would be like a, a cool place to start and then we can dive into some other fun things.
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Yeah, I mean, one of the things that I always like to bring up around kind of sleep is that sleep impacts the menstrual cycle because while we sleep, we release certain hormones and when we get disrupted sleep, like a lot of my ladies who have kids are getting waking up in woken up in the middle of the night and they’re not getting their REM sleep and it’s taking, it’s kind of stopping their hormones from being released normally through the night. And that’s kind of, remember sleep is a really regenerative process, like as you I’m sure talk about all the time mm-hmm. Including with our hormones. And our body’s really smart. It’ll, it’ll do everything it can to remain in homeostasis, but when it doesn’t get its fundamental things like sleep can really start to cause issues. So sleep, um, lack of sleep can cause issues.
(04:15)
And I actually pulled something for you that I thought you might want. I pulled this from, um, I pulled this quote from a book because I thought it might be really helpful to hear just exactly from her, um, from her words from Lisa Hendrickson and Jack’s book. Um, and on page 1 91, if anyone has the book, it says that, um, not only does that, we know that the circadian rhythm regulates our hormones, but this is what she says, exposing your body to light at night disrupts your hypo, uh, pituitary ovarian menstrual cycle hpo, which I’ll explain in a second. And that can cause not only your cycle to dysregulate, but pain with your period. Okay. Early miscarriage, preterm birth, low birth weight, infertility. And when they did, they did studies on shift workers, 50% increase in endometriosis for people who were working through the night.
(05:08)
Wow. So, yes. So I just thought that those were really powerful words from Lisa Hendrickson Jack. And what she’s talking about is that just like our adrenals, which we’ll talk about in a second, with, with stress, the hypothalamus and the pituitary in the brain are kind of our master control system. And they send other, they send hormone signaling to other parts of the body, including our ovaries. So that’s what she’s talking about. That chain from our brain to our ovaries can get disrupted when we don’t get good quality sleep. And that can lead to all of those different issues. It’s not just one size fits all. It’s what’s true for you and how is it getting disrupted and what’s your chain reaction. So, um, so we really have to look at how we can optimize sleep, getting on back on the circadian rhythm for sure that I’m sure you can talk about more even than I can, but also making sure we’re sleeping through the night. I, I have every woman who comes to see me with menstrual cycle issues does not sleep well. And you cannot fix your menstrual cycle hormones unless you’re getting good sleep.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
Wow. That’s really interesting. I mean, it’s, it’s, I know one of the biggest problems right now, uh, a lot of millennials and younger people that are trying to have kids, and I know a a lot of people that are having issues, they, you know, they want to start having kids and they’re not able to. And it’s, uh, you know, and it’s stress and it’s, you know, the not sleeping right. Because the result of the stress and then, you know, that pressure of, oh my God, you know, not am I ever gonna be able to have a, you know, baby or whatever, that adds more stress. Right. And then it’s, it’s really sad cuz it’s, um, it’s a massive problem right now. Like infertility and, and just fertility issues are like a huge problem. Uh, and sometimes it’s interesting because sometimes it can be the, the really the simplest things like, you know, how are you managing your stress and are you getting good sleep and, and you know, really laying the foundation and, and helping people understand how important and powerful it is to get good sleep and how that plays into, and ma and master stress as I like to say, how that plays into like giving your body the opportunity to, to have that miracle happen.
(07:25)
Right.
Speaker 2 (07:25):
Ab Absolutely. And I, and I I agree. I’ve been hearing so, so many calls with people who are struggling with infertility and it’s so frustrating right now because all of the IVF cycles have been paused or stopped. So even if you had paid to get into an IVF cycle during coronavirus, it’s probably been stopped. Um, and what’s, but what’s interesting, and I’ll shed some light for anyone who is dealing with infertility, is there are so many things that you can do that are simple to support fertility while like naturally and lay that foundation while you’re still in, in lockdown and sleep and stress are the, are would be number one and number two on the top of my list. And I think, you know, it’s a good segue into, I I did a, on the radio show on the She Talks health radio show I did, um, some of the common causes behind infertility with Anna Sassier, who’s the founder of Cycle Power Summit.
(08:17)
And if you are dealing with infertility, would highly recommend go going ahead and getting that, um, cycle power summit. But she talked about her journey through infertility and all of her fundamentals. And one of the biggest things she said, and we spent a lot of time on it, was, was stress was how much this is affecting her emotionally and how much right now going through covid 19 feels similar to her experience going through seven years of infertility. Wow. So I think that, you know, that’s really big. I also wanna just say for people who aren’t looking to get pregnant, but I, I talk to, I have so many clients that are, you know, in, in horrible menstrual horrible menstrual pain because of their lack of sleep. And that’s, or because of a million other things. Right. We have to look at the whole picture. Yeah. And, um, and it’s like, you gotta look at all of those factors and it’s not just necessarily about having a baby, it’s about the woman’s having an optimal health and optimal life too. You know?
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah. So, I mean, obviously I’m not a woman <laugh>, I I am married, you know, so, but, but I mean that’s, it’s not normal to have painful menstrual cycles or is that, is that something that, you know, that’s not normal, right?
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Nope. Painful menstrual cycles is not normal. Pmms is not normal. And I don’t mean, I don’t mean to say that. Like, if that’s happening to you, you know, you’re not normal. That’s not never my, it’s,
Speaker 1 (09:37):
It’s the norm. Right. It’s the norm, but it’s not normal.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Right. Yeah. Well I always say, um, PMs and painful menstrual cycles are common. They’re not normal. Oh,
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Right. Yeah. You know, insomnia is common, but it’s not optimal. Right. It’s not normal. It’s not what our bodies are supposed to do. So, um, anytime we have a symptom like insomnia, right. Or, um, painful menstrual cycles or whatever it is for you, skin issues, that’s a screaming sign or maybe a little whisper from the body until it becomes a screaming sign that you need to listen and figure out what’s going on there at the root. Um, and that’s really the end of the day what, um, what I do. And I know that’s what you do around sleep. So
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Yeah. It’s so, it’s so great. I mean, that’s such an important thing to, you can’t kinda share enough because it’s so, so, so frequent that people just ignore the signs and they keep brushing it under the rug until it builds up and it becomes this bigger problem. And I know you’re, you know, on a mission to inspire, you know, you know, as many people as possible to, to, you know, really catch it before it gets to, I can’t have a baby or catch it before it gets, it turns into something worse. And oftentimes it means human nature to like not change something until it’s more painful not to change. Right. That’s just human psychology.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Totally. Yep. <laugh>.
Speaker 1 (10:56):
But, but at the same time it’s like, you know, if you just like, this is an amazing opportunity cuz it forces, it forced everyone to slow down and, and now it’s like, now’s the time to deal with some of this stuff. Like, if now is the best time, if you’re having some sort of weird health issue, if you’re having insomnia, if you’re having menstrual issues, um, or, or whatever, like what a what a beautiful opportunity where you have the space and actually the time to, to focus on, you know, looking under the hood and seeing, hey, what’s under there? Right? Yeah. And, and figuring out, okay, well now time really shouldn’t be, you know, an excuse or it’s like, just address it now so that when the world does open back up, which hopefully is in a couple sooner than later couple weeks, if not sooner, you know, you, you’re, you’re feeling you’re already on that path of, of better balance.
(11:48)
Um, and you know, I I was talking to a guy last night who terrible insomniac 10 and, um, you know, and I, and we were having this conversation and he’s like, uh, you know, I I I wanna solve it now, but I have all these, you know, he had all these reasons why mm-hmm. <affirmative> now wasn’t the time. Uh, because, and he gave me an interesting analogy. He’s like, you know, it’d be like trying to start a, a diet, uh, during the holidays. And I said, okay, yeah, that maybe, and for him we decide, okay, it’s not, it’s not the right time, but you know, for a lot of people it is the right time mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And so it’s like, it’s, it’s really, you know, I think it’s important to, to tune in and, and say, okay, well what’s going on physically with my body and, and what is it trying to say? And if you don’t, if you can’t understand it, or if you don’t have the expertise or the knowledge, then seek it out. Right. And so,
Speaker 2 (12:38):
I agree, and it’s interesting, there’s, it’s kind of polar opposites, you know, people are either in total holiday mode where they’re having all the ice cream and all the alcohol, or they’re getting really serious about their health probably because they’re at home and it’s really the audience that it’s bothering them. I mean, I’m sure you’re the same way my phone’s been ringing up the hook. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so you’re not alone if you are somebody who wants to take care of your health right now.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
So let’s, let’s talk. So, you know, let’s talk about, you know, ki kind of getting back to the whole hormones and sleep. Um, yeah. What were some of the things, I guess, I guess since we were talking about menstrual cycles and we were talking about, you know, fertility, what were some, what would be some of the other sort of tips or strategies, um, outside of, you know, optimizing sleep, uh, and, and starting to, you know, understand stress and what’s causing stress. What would be some of the other things that maybe, you know, after people start doing that, which is a huge place to start, right? I’m just, I’m just kind of curious what would be some of your other,
Speaker 2 (13:41):
I would say if you’re, if we’re talking about a, uh, you know, a premenopausal woman, so, you know, we’re talking someone in her twenties, thirties, maybe forties, um, not go going through menopause or perimenopause. You’re cycling and you’re, you know, probably not on birth control or something like that. You’re kind of just naturally cycling and you’re having issues around sleep, you’re having issues around digestion, you’re having issues around your hormones and your menstrual cycle. Number one would be like, start tracking your cycle just the way you take a food log and you note what foods make you feel good and which ones don’t. The same thing’s true for your menstrual cycle. You wanna note and, and you don’t wanna just note it on what most people think is the main event where you’re bleeding, you wanna note throughout the month because your hormones, estrogen and progesterone are different.
(14:27)
D depending on where you are in the month. So for example, with estrogen, that’s gonna be the first 14 days of your cycle, and then progesterone’s gonna take over in the second half. So you might find, and everyone’s a little bit different, but for example, a drop in estrogen can leave you feeling more vulnerable to stress. But at the same time, hopefully progesterone’s coming there to save the day and give you this kind of, I call it the re the like, uh, keep calm and carry on hormone. It kind of keeps you a little bit calmer, keeps up lyes, um, a neurotransmitter called GABA in the brain. Um, and it usually helps you sleep more, kind of slows everything down. So the second half of your cycle, you’re a little slower. And you can imagine that if you are like the go, go go estrogen phase, that’s gonna be very different than the slower pace of progesterone phase of your cycle.
(15:18)
So I always think it’s really important to get a basic understanding of what these hormones do and how it affects things like, um, motility of the digestive tract. A lot of women say that they get constipated, for example, right before they get their menstrual, um, cycle right before they bleed, and then the opposite happens. So understanding those rhythms is really important. And the number one easiest way you can do that is by tracking your cycle and using an app like, um, the My Flow app or Clue, or there’s so many out there. Um, ology is a, um, is a really fun one, um, where every single day you get a new, uh, like a horoscope for your hormones. So depending on what day you are. And it’s very funny, it’ll be like you’re, you know, you’re more prone to want to shop today. So, you know, keep your credit card, you know, hidden away.
(16:05)
Um, and it’s true, it’s really funny when you start leaning in and listening to this stuff, you realize, oh my God, that makes so much sense. That’s why I’m doing this today. Versus a man, you know, you guys have the same hormones all throughout the, the day <laugh>. You have testosterone that gets released in the morning and then in the afternoon and then later in the afternoon. Again, the little tiny bursts. But you know, you, you have the same hormones throughout the day. Women are totally different. It’s the same reason why we struggle with weight. Women weigh themselves. They’re like, why am I up five pounds and my boyfriend’s done ketogenic diet and he’s lost 14, you know, <laugh>, it’s cause we’re, we’re metabolically different than men and our bodies are actually designed to store fat, um, so that we can have babies. So there’s a lot of that to it.
(16:50)
And the first thing you can do is track your cycle. And if you are having cycle related issues, um, sleep related issues, um, stress related issues, then I, and you can’t figure it out on your own. Um, and we can talk about some more strategies. I always go to what’s called the Dutch test, and that is a test that I run in my practice. Other, um, holistic and functional practitioners run it. And it gives you a full comprehensive look at your hormone breakdown. So it’s very different from when you go to your, um, gynecologist or you know, a fertility doctor who’s gonna look at the blood serum levels of your hormones. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> this test will look at how, for example, estrogen is getting metabolized through the liver. That’s very important for people that have things like PMs, painful breasts, um, acne. Right. Because that’s a, those are clear, estrogen dominant type symptoms and we need to understand why that’s happening in the body so we can correct it. So whenever there’s like a big issue like that and you’ve kind of everything you, you’re eating your fiber, you’re drinking your water, you’re sleeping through the night, you’re managing your stress mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, and you’re exercising and you’re still not seeing a change, that’s when I say, you know, seek more help, get that test and that’s gonna give you a whole lot of information you didn’t have before.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And so, uh, if I’m not mistaken, that’s a urine test, correct?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Okay. Okay. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And, and is that something that people can, can, um, you know, it gets sent to their home and they sort of just like urinate in a cup or something and <laugh>, how does that work?
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, so you need a, a Dutch practitioner, someone who’s, um, you know, able to run it like myself and to, to interpret it for you because it’s pretty complicated. It’s many pages. And I, I should show you one. It’s really, it’s fun to look at. Anyway, um, <laugh>,
Speaker 1 (18:35):
That’s pretty much the gold standard for really understanding your hormones, right? It is. That’s like a very cool,
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yeah. And you can run it at home. So like, a lot of people have been like, oh, I guess I can’t work with you cause I have to go to the some office and coronavirus. And I said, no, you, I mean, I just run everything through your home and just ship it to you. You take the test, you urinate, um, there’s some instructions in the kit and you ship it back out and a week later I get your results. And I usually go through it with, um, my team. So I, I usually go through it with like a medical doctor, um, or a naturopathic doctor or a nutritionist or an rd. Um, who’s, uh, who’s at the Dutch precision analytical is the company. Um, so I usually will review it with them and someone else on my team. Cuz I always like to have like three eyes on someone’s, um, stuff so that they get multiple opinions on what to go do with their health. You know?
Speaker 1 (19:26):
That’s, that’s fantastic. That’s, and that’s good to know. I mean, it it’s so important to, to, you know, when you’re interpreting anything, it’s, it’s, I think it’s important to get, you know, some, some second opinions. That’s great to know that you do that. Yeah. And I, I’m, I’m a total believer that you really can’t manage what you don’t measure. So I love that you’re, you know, you’re, you’re suggesting that women that, you know, track their menstrual cycles and, and what’s interesting about what you said regarding the, the hormones and like, you know, the little horoscope thing. Yeah, it’s so true. Because our hormones are on this ciad and rhythm, which is clock, right? So certain hormones get released more in certain times of the day, and especially at night, right? Like in deep sleep, we’re getting a lot of, you know, human growth hormone and testosterone and all these amazing things are happening right throughout the night. But it’s, it’s interesting to think about how that actually can play into decision making. Like, and, and perfect example of this is for me, like some, I used to get really hangry and like insulin, right? So whenever I would be hungry, I, I like mood, mood change and it’s like, whoa, yeah, what, what? I’m getting short and like, you know, hangry and my wife now carries around snacks for me. I mean, not anymore, but, you know, so it’s like
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Another thing that can be, um, caused by not getting enough sleep is your blood sugar dysregulation and that hangry feeling like you’re gonna kill somebody.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
<laugh> No, they actually did a study, Sophie that showed that it was, it was even after one night, I think, I believe it was less than five hours of sleep. Yeah. Uh, people were as insulin resistant as type two diabetes after one night. It’s
Speaker 2 (20:59):
So bad. It’s crazy.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
It’s crazy.
Speaker 2 (21:02):
But it’s, it’s not crazy because it makes so much sense when we’re sleeping, our digestive system repairs itself. You know, our stress hormones are supposed to be relaxing. You know, our, all the, all the hormones you just mentioned being released, you know, human growth, hormone, testosterone, these are things we all need. Um, and I mean, we can’t like outrun the basics. Yeah. You know, you can’t supplement your way out of not getting a good night’s sleep. Right. And, and I’m not, and it’s something that we talked about before we got on. It’s like, I’m not saying this from a place of judgment either. Like, I’m still working on my own stuff. Like I, I’m a theater nerd, um, and I have always stayed up late. My boyfriend is still in the business. He also is a, a late night person. Um, I’m down here in Jacksonville.
(21:45)
My, my mom and dad stay up pretty late as well, you know, and I just got my Dutch test back cause I always like to run it once a year and my melatonin’s slightly, slightly under, um, where it should be. And so that’s telling me that my penile gland in my brain isn’t really creating enough melatonin at night, which as you know, means I probably need to stop watching so much late night me and turn the lights down low, maybe get some of the circadian rhythm blend from vibrant blue oils. If you don’t know them, they’re awesome. Um, to support my circadian rhythm and my melatonin. And, and like, then that goes into a whole other thing, which is that, you know, melatonin and prolactin are, when they get secreted during sleep, they actually help your gut lining. So you’re gonna help the, what’s called the epithelial cell there, that lining in your small intestine to regenerate itself. It’s also gonna support the diversity in the gut microbiome. And those two things are huge too. I know we’re going into gut health, but you know, this is No, no, we, why we had to have this whole conversation. They’re all, it’s all connected <laugh>.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
It’s all connected. And, and I think it’s a, that’s a good transition into talking about, you know, stress, sleep and gut health. Because I know for me and, and in my programs, one of the big things that I address for people physiologically is, is leaky gut. And we talk about leaky gut, you know, and because it’s so common with people that suffer from insomnia, it’s so common. And, and obviously there’s, there’s the stress. You know, a lot of times people store stress, you know, in their, in their guts. Right. You know, and sometimes we store it in our neck and shoulder, sometimes our backs, but a lot of people store it in their stomach, which creates issues. Um, but it’s really, really interesting. Uh, and, and why don’t we talk a little bit about, you know, how gut health, sleep and stress sort of the dance that all that. Oh, I just, there’s a lot to talk about there.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
It’s such a, and it’s such a, something so close to my heart. Cause I’ve dealt with all of the above and you know, it’s like, I always tell my story and it’s like, people don’t understand. I had leaky, okay, so I was diagnosed with IBS and I was given a proton pump inhibitor, which reduced my acid flow in my gut, which we now know is like, I’ll get to you in a second, is the worst thing you could possibly do. But anyway, so I seven, eight years long down that line and I probably had leaky gut this entire time causing so much internal stress on my body. Right? Yep. And then you add in, I’m a theater nerd, so I’m not getting good sleep. I’m on the birth control pill, which further disregulates like my thyroid hormone and my issues in my gut, right? Um, and then you get down the road, I’m under a massive amount of emotional stress and my thyroid falls apart.
(24:24)
So you can see how like all these hormones are also connected to the gut. And so with leaky gut, this is something that is really interesting because eight years ago when I was, you know, diagnosed with leaky gut or um, intestinal hyperpermeability, what this is, is in, in the gut lining in the small intestine, you gotta think about your small intestine. Like I always think of it as a soran wrap thick. It’s only one cell. And you know, if you put like a toothpick through soran wrap, it would create a hole, right? Very easily. Well, your small intestine is where the outside world meets the inside world. You, you eat a burger goes down your, your chew it up, goes down your salus into your stomach, into your small intestine. And that’s where, by the time it gets to your small intestine, that’s where you’re supposed to be absorbing nutrients.
(25:10)
And you’re also supposed to have a chemical and a physical barrier in your small intestine that keeps out toxins and bacteria and pathogens. What happens is that due to mental emotional stress, hybridization of seeds, genetically modified organisms, pesticides, chemical exposures, uh, NSAIDs, medications, um, all of these things kind of add up and they can pull apart what’s called the tight junctions in the cell lining. So they, they’re kind of like, like this, right? They’re supposed to be tight. Um, and what happens with all that stress and all the NSAIDs and everything else, chemicals, they start to loosen. And when they loosen all of these toxic chemicals and pathogens can get through and it can trigger massive food sensitivities. So these are my ladies and men with I don’t know what to eat. Everything bothers me. Yeah. It’s because you’ve lost what’s called oral tolerance. Your intestinal lining.
(26:16)
It’s leaky gut. But we know now, eight years later, um, is this whole other layer, which is that one we have leaky gut. You have to think about the fact that that’s in your gut. That’s your immune system. Your immune system is now hyperactive. This causes autoimmunity. Um, it can get, um, the, the inflammation can get in through your lymph and your liver and then all through your entire body. So that’s why when, you know, it’s like why do I have autoimmunity in my thyroid for me? Well I had a weak link there. You know, like that just genetically, that’s where it went. Cuz it was easiest for it to go there. But it started in my gut. And so how we tie this back to sleep and to stress, and this is an epidemic. And I think, you know, it’s, it’s not really like, do I have leaky gut?
(27:03)
It’s like kind of how much leaky gut do I have? You know, <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, to be really honest, uh, yeah, Dr. Car, I think Dr. Carer’s the one that did the research on that. Like they’re kind of starting to understand that it’s a sliding scale. Yeah. Um, and when you have leaky gut can cause candida overgrowths and like parasites and things like that. So it’s a really nasty stuff. Um, but back to sleep and stress and how this impacts it. So we know that stress directly influences leaky gut directly. Not, not indirectly, like stress equals leaky gut. Like <laugh>. Cause can, it can cause that. So just like, there’s not even a complicated story behind that. I won’t even go there. It’s like I have, I will tell you, I get the trifecta every time I get the trifecta of what I have, what I have when I was going through my health journey.
(27:53)
Anxiety, gut health issues, menstrual cycle issues. Yep. Like every single time with women because we’re like running around and we’re stressed out and it’s causing all this leaky gut. And then we have chemicals and all this stuff. Right? So we have to learn ways that we like to manage our stress. We just do in order to have healthy digestion. And, um, there’s so many parts. Okay, I’m gonna go into how this affects your hormones too. So when you have leaky gut, it also means that you’re not absorbing the nutrients that you need. And we need nutrients from proteins and from fats to build healthy hormones. So if you are having a leaky gut, you’re having inflammation which can affect your hormones. Inflammation can directly disrupt your ovulation creation of hormones. But it’s also possible that you’re just not even creating enough hormones. So even if you’re eating the perfect diet, but if you have problems in the digestive system, this could mean that you’re not creating enough of thyroid hormone or, um, progesterone or estrogen. So this is a big issue. And then we put on sleep on top of that. And we know that good sleep helps you to build your, um, digestive resilience. It, it’s when things rejuvenate in your gut, it’s one melatonin and prolactin release, which support keeping out those toxins and giving your gut the ability to regenerate. So anything less than eight hours, and we are gonna have a dysbiosis starting in the gut and that can just cause more and more issues. So it it is, it does get complicated.
Speaker 1 (29:25):
Yeah. <laugh>. It does. It
Speaker 2 (29:27):
Does. And I think the thing though is that everything is connected and that’s actually a good thing. So, you know, like your stomach pain is related to your insomnia, it’s related to your menstrual cycle issues. You don’t need to see 17 different practitioners to get that handled. You just need to see one that understands that your body’s connected.
Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah. And that’s, and and thank God for, for people like yourself that, that have the education and the, the knowledge and that’s transformed their own ping and journey into, into power to help other lead other, other people that on a similar path with less suffering and save the time. Cause you know, I know there’s a lot of people, I mean, a couple years ago I had really bad leaky gut and like, you know, it’s like, it is, it’s not a matter of, you know, if you have it, it’s like how bad is it? Where’s, where is the scale and what are you doing to, to solve it? And are you even aware that you, that you have it? Or are you ignoring it? Are you ignoring the signs? Um, and it’s like, it’s so, it’s so incredible. Our bodies are like so amazing at telling us, Hey, you know, if you’re getting bloated and gassy or your stools have food in it, or if, you know, if you have like liquidy weird poops going on <laugh>, there’s something wrong, there’s something wrong, please don’t ignore that your body’s saying, Hey, you know, you got, you got, you got issues.
(30:44)
Like you need to do something different. Like,
Speaker 2 (30:47):
And I I promise you it’s a lot easier to deal with leaky gut than waiting so long, like I did to then have to deal with autoimmune issues for the rest of your life. Like, I promise <laugh>. So
Speaker 1 (30:56):
Yeah. And you know, and regarding sleep too, I know the gut regarding, you know, sleep and, and gut health, you know, a lot of melatonin produced in the gut and I I read it was like 400 times more melatonin than the penal gland, which was like a new, um, sort of discovery a couple years ago. And it’s like, there’s so much, um, in the vagus nerve, right? That that control, you know, so there’s like, there’s so much going on and so let’s, let’s, let’s take a step back and, and like, you know, I think it’s important not to get too, so there’s all these cascades, it’s all this inner, like where, where do people start? And obviously I, I’m big on sleep and, and, and the biggest problem people have with their sleep, not being able to sleep is, is stress. Right? And we know that you just said stress causes the Yes. So, so really the root of all this and in some way is, is stress. Yeah. Right? And, and so I think it’s, it’s important to, you know, to, to address that. Not to o you know, a lot of think, a lot of times we like to skip over that, where we just wanna solve the physical, like, hey, like yeah,
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Fix me limiting the supplement and I’ll fix that and it’ll be great. Right?
Speaker 1 (32:05):
And, and the way, the way I, you know, in my, in my practice, I see a lot people always wanna address insomnia with a physical, um, solution. And it’s not because you can’t really see stress, you know, it’s not like there’s like, so, but you can feel it. And, and it’s important to, to, to be able to start to see it and feel it. Because when you start to understand what your triggers are for stress and, and what your pattern is, your stress blueprint, I think we might’ve talked about that on your radio show. Yeah. You know, these patterns that we have, it’s like, why don’t you start to address that and at the same time start to address all the physical, you know, sensation, uh, the, the, the physical manifestations that are cascading from, from you not dealing with, you know, and like, just you’re breathing like simple practice, right?
(32:56)
It’s like learning, you know, belly diaphragmatic breathing, learning to, you know, take a second between tasks. I mean this is, I I I, I don’t know probably I I guess because of your client that you just described, it’s, it’s probably similar. Like my clients, I work with a lot of type A high performers and these guys, they go back to back to back to back to back to back to back. It’s like phone call to phone call, like jump. It’s just like even on our sessions, like, listen, don’t jump on our session, take five minutes if you’re five minutes late, just like, take a breath. Yes. Like, yes, take slow down. Um, but again, now it’s, this is why it’s such a great opportunity to really start to address your stress, start to address your digestion, start to address optimizing your hormones. Because for a lot of us, we have the opportunity to slow down. We’ve been forced to slow down. Right? Yeah. So I wanna ask you, so what are some things that I
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Agree, I disagree with everything you’re saying, <laugh>.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
Yeah. Well it’s, it’s, uh, I think it’s, you know, it’s, it’s not rocket science, but a lot of times it is like this. It’s just, we tend not to think about it because we’re caught up in our own minds and, and our lives and it’s like, um, it’s so easy to overlook. So what do you, what do you recommend for, for your clients to help them, you know, better manage their, their stress so they can start to, to heal? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Well I think it’s important to note that like, physiological stress takes 30% of the cake just like oper. It’s like operating expenses of a business. Like, there’s just things that happen throughout the day that are gonna cause kind of stress. And I don’t, I think people think stress. I think mental, emotional stress, there’s, there’s a lot of buckets of stress. So, yeah. You know, if it does feel, I mean, you do need to deal with the mental emotional, and I’ll get to that in a second. But if, you know, for while you’re trying to get started and get a handle on this, there are more tangible things that you could look at like, you know, since this is a really simple one, but like, look at, look at how you’re cooking and taking care of your house. Like do you have a lot of chemicals in the house?
(34:53)
Are you using aluminum foil? Are you putting toxic chemicals on your skin? That, that’s a huge stressor for the body in and of itself. So, um, so I just think that, you know, there’s also like, you could start something like that too, physically. Um, but emotionally, okay. Biggest thing I have been telling my clients is to coup couple things if they feel like they can’t leave the house, cuz of coronavirus, if you can step away from your computer, close it down, turn your phone on airplane mode. I know you all hate me right now for saying this.
Speaker 1 (35:26):
<laugh>
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Literally, think about it like this. You’ve gotta protect your boundaries. Yeah. You’ve got to protect your boundaries. I
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Love
Speaker 2 (35:35):
That. No one else has access to you unless you give them access to you.
Speaker 1 (35:40):
Oh, that’s so, I’m so happy that you’re bringing this up because we all need to hear it. And it’s so easy to just let people, you know, just people are bad at drawing boundaries. Bad, bad. And we’re bad at, we’re bad at it. I
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Bad at it’s, I’m working on it.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
<laugh>. Well, here’s the thing, and think about why, why are we bad at it? Because, you know, we learned it from our parents that we’re bad at it and they learned it from their parents that are bad at it. So it’s like this cast, this generational Yeah. Hopefully your, your, your parents are. No,
Speaker 2 (36:10):
But it’s,
Speaker 1 (36:11):
It
Speaker 2 (36:11):
Is, it’s, it’s true.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
So it’s, it’s, I,
Speaker 2 (36:13):
You know, and I yeah, I’ve had that. I’ve had, you know, and part of this is having those real conversations, guys. Like, you don’t, you don’t, you know, you don’t get very far if you realize you have a boundary issue with someone close in your life, you have to address that with that person. Yes. Right. I mean, this is stuff that I’ve been working on with my, um, subconscious mindset coach for the past nine months and he’s helped me rewire my brain and really think deeply on these things. Right? It’s not just that there’s a boundary issue’s. Like where did, like Devin said, it’s, where did you get it? You know? And so I look at, you know, the way that my mom has never had a boundary with me cuz she loves me so deeply and she gives me everything, right? That’s, that’s not a, not a criticism of her, but it’s lack of boundary.
(36:55)
And so, and also, but that’s what I do. I like over give, I’m a people pleaser. Yeah. I will put my clients above myself. And so that’s what I’m trying to uncouple for myself. And everyone has their own journey, their own thing that they’re working for, working on. Like, your coach is not perfect. Your coach has a coach, right? Yeah. Yeah. So it’s important to identify what your triggers are and to really commit to working on them and dealing with the mental emotional stuff is so key. I mean, and like, there’s other parts of it too. There’s, there’s like, there’s trauma and really loud,
Speaker 1 (37:27):
I think they’re starting to mow my lawn, so I’m gonna shut my, I apologize for this. Hold on. Okay. We’re, we’re, we’re back. Is that better?
Speaker 2 (37:48):
Okay. Yeah, it’s better. Oh, I’m sorry. You know, I was gonna Oh, no worries. I was gonna share publicly that, and I talked about this on my second radio show, um, episode, you know, I suffered a lot of emotional abuse and I felt silenced. And I think this happens to a lot of women, whether it’s in the workplace or at home with an abusive partner or something like that. But emotional abuse in that way that silences you. Oftentimes women end up with thyroid issues because that’s where you communicate, it’s in your throat. It’s interesting, right? Yeah. So when you look at this stuff, it’s like, I know it’s kind of hard to look at, but like, we gotta uncouple that. And that took, you know, therapy, it took meditation, it took, um, journaling, it took tapping e f t, you know, where you tap on your, your body and you release things.
(38:33)
It, essential oils. I mean, it’s not just one thing that you can, that fixes everything. It’s like I do little pieces of it. So if I can’t close my computer and create a, a, um, you know, create a, a stopping place, I at least have my parasympathetic essential oil blend from vibrant blue oils next to me. And I put it on my mass toy bone, which is where, um, the most, the easiest way for you to, um, simulate your vagus nerve, which drops you into a, the rest and digest part of your nervous system. Or I take two seconds, well, I guess six seconds to breathe in for two and out for four. Yeah. When you breathe out longer than you breathe in, you automatically drop into that rest and digest. Or I start my day with a gratitude practice or a meditation practice or five minutes outside going for a walk and putting my feet on the sand or the grass. Yeah. These are simple, short things that we deprive ourselves of. And when we deprive ourselves of those things, the body knows, the cells in our body literally understand that they’re not being taken care of.
Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yeah, that’s so true. And I, I love, I love the good better, best approach because, you know, a lot of people say, well, you know, I just don’t have time to take a hot EPS and salt bath or, or what, you know, there’s always a reason you either have, you know, my coach, I says, you either have results or you have reasons you can’t have both <laugh> and I, and I love it. And it’s so true because it, it’s like we don’t ha I mean it’s, there’s, there’s so much of opportunity to, to learn simple techniques to, you know, to upgrade the, we now have these amazing companies that you talk, you were talking about the other buckets of stress, which I love that cuz it, you know, a lot of times I talk a lot about mental emotional stress, but there’s the physical stress of your environment, of the, you know, the skincare products and all that. I mean, that, that’s, there’s a load there, right? Oh
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Yeah. I mean, think about the fact that I was completely out last week. My neck was completely out. I’ve been to chiropractor three times and just came back from the acupuncturist. That’s a physical stress. I’m out of alignment. The nerves can’t get things to body parts and organs. That’s a stress too. You know. So that’s when you really gotta, you know, when your body starts physically breaking down. I mean, I had to look at that last week and I’m like, oh, right. Because I have been nonstop going since Coronavirus started because more people need my help. So now this weekend I need to rest. Like, you know, it’s, it’s a con. It’s not just a one day, you are perfectly fine. It’s a practice, right? It’s, this is a practice
Speaker 1 (41:06):
<laugh> and, and, and, and it’s like, it’s, it’s so amazing that you’re, we’re we’re talking about boundaries, right? We’re talking about, you know, this starts with giving yourself permission to, to, to really slow down, giving yourself permission to experiment, giving yourself permission to be uncomfortable. Because sometimes trying new things is uncomfortable, almost always, right? But it’s, that’s when we grow the most, is when we are allowing ourselves, we’re giving ourselves permission to really feel what we’re feeling and, and to express that in healthier ways and to seek support. Give yourself permission to get help. So many people, you know, they, they have this idea like, oh, I’m gonna do it all on my own. And it’s almost like an ego thing where it’s like, wow, no, I’m, I, I can figure this out. I’m gonna, I’m gonna prove it to everyone that I’m gonna figure this out on my own.
(41:55)
And it’s like, guys, that’s getting in your way. Like there are people you know right here and a lot of other people in the world that are very knowledgeable, that can support you on this journey if you feel lost, if you feel overwhelmed, if you don’t have 10 years of education on, you know, hormones and digestion and, you know, so it’s like, it’s really important to, I think there’s this underlying layer of permission that people need to grant themselves to begin then to get more connected to their bodies, to then know what action to take or what support to seek to then really start to, you know, I mean, it’s, it’s like that’s, I think for me, I think that’s the, that permission piece is important, especially women. I feel like, and, and correct me if I’m wrong, you probably have this conversation with a lot of your clients. I do. It’s like they, they fight you. It’s like, oh, but it’s like just letting go. Yeah. You know, it’s, so right now it’s so important just to, to, to let go of what’s not serving you. And people will
Speaker 2 (42:54):
Absolutely onto it.
(42:57)
I love that you just brought up permission, because we don’t give ourselves permission. And even clients, they come and they’re asking me for permission. So I always try to start, I I do start with kind of holding that, that strong container of giving them permission because I think that’s important to get them started. But then, you know, a couple months into the journey of us working together, I challenge them to start making those permissions for themselves. Start to relax into the fact that they can, they have everything that they need. But when most people are at the point where they’re hiring someone like me, they don’t realize that they have everything they need. Hmm. They need, they need, um, a moment of that support. But if you are listening to what Devin said, it’s, we are like unprogrammed, like Annie talks about this all the time, you know, to not give ourselves permission. And I would go one layer even deeper beyond the lack permission. We need to give ourselves the ability to love ourselves.
Speaker 1 (43:54):
Oh yeah. Yep.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
A lot of the physical manifest, and this isn’t, I, I don’t like to say it in a way that’s, you know, blaming, but a lot of the physical manifestations that we experience come from not giving ourselves good sleep, not giving ourselves good nutrition. Right. These types of things. And so we have to look at the emotional component there. And I mean, it was true for me. I did not love myself when I was sick, right. Because if I truly loved myself, I would’ve put myself first and, you know, really made the effort to heal myself eventually. I did do that, right. And I didn’t know that I didn’t love myself,
Speaker 1 (44:35):
You know? Yeah. That’s a, that’s a tough one for a lot of people. It’s tough because it’s like, that’s the, if you really get to it, if you start peeling back all the layers, why do people not practice self-care? It’s because they don’t feel worthy. They don’t feel like you, they don’t feel worthy, or they don’t, they don’t. And and if you go, like you said, I love that you brought it to that level, it’s like for they don’t think they deserve it because they don’t, they’re not compassionate towards themselves. They don’t love themselves. And then that gets in the way of connection. And then it’s like this whole cascade of, from that crazy belief that we somehow, in this amazing universe, we we’re not worthy because we, you know, didn’t do X, y, and Z. It’s like, it’s just like insane. Yeah. But that, that’s that subconscious programming. Yeah. Uh, and, you know, gets, gets installed at that young age, and then it does keep people from doing the stuff that we’re talking about, you know, self-care, managing stress, and then that leads to this cascade of hormone craziness and menstrual cycles and thyroid issues and insomnia. And it’s like, if you really need down to it, um, it’s like, kind of like, it’s like this onion that you’re peeling back, right?
Speaker 2 (45:41):
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
And so, but I, I love, I love that we’re, we’re, we’re getting to this like really deep level because at the, at the end of the day, it’s if, if you really start asking yourself better questions, like this is what comes up, right? This is kind of what bubbles up. I don’t feel like I deserve to take time for myself. I, or I’m trying to prove something to myself or someone else. So I, I can’t take breaks in between calls or whatever it is. Right? Or
Speaker 2 (46:06):
I mean, right. Or, or I should, I should do this thing. There’s a lot of shoulds happening right now. I know I should have taken the Epsom salt bath, but, you know, it’s, it’s almost like we make self-care just like another thing on our to-do list, and that becomes another stressor. So, um, yeah, I think it’s all tied up in there and it takes, I think it takes years to uncouple that stuff sometimes, depending on, on, you know, what you’re, what you’re working on, what else you’re, you have going on if you have kids, and you know, yeah. It’s, um, it’s not something to solve overnight, but certainly there are times when you, you need help. And certainly there’s times for testing and all of that when it’s so extreme, I don’t want people to come away thinking, wow, she just told me to take an epso salt bath and I’m like throwing up from my period every month or something. Like, that’s not what we’re saying. Stuff there that you could try first. Um, and then seek, help, help too. You know, I think that we, I always say that you can become the CEO of your own health. Um, I never want my clients to have to rely on me for, you know, years after. I want them to get what they need and, and move on and live a vibrant life, you know, because you can Absolutely. That’s, you have the capability.
Speaker 1 (47:21):
That’s amazing. And I, I’m seeing some comments come through here. Um, and someone asked, uh, is it for those of you tuning uh, tuning in now? This is Sophie Shepherd. Someone ask you who you were, I guess little name box, uh, is not up. But, um, oh yeah. So, so we, yeah, I’m seeing some comments come through. Some people are are leaving some comments. They’re, yeah. I dunno if, hey,
Speaker 2 (47:42):
Yeah, I can see you Carrie, nice to meet you. Carrie <laugh>,
Speaker 1 (47:47):
I’m on here giving us some, some great information. Thanks. Thanks Tom for being here. Um, yeah. Yeah. So, so again, we’re, we’re we’re talking about, uh, and, and let’s start to kind of maybe wrap this up cuz we, we’ve been going through this, uh, which is great. I mean this is, this is, it is been a really enlightening conversation. Hopefully people are, are gaining a lot of value from, it seems people are. Uh, but let’s, let’s kind of go back and kind of tie all this together with, you know, we’re talking about what are some, let’s, let’s make some tangible action steps. Cause I think I’m always a big believer in giving people, you know, just some simple things that they commit to, um, that would start to, let’s just say touch on these three areas, sleep, digestion, and, and stress. So maybe like give us some of your best strategies, tips, or maybe something that you feel, um, would, would really serve people right now with what’s going on in the world that has been working really well for your clients and all the, you know, the women that you’re leading.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Yeah. Okay. So stress. You guys ready? Stress. This has been the number one thing that’s been helpful for all call all of my clients, myself included. Give yourself a boundary. There’s that b word again, <laugh> in your, in your morning and in your evening and around your intake of news. So, um, typically what this has been looking like is do not turn on your phone, put it on airplane mode in the morning and create a morning ritual, which everyone rolls, rolls their eyes. Well, my God didn’t talk about morning ritual. It can be so simple. I mean, it could be going for a walk outside if you’re ca if that’s possible. It could be doing five minutes of meditation or even just breathing. It could be drinking warm water. This is a big one for all my clients that this kind of goes into digestion.
(49:36)
Um, is warm water with half of a lemon squeezed in with some fresh ginger or a ginger tea bag if you just are not about grading ginger <laugh>. Um, and a cap full like the cap of the apple cider vinegar in the morning, because this is going to give you a infusion of vitamin C, which is, you know, flying off the shelves in supplement forms. So you got your vitamin C in, you get your antibacterial antiviral in and your supporting digestion from the beginning. And ginger is, in addition to all those things, also is very grounding. So if your type of person that wakes up and you’re kind of like, okay, I gotta do my whole day. Uh, I gotta turn on my phone, on I gotta talk to this person, you know, um, that’s like me. Uh, you have that in the morning and to kind of ground you first thing. And when you’re doing that, combine that with no phone, no news, nothing happened overnight that you need to know about until you take care of you.
Speaker 1 (50:32):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (50:33):
I promise like nothing, nothing happened that you need to, to know. You can, you literally can know in five minutes and your life will be exponentially better because you took care of yourself first.
Speaker 1 (50:45):
That’s so true.
Speaker 2 (50:46):
Yeah. So, you know, play with what that, what, how that works for you. You might have young kids and morning isn’t the right time and, but you know, you get to decide that. Um, I can share my, my ritual is, is that part, and I try to give myself Now with not having to commute in New York City, I try to give myself a full, full hour if I can. Um, so I’ll do the lemon water elixir. I’m doing the Chopra Center. So Deepak Chopra has a 21 days to abundance challenge.
Speaker 1 (51:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:15):
Oh my gosh, this is amazing. You guys amazing. So I would definitely encourage that. Um, and I’ve been just doing that meditation and that task every morning and giving myself that little leeway to have that time. And if you don’t have time for that, write 10 things you’re grateful for and why you’re grateful for them. What a great, you can’t be <laugh> you can’t be anxious if you’re thinking about what you’re grateful for. That’s so true. Your brain doesn’t work like that. So, um, so those things and, and you know, if none of that works, even just getting your face in the sun Yeah. 10, 15 minutes in the morning, this is gonna reset your circadian rhythm. So it’s gonna support your sleep, but it’s also going to just give you such a boost of, um, hopefully good energy and love and happiness. Yeah. Um, yeah.
(52:01)
Digestion, super simple. That deep breathing I talked about and you talked about diaphragmatic breathing, but yeah, that sounds crazy and weird, diaphragmatic blah, blah, blah. Just take two, take a breath in for two seconds and out for four seconds, three times. So you breathe in two and you breathe out for four. Um, and you do it a few times. And what this does is it puts you in the parasympathetic nervous system state. And when you’re in parasympathetic, this is what happens. Every single like seven step process of your digestion gets triggered. So your saliva is released, your pancreatic enzymes are released, your gallbladder releases bile. So you can emulsify fat, you can break down proteins. Stomach acid is released. Okay. Your, your sphincter muscles relax. You know, digestion is a relaxation event. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, we forget that. And then we sit there and we eat in front of our computer, we eat in front of the news or we, whatever. We don’t chew our food and we don’t concentrate on the amazing taste that is coming into our mouth. Right. And then we wonder why we’re bloated or we’re having all these issues with digestion. It’s because we’ve forgotten that and we, the stress we’re having is cascading into the digestion. So, oh, that’s, I swear that’s,
Speaker 1 (53:21):
I saw, I saw you make that post, uh, I think this week on one of your channels about, Hey ladies, slow down. Like, if there’s one thing you gotta do, slow down before you eat, don’t eat stressed out. It’s so simple, but it’s so powerful. You know, mindful eating like that is like, again, it’s like, you know, we’re not saying take probiotics and all these other things. It’s like, just take a breath before you eat. And like, how amazing is that? Like that you literally just walked us through what happens when we do that. Like it’s from like a neurochemical level, it’s, that’s, that’s being created. I mean,
Speaker 2 (53:51):
It’s, it’s kind of cool. The body is, it’s super
Speaker 1 (53:53):
Cool. It’s amazing. Okay, so we’ve talked about digestion, we talked about, uh, stress. What are some things around sleep
Speaker 2 (54:01):
That, yeah, I
Speaker 1 (54:02):
Mean, you know me, I love to talk sleep. So what are some things I mean that you, um, you recommend to, to your ladies and the people that you, you serve to uh, help
Speaker 2 (54:12):
Them? I would, yeah, I would say you’re probably the expert, but I’ll just say that Epsom salt baths, um, are really, really powerful. And, um, one, you can add some essential oils to them. Again, that’s always really great. You wanna add the oil to the Epsom salt directly so it can absorb into the stones. I actually learned that this week from Jody Cohen on the radio on my radio show. Um, she talked about stress. Definitely check that episode out if anyone’s interested in stress. Um, and that one’s a big one for me. I noticed when I do that, I always feel better. And I would say the other one is the blue screens. Um, those are the two. And I think maybe again, with the kind of the boundary, the bookmark, I know we talked about this when you were on my radio show. It’s like we need bookmarks or breaks in our day.
(54:56)
We need to separate Yeah. Ourself from our day and then our sleep. It’s like you expect your brain to just decide it’s tired and it’s gonna go to bed. And I am so guilty of this and we were just talking about it before, I’ve been really dealing with some bad insomnia this week. And it’s, I know it’s because my brain’s going. I’m thinking about my clients, I’m thinking about my business, I’m thinking about all this stuff. And um, you know, I’ve tried gaba this week. I’ve tried deep breathing this week. I’ve tried epso salts this week and I’ve just had to do a combination. I’ve kind of had to like really step it up. And even that, I’m still struggling. I got my essential oils on. So maybe you have some good guidance on that. But, um, but yeah, I mean all of those things tend to work for some reason this week they’re not.
(55:37)
And um, I would say if you are a menstruating female note, note down when you’re not sleeping in your cycle, like if, okay, if you’re not sleeping and you know it’s in the early part of your cycle and estrogen is high some, so there’s some studies that show that that’s actually okay to like get a little less sleep, um, cuz of the sage phase you’re in. So see how you feel the next day. But, um, note it down. Cause that could be a big part of it too. And the other part to just know is that gut bugs bad bu gut bugs like to party at night in our gut. So <laugh>, um, that could keep you up too <laugh>.
Speaker 1 (56:11):
I like that. I like that. I’m gonna have to steal that from me. Yeah, that’s so true. I, you know, one of the things I tell all my clients is, you know, and it’s, this is a challenging one for me, uh, is like not eating too close to bedtime because, you know, that’s when our body’s supposed to heal. That’s when all these, all these things are happening. That’s when, and it’s, it’s, you know, for people that, especially now, cuz you don’t have like this maybe unless you’re really disciplined with closing out your day, which can be challenged sometimes for some of us. Um, you know, it’s like eating, eating too late or not drawing, not drawing the boundaries yet. Right. Well, I’m guilty of yesterday. This happened to me. I took a late call. I thought it was gonna be a quick call and be a longer call at eat dinner too close, you know, too close to bedtime.
(56:53)
Checked my foot score this morning. I did not get enough deep sleep. My REM sleep was off. So it’s like, um, and I felt it, I felt it this morning. Um mm-hmm <affirmative>. So it’s, I think it’s, you know, all these little things definitely, uh, help. It’s just a matter of, of really I think being committed. I don’t, like I said, are you committed to the results or the reasons? And so we all have a lot of reasons right now, probably more reasons than ever for why you can’t do some of the amazing things that you just shared with us. Um, so I think it’s, it’s just so important to,
Speaker 2 (57:24):
And, and it also, um, if you’ve been struggling with chronic illness for a long time and you are more committed to the reasons and the results, um, that’s okay. Um, like it’s okay to not think you have to be like perfect and on it all the time. Yeah. I think we have to give ourself that permission too that, uh, you know, there are times to really focus in on it and go hard and, and you know, like kind of focus and get that stuff done. And there’s also times to pause and reflect and decide what you wanna do and neither is wrong. Um, what Devin and I are saying is that when you do make the decision to commit, really fully commit mentally, emotionally, all, all in because that’s gonna make the big, the big change. No one else can do it for you.
Speaker 1 (58:11):
I love that. I love that you said that. It’s, it’s, uh, it’s like it really goes back to that like the old adage know thy self, right? So it’s like really, like the more self-aware you can become, the more you can increase your awareness about how you’re feeling about what’s going on with you and give yourself permission to either continue to do what you’re doing or give yourself permission to make a change. The quicker you’re gonna be able to have that self-love, whether it’s taking action or not taking action either way, the quicker you can get to that self-love place, the quicker things are gonna get better for your sleep, for your digestion, uh, for your overall health. Um, so I think it’s really, I think this is, this is a good place to, to kind of round out yeah. This, this awesome conversation and so
Speaker 2 (58:55):
Great.
Speaker 1 (58:56):
But let’s definitely, um, so share where people can find you, share about your radio show, uh, for all the women that are gonna watch this, uh, where, where, if you’re taking, I’m not sure if you’re still taking clients right now or what that looks like, but why don’t you share a little bit about the people, uh, where people can find you and how they can, you know, get in touch with you.
Speaker 2 (59:14):
Yeah. Yes. So my brand is she s h e, um, but all my social channels, my radio show is called Talks Health. So she talks health.com is my website. You can apply to work with me. I have one spot open <laugh> for the next three to six months. So if you’re interested and you wanna get on my calendar, I do offer 90 minute complimentary consultations to determine if you’re the right fit for a six month coaching program or a three month coaching program with me. So you can do that there. Um, there is a 10 day digestive and hormone reboot also on my website, um, and on my Instagram links. So if you are kind of like, I just wanna start learning more about this, you get full access for your entire life and it’s really low cost. And yeah, the radio show she talks health is on voiceamerica.com, it’s also on Spotify, iTunes every everywhere. Um, and I don’t know, I’m just thank you so much. Happy Friday. Like this was a great conversation and you guys can message me. I’m happy to answer questions.
Speaker 1 (01:00:15):
Thank you so much for taking the time. I know how how busy you are with, with your clients and, and, and with taking care of your own health. That’s really important. It’s, it’s, it’s, so I think it’s really important now, especially now more than ever to, to really practice what we, what we teach and cuz it, it is easy to slip into that, that over overservice mode and, you know, a lot of people need the help and, um, I know that’s, that’s something I’m constantly working on is, is drawing those boundaries. But I wanna thank you for, for the work that you’re doing in the world leading, leading women and helping people really understand the power and the importance of optimization for hormones and digestion and stress. And so thank you for, for turning the pain into a passion and, and really serving people because obviously everyone knows that was listening to this, your wealth of knowledge and an amazing coach. So,
Speaker 2 (01:01:03):
Um, it is my humble pleasure.
Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
Yeah. And I look forward to more of these conversations. If, if, if anyone liked this you like to, to, you know, see us do another show on something else outside of, uh, or sleep stress, digestion or whatever, we can talk about a lot of stuff obviously, uh, leave us a comment below or any questions you might have for, for Sophie or, or myself. And, um, and yeah, we will, we’ll, we’ll leave it at that. Everyone have a fantastic Friday and we’ll see you next time.
Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
Talk to you soon.
Speaker 1 (01:01:34):
All right.