.
.
.
SHOW NOTES AT
Get on the Hansen Method waitlist. Click here. We open up the Hansen Method 2-3x a year so that we can fully support our clients to the highest degree possible.
Thinking about using nutrition and holistic health for restoring thyroid function? Learn EVERYTHING you need to know by joining our Free Facebook Group. Thriving Thyroid Balance Community.
Are you interested in learning more about your thyroid and finding answers?
We got you!
We have several different opportunities to work with us at several different price points and opportunities.
Our signature 6-month program is called The Hansen Method, we offer this in a VIP setting with personalized plans and protocols, individual one on one coaching and incredible bonuses that change regularly. You can schedule a complimentary thyroid breakthrough call with one of our thyroid advisors. Click here. If you have questions about the Hansen Method and want to discuss your specific situation and make sure this is the right program for you you can schedule a complimentary thyroid breakthrough call with one of our team members. schedule here. Hurry, my schedule fills up quickly and we only work with limited amount of women at any given time.
Join hundreds of women who have improved their symptoms by 80% and lose on average 30lbs in the 4 months.
Not ready to schedule a call, no problem. Learn more about the Hansen Method to see if it’s a good fit for you. Click here to learn more.
We also offer The Hansen Method as a Self Guided option.
Option number 1 for self guide is where you are totally on your own to go through the program content, make the changes and execute them on your own. Click here to purchase.
Option number 2 includes group coaching and access to our members facebook group that will allow you access to our Thyroid Success Coaches and testing with personalized protocols. Click here to purchase.
But one of our favorite ways to work with us is our Thriving Thyroid Coaching Membership Opportunity. This is where many of clients first begin working with us. It allows you to get to know us, our system and start making changes before making a larger financial investment. Click here to learn more.
CONTACT LINKS
DOWNLOADABLE RESOURCES
PAID RESOURCES
AFFILIATE LINKS
Xo,
Shannon Hansen
P.S. Make sure to schedule our Thyroid Breakthrough call with one of our thyroid advisors.
AUDIO TRANSCRIPTION
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I have had a week of hell <laugh>. I, and it's very timely that I happen to have planned out a podcast all about the baby wants to play with my microphone, you guys. I planned out this podcast about sleep and then this week I have had the worst sleep at the time of recording this. This is Friday and then I put this podcast is going out on Monday. So this week I have had two nights with this lovely baby sleeping less than three hours a night. So it has been so fun. And yesterday I had to go apologize to all of the people around me because I was a very grumpy pants. I went to, it's this whole story, you guys. I went down to the kids' school to pick them up and the people in the front office, she made a comment, which was a joke, but I didn't take it as a joke at the time.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
She was like, oh, we don't know where your daughter is. And I was like, I can't even with you right now. She's like, oh, but we'll fight. She was like, I can't find your daughter right now cuz she called her class and she wasn't in her class. And she's like, haha, you know, but we'll find her. And I was like, it was just the wrong joke. Any other time I would've been like, haha. Yeah, no problem. You know, because, because we know a ton of the teachers down there and my kids, that particular kid I know, like one of my good friends outside of school and whatever her classroom is right next door to my daughter's class. So even though I could have probably guessed that that kid was in my friend's class, <laugh>, it was just the wrong joke at the wrong time.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
And I was like, I rolled my eyes and I was like, I can't even with you right now. And I walked out of the front office and stood outside to wait for that kid. And I, looking back, I'm like, wow, sleep really impact <laugh> my mood, right? If I am not getting enough sleep, I am crabby. And it's been a long time since I have been this sleep deprived, not by my own choice might I add, but anyways, so I'm excited to talk to you guys about sleep because sleep is very relevant. And before we dive into today's conversation, I want to kind of go back and take a journey with my own sleep with you guys really quickly, because some of these things are very relevant to what many of you guys could be experiencing at this time when it comes to your own sleep.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
So kids, of course, they impact how we sleep. <Laugh>. So growing up, like I never had sleep issues that I can really think of. I do remember in like kindergarten telling my mom, I want, I had just learned about being nocturnal, right? Or nocturnal animals. And I told my mom one night I didn't wanna go to bed. I was like, I wanna be nocturnal <laugh>. And my mom was like okay, <laugh>. But even like through junior high, high school, things like that, I, I wouldn't say high. I had a hard time falling asleep. Sometimes I would if there was a test or something, obviously, you know, that kind of got my mind a little racy, then yes, I did struggle. But generally speaking, within 20 minutes of laying down, I was able to fall asleep. That continued on into early married life, had my first baby.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
And my first baby was an awful sleeper, and I was very young when I had her. I was, it was right before my 20th, 21st birthday. And I didn't have a lot of friends that also had kids. I had friends, but I, I didn't have friends that were having baby to talk about any of this with. So I just thought it was normal because I had heard people say sleep when the baby sleeps. And so I would, I would be up with her every hour and a half for the first like three years of her life. And it was when I had my second kid, I was waking up more with my three year old than I was with my newborn. And that was my first sign that like, whoa, something is wrong. <Laugh> with her sleep. Like her, she just, she would wake up and then like, go back to bed.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
But like I, she would always wake me up. I always had to like soothe her. I'd bring her into bed with me or, you know, rub her back or go lay in her room or whatever. And that was when I was like, okay, something has to give here. And we, I got, I made a weighted blanket for her, and that worked fantastic for, for a period of time, <laugh>. Because after like three or four nights she caught on and she was like, I don't want my special blanket. It makes me sleepy. And I was like, yes, that is the point, dear. Like, mama needs some sleep. And fast forward, you know, three kids, I have three kids. And my third kid, she was a pretty good sleeper. She would take naps pretty good, she would sleep. But then when she got to be about like two, three, I, if I remember correctly, she would just wake up in the middle of the night and want to be awake for like an hour or two, and then I'm just sitting there in the dark with her in the living room trying not to disturb anybody else.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And that was really looking back, a very pivotal part in my health and in my journey, because I had hit burnout, I had hit double burnout without knowing what it was and without being able to identify this is what's going on with me. But that is when I really started to have to go see doctors. That's when I was seeing gastroenterologists and endocrinologists and naturopathic doctors and spending all this money on my health trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with me because I couldn't fall asleep at night, right? My energy peaked at night, couldn't fall asleep. That's when I would try to rest. But it was like, okay, I guess I'll do some laundry, or I guess I'll clean up the house or whatever. And then in the morning, my six-year-old would like literally have to like push me out of bed to get her up to school on time.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
She was the one waking me up. And I was like, this is not normal, right? Like, this is not normal to feel this way. Fast forward a little bit. During that time I also, things were getting so bad that I was starting to experience fibromyalgia type pain where it was like just this deep muscle pain inside of my body. And I was like, I am too young for this. Like, I should not be, I should not be experiencing the, these types of symptoms. Like I wasn't even 30 yet, and I'm going to the doctor's, everybody's saying everything's normal, everything's normal, everything's normal, nothing's wrong with you. And I'm like, I don't feel normal. And that is, I could go on and on about this story. That's not the point of today. The point of today is to help you guys better understand how critical sleep is and how sleep mapping can help you identify what organ systems glands are involved in helping to regulate sleep and which ones could be out of balance for you based off your sleeping habits and patterns.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Okay? So let's dive into the nitty gritty. So what are hor what hormones are needed for sleep? There are actually several hormones that are needed to regulate sleep, including melatonin, cortisol, and serotonin. Melatonin is the hormone that is naturally produced by the body as it gets darker, okay? And it helps to regulate the sleep awake cycle inside of the body. Cortisol, well actually let me back up before we go into cortisol. So with melatonin, our body, we have this natural circadian rhythm where when it starts to get dark, we should be winding down. We should be saying, oh, it's, you know, I'm feeling tired and whatever, right? And then when the sun comes up, our body should start to naturally wake up. It right? Now you guys are probably feeling this too. The sun is coming up and so I'm actually waking up now before my alarm clock and I'm like, no, I still have 20 minutes to sleep, but it's because the sun is coming in and my hormones are like saying, okay, it's time to wake up.
Speaker 1 (09:25):
<Laugh>. You know, cortisol on the other hand is produced in response to stress and can interfere with, with sleep at night. If cortisol is now again, going back to like my story, my cortisol, I was at burnout. So what had happened for so long is I was using too much cortisol and then my body kind of flat lined and I had no energy. So that's where the, you guys hear the baby. That's where my body wasn't able to that's when I started experiencing the fibromyalgia symptoms because cortisol gets this really bad rap as like this hormone that's like, oh, belly fat. Oh, it's so bad. But cortisol is actually an anti-inflammatory. So if you guys have burned out your adrenal glands burned out your cortisol levels, and now you're operating from a place of not having enough, which is what I was doing, that's when I started having the muscle aches and pains, okay?
Speaker 1 (10:38):
So we really have to pay attention to that and look at, Hey, how are, how is my body reacting to these things? Okay? So finally we have serotonin. Serotonin is a hormone that helps to regulate mood, but it also impacts sleep. So to get a little like geeky on you guys, and this is a pathway that I talk about a lot with my clients because it's important for us to understand that everything is connected and that just because you're having the end result of like sleeping issue, there's actually several other pathways that have been disrupted for many different reasons. So first one being stomach acid. We have to have zinc and potassium to make stomach acid, zinc, potassium zinc, zinc, sodium and potassium to make stomach acid and sodium and potassium also to help regulate cortisol. So when we're under a lot of stress, guess what happens?
Speaker 1 (11:36):
Stomach acid goes down, stomach acid goes down, we stop digesting and absorbing and assimilating our food. So then we're not getting the B vitamins, we're not getting iron levels. Like, so we could be struggling with anemia or ferritin levels or imbalances with ferritin levels. And then we're not also breaking down our protein. So the critical pieces and components of regulating sleep is gonna be number one, stomach acid. Well actually backing up cortisol, right? Because if our body is taking the, those minerals to help regulate your cortisol stomach acid is gonna go down. And then we need that stomach acid to break down B vitamins and tryptophan, specifically B6 and tryptophan. Tryptophan is a protein. Those two work together to produce serotonin. That serotonin then turns into melatonin. So right away, <laugh>, when clients come in and they say, oh, this, this, this. I go, boom, we have to go all the way back to number one, stomach acid, but two stress management.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Okay? Hopefully this is making sense. Rewind, re-listen if you need to <laugh> and we can talk about a little bit more. So then the next one is, which organs systems and glands are involved in regulation of sleep? So there are several different systems and glands that are involved in regulating this, including the brain, the liver, the adrenal glands because the brain is controlling the sleep awake cycle and that, and regulating the production of me melatonin as well as like the co-factors and the nutrients behind it, okay? The liver is responsible for metabolizing the hormones and detoxifying them in the body. So if the body isn't doing that, if the liver is not doing that, the body's gonna wake up and say, Hey, we're missing this critical piece. We're missing this component. That's why you guys could be waking up between, around from one to 3:00 AM because your body's saying, Hey, delivery needs to be stimulated, right?
Speaker 1 (13:59):
It needs to do something that doesn't have the mechanisms that it needs in order to detoxify. So it's gonna wake you up and say, Hey, go to the bathroom, or it's gonna wake you up and be like, pay attention to me. This is, that is a sign that your body is trying to talk to you and tell you what it's needing. And you're find, and if you're like me, you're finding it annoying. You're like, why can't I just sleep through the night? Right? Why do I have to wake up and pee, huh? Yeah. Okay. And then finally we have the adrenal glands which produce cortisols. So again, if we are stressed out overnight, this could be impacting our sleep. And again, if you, what happened to me is I had what we call like a reverse curve when it comes to cortisol. So this is why I was peaking at night.
Speaker 1 (14:53):
My, my cortisone was like low when I woke up. I would have like a little bit of inter an energy then I would kind of crash in the afternoon. And then by like dinnertime, I was like amped up, right? Like I was so wired and tired, <laugh>, it was a joke. And then every morning I'm like, man, why did I stay up so late? I, you know, I'm gonna break this cycle. I'm gonna have to do something. This is not right. Like, and I couldn't break the cycle, you guys, because I didn't fully understand what was happening to my body at that time. And so I was trying all, all kinds of like, weird stuff right? To, to do it until I figured out exactly what to do. Now I'm not even gonna share. Well, one of the things, actually, I will share this.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
One of the things that I did to regulate sleep is
Speaker 1 (15:45):
You guys, I started doing vitamin injections in my bum. Now
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I was so desperate to get this under control and get this like, taken care of,
Speaker 1 (15:56):
That I
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Was willing to do whatever,
Speaker 1 (15:59):
Right? I was willing
Speaker 2 (16:00):
To do what I needed to do because my family, my kids felt like they were, I felt like
Speaker 1 (16:06):
They were suffering as a result of my sleeping patterns and my sleeping issues. And so those vitamin injections, yes, they did help, but now I, now there's other things that can be done to reverse the, the circadian rhythm or the cortisol spike that I was having at night. And that's what I recommend for my clients if they are experiencing those types of things. So I wanna share just a quick story with you guys about Sarah. So Sarah had been experiencing insomnia for several years and was finding it really difficult to fall asleep and stay asleep. And it was impacting her work and her personal life and her kids. And she was feeling exhausted and irritable throughout the day. So after working with the US and undergoing several nights of sleep mapping, she discovered that her liver was struggling to detoxify, which was impacting her quality sleep and not allowing her to get into that full REM cycle.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
So by making some dietary lifestyle changes to support her liver, you guys, we use food. We use food. I want you to like, keep in mind we didn't supplement this because this was lifestyle, okay? Dietary and lifestyle things. She was able to improve her sleep dramatically, and she was able to feel more rested and she had more energy throughout the day. So that is possible for you guys. You don't Now, since before, should I share this? I'm, I'm debating. One of the things that I share with my clients inside the Hanson method is and I've only had to do this maybe a couple of times because there's so much to sleep you guys. So first and foremost, let's talk about melatonin. Okay? So melatonin suppresses insulin naturally while you are sleeping. So we want this to happen. This helps keep blood sugar levels stable, and melatonin helps to regulate those hunger hormones in the middle of the night so that you feel satiated and you don't have to wake up and eat right?
Speaker 1 (18:32):
And I, that was always a question for me because I was like, wait, why can't I go like nine, 10 hours without needing to eat? But then in the day I'm like, ravenous, right? That is because of melatonin. That is one of the responsibilities that melatonin has. And when things are working properly, melatonin and insulin will work together to help keep you asleep and help you to stay asleep. Isn't that pretty cool? Okay. The second thing that you guys need to know about melatonin is melatonin is to support, one of the other roles of melatonin is to support gut bacteria, which helps to produce melatonin as well as other neuro neurotransmitters, including the calm, happy hormones like serotonin. So we kind of touched on that stress. So melatonin is also known as like the stress slayer, okay? When we have good bacteria in our gut, it's going to help with stress, it's gonna help with neurotransmitters, and it's gonna help with sleep.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
So probiotics is again, one of the things that I recommend for literally every single client of mine because it helps with so much happening. Okay? So now we see, hopefully you guys see the importance of melatonin. A couple things too. And this one I've shared on my Instagram. So if you follow me at Thriving Thyroid, I've, I've shared this in my new speed, but melatonin can be used when you're sick to help you recover from illness because it helps support the body. It helps support the body in like such a way that helps you to fight infections and, and melatonin is really great. Okay? So a couple things that if you guys want to get a discount on this stuff. Now, I'm not saying that you have to run out and buy this, I personally would use dietary <laugh> and lifestyle changes over supplementation.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
But there it's really important that there, that you guys know that there are options out there. So there is two different kinds of melatonin that I, I like to recommend. And again, I've out of like the hundreds of people that I've worked with, I've only recommended these like twice ever <laugh>, okay? So the first one is melatonin. Prolonged release. So long-term use of melatonin has not been studied. So it's really, really important that you guys are not just doing this ongoing, like I feel like this is a short term side. This is a short term like bandaid in order to help you figure out the other areas. So melatonin, prolonged release by Douglas Labs supports a healthy sleep cycle, supports immune function antioxidants and will support it. And it cross, it crosses over the blood-brain barrier. So this is great for perimenopause and postmenopausal women who are struggling to stay asleep.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
Yeah, I like that one for those women. But again, lifestyle should take care of most of this. Now, if you are struggling to fall asleep quickly, there is a Douglas Labs makes a sublingual melatonin. So again, this is not intended for ki this one specifically is not intended for kids or people under 18. If you're pregnant, nursing or taking any prescription medication, you guys especially hormone replacement therapy, this is not for you. And or if you also have autoimmunity or depressive disorders, okay? So that kind of rules out a lot of people <laugh>. But sublingual melatonin helps you to fall asleep quickly. So in the gallbladder, melatonin helps convert cholesterol into bile and prevents oxidative stress inside the body, and it helps to increase the mobility of gallstones in the gallbladder. So it's really important that if you do take this, that you're following the recommendations and understanding the side effects of this in the show notes, you guys can set up an account on fullscript under me and you guys will get a discount if you do choose to go this route.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
The second thing and my preferred method when I, this week, I have taken the <laugh> doTERRA Serenity capsules because it's not melatonin, it just helps relax the body. And I find that I, because I'm still nursing in the middle of the night, I want to wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go. And that's what the serenity capsules have helped me do. I don't take them all the time, but I do use them <laugh>. They just help calm and encourage restful sleep. The nervous system help reduce stress, and they don't make me feel groggy in the morning because it has lavender essential oil and altheine along with like lemon balm and passion fruit and camera meal. So it just is very relaxing to the body. Now if your kids are struggling with sleep I have a few clients where I work with their kids and they have some diagnoses, I will say it that way, diagnoses that impact their sleep as kid kids and circadian rhythm.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
So Dr. Grain mom has some liquid melatonin and goodnight gummies that are really fantastic for the li the gummies are recommended for kids eight and up. But again, don't take this as like medical advice. You need to talk to your doctor about any of that. And then the liquid melatonin is for kids and adults. I don't remember what ages that one is recommended for. However again, you can check out the show notes, use my discount code thyroid, thriving Thyroid, 10 for those ones. And they, a lot of my clients who have kids who are maybe on the autism spectrum or a d d or ADHD or something like that who really struggle to go to sleep and and stay asleep, these have been very beneficial for them and their families. Again, talk to your professionals, talk to your doctors, especially if you're doing this for kids.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
But I, I like to share that information with you guys if you guys are at all struggling the way that I was struggling <laugh> with, with things happening with my kiddos and all the things. So let's talk about some ways to get good sleep and then we'll talk lastly about sleep mapping. And we'll wrap this up here. So number one, we need to create a sleep conducive area by keeping the bedroom cool, dark and quiet. We need to stick to a regular sleep schedule and wake up time. Avoid stimulating activities before bed, like watching tv, using electronics. If you do have to use them, use blue blockers or something along that, those lines. And then incorporate relaxation techniques such as deep breathing or meditation I have found. And even if your kids struggle with sleep, I have done this with my kids and I have found that it has worked really great.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
They have some kid meditation stories that you can find that walk kids through relaxing their body and they, there's like a rabbit and horses and animals and whatever, and it's like this fun story, but by the end of the story that's maybe like 10, 15 minutes long, it's an audio. I think, I'm sure there's a lot of them out there. My kids are relaxed enough to fall asleep and or they've already fallen asleep by that time. So that's worked really, really great and something that I would recommend way, way, way, way, way before <laugh> any kind of supplementation. And then of course eating a balanced diet that is rich in sleep, supporting nutrients such as magnesium, tryptophan B vitamins. And then also consider using essential oils like lavender. VTI ever is fantastic. Juniper Berry is known as like the, what do they call it?
Speaker 1 (27:35):
I think it's like the nighttime, I don't know, something that helps calm, <laugh>, calm me down. Or chamomile tea. So, you know, obviously using all of those. And then there's some of the other basic sleep things like eliminating coffee and caffeine and finishing, you know, dinner and whatever, whatever, whatever, right? Like all of the things. But those would be some places that I would start. So lastly, how does sleep map you guys? I am going to link up a workbook for you guys to track your sleep. Now, the best thing to do with sleep is to track it over three to five days. So you can start to see patterns emerging here. And in this workbook too, let me say this is, it's going to share with you a circadian rhythm chart that I really love and can help you to better understand which systems, glands, organs are not working, whoop.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
And by i, by tracking our sleep and checking out this circadian rhythm, you are gonna get a better idea of what is happening internally and maybe get, maybe you already know what to do for your liver or maybe you can, you know, do some research or whatever. Or if you guys want some additional help, feel free to reach out to us, right? I would love to have a thyroid breakthrough call with you. We can discuss further how to help you with sleep, help you get answers to support your sleep and your energy and your poop and your menstrual cycles and your sleep cycles and all these different things because sometimes it's going to be really difficult and challenging. And what I have noticed after years of coaching and years of working with people is it's like all of us have only so much willpower.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
We can go research, there's plenty of information out there on Dr. Google, but you, if you don't see results very quickly, it's gonna be really easy to fall back into old habits and then we're wasting time and then we're wasting money, and then we're wasting energy and then we feel like a failure because we weren't successful and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, right? That is what a coach does for you, is they help simplify the process and give you a very clear roadmap because we see things that you may not see. We know things like tryptophan and B6 and stomach acid and all these things that can be the missing piece of the puzzle for you guys. So in the show notes, there's lots of things that you guys can do. You guys can download the workbook, fill it out. This month we are building on top of all of these different things. We're starting with sleep. So start with sleep, track your sleep, see what's going on there, see how you need to, like, what information you can find from there. And if you're not finding the answers that you are looking for, book a call with me. You guys book a call, let's have a conversation and talk about how we can help support you, your hormones and help you get back to the life that you deserve. All right, you guys, I'll see you on the next.
