I spoke to someone the other day who was trying EVERYTHING to improve their sleep quality – supplements, diet changes and routine changes as well as a variety of things that were a little more “out there” like blue light blocking glasses and so on.
Yet, nothing really seemed to help. Every night, she’d pass out through exhaustion then wake up a few hours later and be restless for the rest of the night.
We zoomed out of the sleep issue and chatted about the bigger picture. We discussed her exercise routine and lifestyle and a likely issue came into focus.
Now, there are plenty of reasons you might be experiencing disturbed sleep, but for this lady, it seemed that stress was a likely issue.
As we spoke, it became apparent that a busy lifestyle with young children, a stressful job and a desire to lose weight by reducing caloric intake and trying to ace some calorie burning workouts was not a good mix.
Bizarre as it sounds, one of the big signs that you’re doing too much is when your sleep gets disturbed.
Our plan is to reduce the intensity of this lady’s workouts. We’re still going to exercise, but there won’t be any HIIT.
We’re going to slow down on the calorie deficit and simply focus on giving her body the nutrition it needs.
I think we’ll see a pretty immediate improvement in sleep quality – and a better weight loss result too.
Sleep issues are really common, and as mentioned above, there are lots of reasons they can happen. Once you find the issue though, sleep generally improves pretty quickly.
Try to take a step back from the issue you’re seeing and look at the bigger picture. The issue might be staring you right in the face.