EP 21 | Rebuilding Your Sleep from the Inside Out

In Part 2 of our sleep series, Amanda and Katie shift from unpacking the root causes of poor sleep to giving you clear, practical, chronic-illness–friendly strategies you can start using tonight.

This is the episode that finally explains how to actually support your nervous system, your gut, your hormones, and your circadian rhythm so your body can rest — even if you’ve struggled with sleep for months or years.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why traditional sleep hygiene doesn’t work when your system is inflamed or dysregulated
• What to do if your brain feels too awake at night, even when your body is exhausted
• The nervous-system tools that work fastest to reduce night-time wiredness
• Why your body needs rhythm, structure, and predictability to feel safe enough to sleep
• The crucial role of blood sugar balance in calming night-time cortisol spikes
• Why building resilience — not perfection — is the real key to healing your sleep
• The concept of “body trust” and how to rebuild it after years of burnout or chronic stress

If you feel like you're doing everything right yet still struggling to get quality rest, this episode is for you.

Transcript

Katie: [00:00:00] Welcome back.

Amanda: This is Part 2 of our sleep conversation since we blabbered on so much last time, we had to make a part two.

Yeah, we didn't wanna make these too long. Yeah. And last time we dug into, the role that histamine plays in the whole equation when it comes to affecting your sleep and that tired but wired feeling that so many people experience. so that kind of laid the groundwork for what we're gonna talk about next, which is. common sleep advice, and why it doesn't always work for someone who is maybe on a gut healing journey or dealing with autoimmunity things like IBD , things like histamine overload and MCAS. often I think that people, when they're struggling with [00:01:00] sleep, they can talk to their physician and they'll get that standard run of the mill advice. what have you heard in your, discussions about how to improve your sleep?

Mainly they've just thrown sleeping pills at me, Or antidepressants.

And I didn't actually, they didn't help me. The sleeping pills, they actually made me turn into more of a zombie. I don't know what your experience with them was but they didn't have a positive outcome for me.

I felt kind of like I was just stuck in this hole that I couldn't get out of. and I just had no personality. 

Amanda: Yeah. 'cause what I understand, may help you get to sleep, but they don't necessarily give you the same quality of sleep. you might be in light sleep, but you're not achieving that, rapid eye movement sleep or deep sleep, that restorative sleep that your body needs.

[00:02:00] So you could be feeling like you're getting eight hours of sleep and still waking up and feeling like a zombie.

Katie: Exactly. Yeah, that's pretty much how it works. even my dad's side of the family, they all struggle with sleep. I don't know why. but all of his sisters can't sleep. My dad doesn't sleep. His mom didn't sleep. They take sleeping pills.

My dad doesn't, but his sisters do, and they also can't sleep even on them, and they suffer from depression. I feel like a lot of these medications are just putting a plaster on something pretty unsuccessfully. but yeah, they, they're kind of the pictures painted that they're the only way out, which I don't believe.

Amanda: Well, I mean, they're the only way out. If you are a physician who has learned pharmaceuticals, then once again, if that's the [00:03:00] only tool in your toolbox, then that's the tool you're going to present to people but I have not heard of a single person in my life ever who is like, oh yeah. Sleeping pills totally helped me.

Katie: Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Or have some kind of positive outcome from taking these pharmaceuticals. I don't know a single soul that has experienced that. So I think that in itself, says a lot.

Amanda: Yeah. if we look at, more natural approaches like melatonin, it's the same thing. It's a short term tool, short term measure that, is supposed to be used when you are experiencing like a circadian rhythm disruption. so say for somebody who has worked night shift all their life and now they're switching to days and they're, their circadian rhythm is all over the place, melatonin can [00:04:00] help regulate that rhythm short term. But the same thing is just giving someone melatonin and expecting that to be a long-term fix or to fix their quality of sleep is not a solution because you're not getting to the why and the why a lot of the time is coming from a nervous system. Regulation issue. It's coming from our bodies not feeling safe or the, our busy brains are overstimulated brains not being able to shut off and being in that hypervigilant state. And so these, yeah, these shortsighted measures are not addressing that.

Katie: And funny story, I stayed around my friends a couple of weeks ago and she has a serious amount of cats. I'm talking like eight cats at least.

they're super cute. They're [00:05:00] all sweethearts, but she had some melatonin and I was like, I'm never gonna be able to sleep in this room full of these cats. So every time I stay there, I can't sleep. she was like, do you wanna take this melatonin? It will help you, have a good night's sleep.

I was like, yeah, I'll take it. So I took it and I was laying there thinking, oh, this is weak. Anyway, I must have just completely passed out. I woke up like one of the cats had like kamikazeed themselves, or like, I think one of them was on one of the, cupboards.

And it literally just jumped off the top of the cupboard, onto my face, like onto my body. And it woke me up and I was like, oh no. when I wake up, I'm not going back to sleep. It doesn't matter what time it is. if I wake up, that's it.

I'm like, my mind is like, do you know what I mean? So I was like, oh, I'm awake now. And then must have passed out [00:06:00] again. And I woke up in the morning and my body was obviously waking me up 'cause it was my natural time to wake up. But I just couldn't do it. It was almost like I was paralytic drunk and I was trying to wake up and my body was still asleep.

it was just the most bizarre feeling

Amanda: yeah.

Katie: And I felt hung over all day. Seriously. I felt. Yeah, and I had like headache and I felt so hung over, like I needed copious amounts of water. I had to train and it was quite an experience.

Amanda: I feel

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: I react that way to almost anything that I put in my body because, I'm just used to not taking substances at all. anytime that I take the odd, whether it's a painkiller or something like that, I do not react well. My body is like, whoa, what is this? 

Katie: [00:07:00] Yeah. It's crazy. even if I have a glass of wine now, I'm just absolutely smashed.

It's crazy how you can become almost intolerant to these things and vice versa. the more you do things, the less effective they are. 

Amanda: having a glass of wine is something that people do, people who struggle with falling asleep, especially that people do all the time, because you have some alcohol, you typically pass out quickly and people think that, that equates to like, oh, I don't have a hard time falling asleep on alcohol. But your sleep quality is hugely impacted your body is in a state of stress. Even though you passed out, you've got. Like an elevated heart rate and you know, you've got an elevated temperature while you're sleeping and your body is just not getting that restorative sleep.

And I, would guess that a lot of people out there that, have that drink in the evening to [00:08:00] it a little easier to fall asleep.

Katie: Yeah, absolutely. And alcohol shrinks your brain as well, so 

Amanda: And it's not solving the problem if you have a sleep issue because just like the sleeping pills, you're not getting quality rest. So then you wake up the next day and you feel like shit, and you feel like a zombie and you're tired and dragging your butt, 

Katie: I find it interesting how, people think who do drink every night, and whether they actually consider these things, like whether it is front of mind or whether they know it, but don't care, or I don't know. I just find it quite interesting.

Amanda: I think it's kind of like a cognitive dissonance thing where you know it's a poison, you know it's bad for you, but you don't want to think about how bad, because that would ruin your fun Like I think back to times in my life where I leaned on alcohol heavily, After coming back from Afghanistan and [00:09:00] then when I was in a really bad relationship, I was drinking every night. I would come home from work, pour a glass of wine while I was cooking dinner, have another one with dinner and then maybe one after dinner that was just to cope with my circumstance. And yeah, I knew it wasn't good for me, but at the time it's like, goes back to the same thing I was. I was in a environment with a super dysregulated nervous system where I didn't feel safe and was always on edge, and that was my coping mechanism.

Katie: And I feel like a lot of people are in this loop, and they're just trying to escape something, whether that be their feelings or a situation. they just use alcohol as a supplement for that. when it comes to being health conscious, I dunno whether it's because I'm in the UK and London especially, the drink culture is huge.

I don't know whether it's just not front of mind for people, whether it's only front of mind [00:10:00] when. Things go wrong, you know, and their health has a turn for the worst. And then their practitioner's like, how much do you drink?

And they say, well, you know, that's why. I feel like that's such a reverse way of living. especially if, you're drinking every night. It's not like you are binge drinking and you are going out to celebrate something or you're going out to get drunk with your friends every so often.

these people that drink every night, are they just blissfully unaware? I just find that really interesting.

Amanda: I think it's all of the above. I think it's a coping mechanism for people who wanna escape something. And it's so steeped in our culture, like over here as well. it's really funny when you start to notice, even watching shows how, every sitcom or drama that is out there.

when they go for dinner, they're like having a drink and they're going to celebrate. [00:11:00] They're having a drink. 

Katie: Normalized.

Amanda: Yeah. 

Katie: I just find it like, again, like back to front, people will drink regularly enough to have an impact on their body so their hair doesn't look very nice or their skin isn't in good condition 

And then they'll spend a ton of money rectifying those things.

Amanda: Yeah.

Katie: you need to zoom out and take a different lens on this and review what you are putting into your body on a weekly basis. nutritionally alcohol, substances, whatever.

But it's almost like people are blindsided to that area, and they'd rather just spend a ton of money trying to rectify the damage rather than just controlling it in the first place.

Amanda: Yeah, it's funny, the same thing goes for ultra processed foods. people I think have this idea that like, well, it wouldn't be available to us if it was that bad, right? Like it wouldn't be on the shelves,

Katie: Yeah,[00:12:00] 

Amanda: it wouldn't

Katie: exactly.

Amanda: at the

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: store if it was that bad, right? And it's like these things are finally, people are starting to finally talk about like just how bad. It really is, and like what kind of ingredients you're putting in your body. And I think alcohol goes hand in hand with that. people are like, oh wait, if you look back at any movies and things from like the fifties and sixties they always have a cocktail in their hand and that Mad men kind of era

Katie: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: A, a cocktail at a

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: it has just been completely normalized. and then you come in with these quick fixes or hacks, it's not giving people that permission or insight or truth driven knowledge to really heal on their own terms because they're kind of just going with the flow and listening to people with these blanket protocols and not really getting any, positive outcome from it.

Katie: And I think that leads into [00:13:00] the myth side of things that we wanted to cover because there's so much sleep advice out there that is designed for, really healthy individuals and healthy bodies, and not necessarily people that have suffered with trauma and inflammation or Crohn's or IBD flares at 2:00 AM or they're on steroids and they're having sleep insomnia.

if the rules have failed you It's important to know that you're not doing anything wrong. You are just not, being given the right lens on how to look at this and how to treat this

Amanda: I think that applies broadly across the board, not just with sleep, 

Katie: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: These hacks, these health hacks in general, can we stop trying to hack everything? what's the quickest way to this result? What's the quickest way to fat loss? because it's not the right conversation.

if we're talking about sleep [00:14:00] hacks, it's doing yourself a disservice. it's not asking why am I having a hard time sleeping? Why is my brain and body so active? 

Katie: Like in terms of you going to a doctor and saying, I'm having trouble with my sleep. How many of them are saying, well, have you done any CNS work? how stressed do you, do you feel like you are in a flight or fight state the majority of the time? Do you suffer with anxiety?

Amanda: I think that the majority of, maybe this is starting to change, but I think the majority of the, general practitioners out there wouldn't even know to ask that question.

Unless you happen to be, hooked up with a somatic therapist or someone who is educated in the central nervous system. I don't think you're getting that kind of advice.

Katie: No, definitely not. No. I don't think so. I have never experienced it and nor have [00:15:00] any of my clients over the many years I've been doing this, unless they have gone down the route. As you just mentioned, I've just never heard any practitioner in the medical field entertain that kind of realm of treatment.

which I think is a shame, you know?

So people saying that you just need eight hours.

This is a myth example. the goal isn't really eight hours, is it? It's nervous system safety because there's no point in you going to bed and then just laying there looking at the ceiling for like three hours.

for trauma survivors or IBD patients, bedtime often triggers hypervigilance. early bedtimes with a super wired body, cause frustration and spiraling thoughts, which is exactly what I went through. And I still do to a certain extent. I do still have that 

Amanda: You're absolutely right, trying to make a drastic change. if you're normally going to bed at [00:16:00] midnight you have someone say, well, you just need to go to bed earlier and get more sleep. and you think, okay, I'm gonna go to bed at 10, 'cause that's gonna give me two more hours and then I'm gonna feel better. Well, our bodies are always reaching for that state of homeostasis, right? And our circadian rhythm, becomes predictable. So if you're used to going to bed at midnight, your. Cortisol, your melatonin release. they have adapted to that. They have become accustomed to that. so all of a sudden you try to hop in bed two hours earlier and that's what you're gonna get.

You're just gonna get staring at the ceiling. It's much more complex and usually we have to make shifts incrementally, gradually pushing your bedtime back earlier by 15 minute increments I've heard is a good strategy. but the [00:17:00] idea of just getting more sleep or just aiming for eight hours, it's easier said than done.

Katie: Yeah, and if you flip it round, To waking up. Nine times out of 10 when we have the opportunity to actually have a layin, we still wake up at the same time that we usually do. and it, and it goes the same for when you're falling asleep. You can't just assume that your body's is, you know, machine where you tell it that you don't have to wake up at 7:00 AM you can wake up at 11:00 AM and it's just gonna go, yeah, okay,

Amanda: Yeah. you know, logically that you need to get more sleep, so you're like, Hey body, we're gonna sleep earlier Doesn't work that

Katie: just flick the switch.

Amanda: Yeah.

Katie: I mean, that would be cool, but it's not reality. Yeah, the shame spiral is more damaging than the lack of sleep sometimes. it's called mental contrasting in psychology. It's where you break these down into much smaller increments like you just said, so they feel really achievable.

And then it [00:18:00] actually allows you to stay more committed to, the journey so that you are not trying to go to bed hours earlier and it's not working and it's not working. So you give up,

Amanda: Yeah.

Katie: you just do it in stages so that it's much more achievable and the commitment stays because motivation is so unreliable.

that actually links in with what you said earlier about, extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and having these quick hacks and actually gearing your whole mindset around. aiming for things and goals and achievements and new habits that align with your values as a person.

Instead of extrinsic things like doing a five day detox to look good for holiday. these things aren't healthy and they're pretty toxic mentally, and they're not gonna serve you and it's not a long-term lifestyle [00:19:00] longevity protocol that's gonna benefit you. so yeah, that's what I thought earlier when you were talking

Amanda: I think it's, the whole hack culture mentality looking at our body as a problem that needs to be fixed. how can I solve this problem in the quickest way possible? I just have such a problem with that mentality. you are not a problem to be fixed.

Your body is trying to adapt to this very toxic, crazy world that we live in now. we have so much coming at us from all these angles you can't just hack your way out of it 

Katie: And that's where the protocols come into place that actually work.

Amanda: Yeah, the boring foundational stuff. Like one of the things I'll, I'll relate into this conversation is hydration. it sounds so stupid because we hear it over and over [00:20:00] again. hydration is important. You need to drink more water. You need to be hydrated. I know that I tell people that, since looking at the that I get from my whoop it's like, oh, wow. When I'm really well hydrated, I get better sleep and I recover better, and my heart rate variability goes up the next day. Would you imagine that as she takes a sip of her water, you know, the boring advice actually

Katie: What crazy thing did I do yesterday for my whoop results to be good?

Amanda: Oh, I

Katie: Nothing.

Amanda: water. 

Katie: Yeah. We love to overcomplicate things. unfortunately the society we live in now because we're just getting sold to left, right, and center. But, that moves us quite swiftly into another myth, which we visited earlier. AKA take [00:21:00] melatonin or magnesium or drink camomile tea and you'll be fine, but.

The truth is, supplements don't override survival mode. this stems back to what we always talk about with regards to taking a multifaceted approach to improve your health and move the needle a considerable amount to feel better. instead of focusing on one thing and hoping that you're gonna have huge impacts when, it doesn't work.

And that's when people get disheartened because like you said, melatonin only works if your body is already in a parasympathetic state. If we are not getting ourselves into that state to begin with, then nothing is gonna work. You can take all the supplements you want, you can eat healthy or clean eating or whatever buzzword they use nowadays.

you can exercise but that piece of the puzzle is still gonna be missing [00:22:00] and you're not gonna get the results you want because you are overstimulated. So that ties in quite nicely with what you said, earlier on in this episode.

Amanda: And you just brought up another really good point, going back to those boring basics, but, um, exercise. I know this is super frustrating for people to hear because if you're struggling with, insomnia or sleep disruption and you feel like a zombie, the last thing you wanna do is exercise or move your body more. I've noticed a real link between my sleep quality as well when I'm getting enough movement, if we're not getting enough movement, if we're with. Complicated health issues and we're not feeling good and not moving our bodies, we end up in our head more. We end up with this excess energy that comes out in the way of anxiety and racing thoughts. [00:23:00] I've really noticed a big connection between quality and movement.

Katie: We're, we're built to move. Our bodies are built to move. We are not built to sit there, and do nothing. we're built to move and to have endurance.

We don't move our bodies enough as a species. this is when disease starts to happen, along with everything else that we've mentioned. movement is such a big part of it. it doesn't have to be extreme movement, especially if you're in like the beginning stages of your journey and inflammation is high, you don't want to be performing movements that increase that.

But doing some form of movement actually helps with. Chronic fatigue, sleep regulation, hormones, dopamine, it, it's all inter linked and I feel like, it's so disregarded and separated because people can't be bothered. 

Amanda: [00:24:00] Or it's viewed as more of like a luxury, 

Katie: yeah.

Amanda: times have you heard when you finish a workout and you're like, oh, I just finished my workout. And people are like, oh, must be nice. Must be nice to have time to workout. that drives me because exercise is not a luxury and it's not something that you have to earn, and it's not something that only the chosen few have time for.

it's either a priority in your life or not. what happens when a person is struggling with chronic illness or chronic symptoms or chronic fatigue is that's the first thing to go because we're exhausted and we're inflamed and we're in pain and we just stop moving. And it is just like all the other boring basics and hydration it is. Interlinked with our sleep quality. Absolutely.

Katie: it should be a non-negotiable. it doesn't have to be a long workout. It can just be. A stretch routine, but even having a [00:25:00] small goal that's non-negotiable, like, getting on your yoga mat for five minutes a day, nine times out of 10, that five minutes will turn into a 20 minute yoga routine.

But the non-negotiable is that you stepped onto the mat for five minutes a day depending on how you're feeling, whether you are feeling super fatigued or had a terrible night's sleep you don't have to be on there for 20 minutes. You can do a simple stretch routine, but you've actually completed that.

And that in itself is an achievement and a win for the day. And then that will make you feel good and it will make you want to eat better and, keep to your hydration habits. but again, this is just so disconnected, for us nowadays 

Amanda: absolutely. And I think that, we would be doing a disservice to our audience if we didn't drive these points home. I know that we talk about same things pretty much every week [00:26:00] come on here, but it's, it's because it's true and these foundational pillars of health apply to everything.

and I think that when we look at our health that way as a big picture what could I be doing more of? What could I be doing less of? And how can I improve the whole picture rather than looking at it as single things, it doesn't need to be that complex. you can start with the basics and,I think that's frustrating for people to hear. I've heard so many people say, if you went to your doctor and you're like, I can't sleep, and your doctor said, well, Are you eating healthy are you moving your body? how's your stress?

People get annoyed because they're like, oh, you're not listening to me. have a real problem here, and they don't want it to be that simple.

Katie: and I know what you said about us talking about the same things when [00:27:00] we come on here. I think it's easy for us to say that because being practitioners, we can see both sides of the coin because we've been. On one side of the coin, living through this, through our own personal journeys, and we've also been on the other side of the coin, now that we have achieved remission, and we are in a place where we have the ability to help other people.

So those people that we are speaking to, haven't seen the other side of the coin. So they haven't pieced this puzzle together, whereas we have. I feel like for us, it might sound like we're repeating ourselves, but I really hope for our audience, it's a case of them actually having so many aha moments where they're like, oh yeah, that makes sense now.

because we do this day in, day out, right? 

Amanda: Yeah.

Katie: We probably do sound like we're repeating ourself a lot of [00:28:00] the time, but I feel like for, for people that might be listening to this, hopefully through the episodes, they're starting to learn more about this multifaceted approach.

There is really complex and there's so many pieces to it that they might find really overwhelming, but they're managing to slowly put the pieces of the puzzle together and linking it all so they can start to implement these small things into their life, and just start to feel better.

I think that's our big goal for this platform.

Amanda: Yeah, and I think that most people. on earlier parts of their journey, don't recognize how interconnected all these things are. How the sleep dysregulation anxiety inflammation and, you know, the brain fog and the, all of it, connected everything is. I think people tend to [00:29:00] see their, symptoms as individual problems that they need to solve.

hopefully we're, sharing that advice and knowledge that everything is connected and when you, when you start improving one thing, it's going to other areas.

Katie: I do this with clients On a daily basis when they tell me about the different things they're doing, and I can identify that as something deserving to get rid of But people listening to this platform might not necessarily have the support to help identify those data points we talk about.

hopefully this brings a little more awareness to their daily practices to identify what isn't working for them so they can get rid of it, like doom scrolling at night and then wondering why they can't fall asleep, and rectifying that habit so they start doing something that will enable restorative sleep.

but yeah, I just, hope that [00:30:00] this. Bringing awareness to, to them,

Amanda: So touched on this throughout this episode and last episode. we keep referring back to the nervous system, and think that is the missing piece for a lot of people because we are so often existing in this dysregulated state. we're living in times that are busier than ever and have things coming at us from all angles and maybe we've experienced trauma and there's all of these layers to it.

But it boils down to if your body is not in a state of safety and has that ability to regulate from that high stress state to the rest and digest state, then sleep is going to continue to allude you. So [00:31:00] if we talk about some of the healing strategies that can actually support sleep that are not sleep hacks, but actually, addressing the root causes for someone who might be inflamed and dealing with other issues. starting with nervous system regulation, strategies, especially before bed is a really good place to start. you can do things like putting your legs up on the wall for a couple minutes, as you're going through your sleep routine, which activates that parasympathetic state. breathing, breath work. Another crazy simple tool that everybody has access to, but we don't take advantage of.

it is wild how much, a few minutes of breath work, not just before bed, but anytime you [00:32:00] are feeling in that, stress state throughout your day. A few minutes of breathing or box breathing, diaphragmatic breathing, can change your state, in a big way. that's another great tool you can use, before bed. like somatic anchors, weighted blankets tapping or rocking. I even find when I am experiencing a state of dysregulation and I've started to notice it because I have those, coping mechanisms that, you know, are your default coping mechanisms. Like maybe you wanna just go on a buying online buying spree, or maybe you wanna just go binge eat. It's usually because You're dysregulated. one of the simplest tools that I've found that helps me kind of get out of that state quickly is [00:33:00] putting a hand on my chest and a hand on my belly, I just close my eyes and I tell myself you're safe. And I just say that a few times and take a few breaths. it's amazing how that little pause can snap me out of that state and those coping mechanisms and just, you know, bring me back to a place of calm and safety.

Katie: it's so true. and it's not just you. I have these protocols in my practice and so many people, have a lot of positive results from these small, protocols. they actually work and they're really cool to kind of interlink with that, things that you can do for your gut and a food-based support system for sleep interlink with everything that Amanda just mentioned 

Adding another layer to your multifaceted approach. gut inflammation, we spoke about [00:34:00] this last episode, actually gut inflammation spikes histamine and cytokines that, disrupt sleep. And sometimes when our blood sugar dips and our cortisol spikes, this is what wakes us up at like two, three in the morning.

And you might feel super hungry, at this time as well. That's why food timing and the temperature of your room influence your sleep quality. a lot of people sleep in really hot rooms. Sleeping in a colder room will actually help you have a much more restorative sleep.

they have these beds now, don't they? Have you seen them where they have like water pumping through them and it regulate temperature?

Amanda: It is funny because, Al and I have known about these beds for a while and we're like, if we ever come into some money one day, that's the first thing we're buying is an eight sleep mattress.

Katie: Oh my goodness, yes. That is exactly what I was looking at years ago. I think [00:35:00] someone recommended it 

I think it was one of the sponsors on the Huberman podcast and I looked at it and I was like.

That bed, it even moves. And I was like, one day, one day. That is happening. Um, anyway, going back to what I was mentioning, tangible strategies. things like warm cooked meals in the evening. Try and avoid really cold, drinks as well. Even cold smoothies especially if you're in a flare up.

don't have anything super cold because it will spike your symptoms. anything like warm milk with turmeric will be really good, to help lower inflammation. depending on if you're on a low FODMAP diet, the amount of banana you can eat, but banana with almond butter if tolerated.

things like oats with ghee will really help to align your stomach. Um. Protein, will help you sleep a lot better. as we mentioned in our last episode, [00:36:00] avoid anything that's high histamine, especially after 6:00 PM So that goes for like leftovers or aged cheeses or fermented foods, 

and don't fast too late. So try and have a light carb based snack, which can stabilize blood sugar overnight. I know a lot of people get on this fasting trend and they don't eat for silly amounts of time. especially with IBD, that's gonna backfire.

You're not even consuming enough protein for your body to function, and people are fasting. It's just ridiculous.

Amanda: in my mind, it's another layer of stress when your body's already in a highly stressed state.

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: I was just having this conversation with my daughter today because there's so many people out there that are like, fasting is the cure for everything.

Katie: Mm-hmm.

Amanda: if you are a person who is already existing in a chronically stressed state and inflammatory state, then [00:37:00] adding fasting, it's just adding another layer of stress on your already stressed out body.

Katie: Exactly. And it's just so unnecessary. But I think a lot of the people who ask me about fasting, especially on social media, they're either watching content from someone who doesn't have a chronic condition, or they feel like when they don't eat, they're not in pain.

Amanda: Yes.

Katie: and then that kind of drives them into this. Oh. So yeah, if I fast and I just don't eat, then that's gonna fix me.

Amanda: Yeah.

Katie: Right.

Amanda: been there. I tried

Katie: Yeah.

Amanda: It doesn't work long term. Because your energy levels just plummet. for us, with IBD, one of the biggest things that impacts us with that, inflammation in our digestive lining, like our absorption is impaired.

We are already not absorbing the nutrients [00:38:00] that we are eating at a rate that is, you know, normal. And so our likelihood of being deficient in all sorts of is really high. And so now, oh, we're just gonna put less food in the tank when we're already, you know, it's just pushing the problem down the road.

Katie: Exactly. So definitely avoid that one. another thing I was just thinking of when you were saying that is to hydrate. because you're not gonna be hydrating during the night. And if you are waking up during the night needing the toilet, then add some more salt into your dinner. You'll be surprised at how well that works.

making sure you are hydrating properly, especially with electrolytes, is gonna help with things like fatigue as well, and it's gonna have a knock on effect to other symptoms that you might be suffering [00:39:00] from.

Amanda: Yeah, and I think we touched on the mindset. a little bit, you can't bully your body into rest and you can't hack your way out of that chronic feeling of unsafety in your body. a lot of these foundational practices are just safety in your body. They're supporting your nervous system. So when we talk about hydration as a tool for improving sleep, it's not just water equals sleep. It's more like hydrated cells equal. A supported nervous system, it touches every part of your body.

so we really have to look at it as how can I take better care of myself so that my body rest?

Katie: A lot of people with chronic illness carry beliefs [00:40:00] like, I need to earn rest, or if I don't sleep i'll crash. Or, I'm a burden to others, or I can't heal unless x, y, Z is perfect you need to start journaling out why you feel this way. you need to start gathering evidence.

As to why these thoughts are true and why these thoughts are unsupported. we come up with these narratives in our mind that we end up believing and they are so skewed, because we are assuming people think and feel certain ways based on our own insecurities because we have a chronic condition.

it is so damaging for you, not only for your own mindset, but your projection into the world. You need to start gathering this evidence for your own mindset [00:41:00] so that you can start to shift out of this state or this victim mentality that you are in right now because it's only gonna get worse. And these thoughts and narratives that you're coming up with are so.

False and far from the truth. you are not gonna start to see that or even have awareness around that until you start to journal this stuff out and really unpick and peel back the onion as to why you are feeling this way, and where it's stemming from. that in itself will help you to get out of this hole, which will enable you to actually not feel guilty when you need rest or to turn things down a notch.

and maybe plans that you had with friends or with family, you choose something that is much less stimulating or much less, energy. Expensive you can be [00:42:00] creative, during this process, but if you keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result, it's never gonna happen and your sleep is gonna continue to be terrible.

these small mindset shifts will help you to come out of that state. Does that make sense?

Amanda: Absolutely. And one of the things that just came to my mind as you were saying that is, the aversion to napping. if sleep during the night is a struggle for you and you're feeling exhausted, there's no shame in napping and, and napping, taking some time to rest, whether it's actually napping, napping or just your eyes and, and doing some breathing. in the afternoon when you have that energy lull, I feel like so many people like resist that and so many chronic illness. Sufferers as well because they tie their [00:43:00] worth to productivity. they think I can't take a nap. But you absolutely can take a nap.

and that's just another way of supporting your body and giving your body what it needs and taking really good care of yourself. that doesn't make you weak and that doesn't mean, you're being unproductive by taking a nap when you're really tired and you need it.

Katie: Exactly. I couldn't agree more. I would nap every day.I love a nap. Naps a life we are actually supposed to nap, but I dunno, maybe it's 'cause you can't just lay down at work and

Amanda: Yeah. I think so much of it goes back to that hustle culture mentality, I never used to nap. but now sometimes when the sun is pouring in my window at two o'clock in the afternoon, I just like, oh, I could, and sometimes I will.

Katie: just.

Amanda: it's divine.

[00:44:00] It's so lovely and I don't feel bad about it. It's like obviously I needed that. 

Katie: It's beautiful. so for this week, try swapping your sleep checklist for perhaps a safety ritual. think about what helps your body feel held and nourished and calm and try it nightly. You know, not for perfect sleep, but for practice in self-trust and keep accountable to this.

 so maybe set a reminder in your phone or, have a little post-it note on your wall and you can tick off the day in the morning to say that you, achieved that. try and start building this habit into your, nighttime routine.

Okay guys, we hope you enjoyed the episode today. through the link in our bio on Instagram, we have put together an IBD guide, which gives you five steps to [00:45:00] reclaim your health. we put this document together so that you can download it.

It gets sent straight to your inbox. we just wanted to give you a little kickstart, to learn how you can actually get the ball rolling when it comes to your personal healing journey, whatever that might look like.