Does this ever happen to you? You have the best of intentions to get up on time to make breakfast and pack a lunch (if needed). Your health has become a concern of yours because you want to feel better, so you know what you eat is important. Not only has your physical health become a concern because of the tiredness, but your mental and emotional health has as well because now you have anxiety. What you would really like is to be calm and engaging to your family before you all rush out the door to spend the day apart.
Being prepared for your day has become important to you so you plan for it. You set your alarm a few minutes early so you have the time to do the prep work…with a good attitude. You even went to bed a little early hoping to get better sleep.
But your mind had another plan. You were up in the middle of the night “thinking”. Of what you were thinking, you don’t know the specifics, but you were thinking nonetheless. After a couple hours, you finally talked your mind into sleep again. Right before your alarm was set to go off.
So you hit the snooze over and over until you absolutely HAD to get up. That’s when all your good intentions, and good attitude, were lost. You resigned yourself to a bar and coffee to-go as you yelled at the kids to hurry up and get in the car. For the rest of the day, you felt guilty, ashamed, anxious and hungry. You wish there was an easy button or a food for the tiredness and anxiety.
Keep reading for my tips for managing insomnia and anxiety. If you prefer to watch instead of read…check out my YouTube channel! Here’s the video of this post:
Functional Nutrition Therapy
What you are experiencing is not uncommon and you’re not alone. Mind racing in the middle of the night is frustrating for sure, but if the root cause is identified and addressed, can be solved. Functional nutrition therapy is what I recommend to help you solve the anxiety that leads to mind racing and sleeplessness. Functional nutrition therapy is a way of practicing health that allows the practitioner to identify and remove the root cause of the problem. Without removing the root cause, every other therapy is just a band aid to cover up what’s going on deeper inside.
Identifying the root cause takes some work. It can be anxiety caused by gut imbalances, hormone imbalances, nutrient deficiencies, the management of situational stress, among other causes. Working with a functional nutrition therapy practitioner is the fastest way to identify your root causes and the fastest way to heal.
Insomnia and Anxiety Management Activities
Putting the work in to change your lifestyle will help you identify some root causes. These are the top five tips I give my clients to treat anxiety without medication:
Improve Anxiety with Sleep
Getting in enough quality sleep is important for your brain to be able to think clearly and rationally. To get enough quality sleep, your body has to be tired enough to fall asleep at the right time. Many women get tired in the afternoon and early evening, but when it’s time for sleep, they are wide awake and ready to tackle the world making the tiredness the next day relentless. There are steps you can take to improve this cycle:
- Wake up early even when you want to sleep in, it’s important to tell your body it’s time to get moving.
- Get outside to watch the sunrise for 15 minutes. This helps to reset your circadian rhythm.
- Move during the day. Getting the energy out is just as important as replenishing at night.
- Turn off all electronics an hour before you want to fall asleep; have a dark room; and keep it cool at night.
Anxiety Management Activities
When you wake up in the middle of the night and can’t shut your brain off, you need a plan. Breathwork is the plan that I teach my clients. Start with belly breathing to focus your mind only on your breath and not on the racing thoughts. Your mind will wander, just gently bring it back to your breath.
Coping Skills for Anxiety
During the day, when your anxious thoughts feel like they are weighing you down, you must stop them in their tracks. Usually the racing thoughts are “what ifs”, half-truths, or lies you are telling yourself. You have to combat those thoughts with the truth. Positive affirmations will help you combat those thoughts. When you notice the thoughts, stop and firmly tell yourself the truth.
Anxiety Diet
What you eat is very important when tackling anxiety. The bacteria in your gut talk to your brain and signal calmness or anxiety. Feeding the bacteria you want to signal calmness takes eating real, whole food. The foods to avoid with anxiety are processed, chemical laden, and boxed food.
Foods to Avoid with Anxiety
There are several things to avoid eating or drinking but having caffeine during the day could be a double whammy to your anxiety. For some, simply having caffeine will trigger anxiety. For others, the caffeine is too stimulating to the adrenal glands and disrupts sleep patterns.
Holistic Anxiety Healing
Getting to the root cause of your symptoms takes work and dedication. I love helping women find their root causes and helping them thrive, not just survive. If you are at the end of your rope and need help, reach out! You can schedule a call with me here. I also have more in-depth information called The Energy Elixir. Grab that from my website or send me a message if you would like me to send it to your or would like for a friend to have it.
