Hack Your Hormones

Could Rest be the Missing Piece of your Well-being Jigsaw?

Rest and Recuperate - You're Allowed!

If you want to join the WillPowder’s party, you’re only going to find the brain space and the energy for a health overhaul if you are well rested and you actually have the capacity to tweak and refine your way to living well. Whilst life can be filled with absolute overwhelm and a sense that you’re surviving in a constant state of chasing your tail, how amazing would it be to accomplish all the things you do in a day with a little bit of energy left over for yourself?

Don't Ignore Your Body

Rest can often slip to the bottom of our priority list. You may find yourself prioritising everyone else’s health and well-being, as yours falls further and further into an abyss of zero self care, becoming completely unreachable that you find yourself in an endless spiral of unconscious self harm.

Rest can often be the missing piece, but squirrelling out some time to take a breath is a must if you’re ever going to be the best version of yourself. Remind yourself daily that you are not an android with an endless fuel source, you are a human being, just like everyone else who you take care of; you too deserve to slow down, relax and recuperate. If you feel like you need permission to just stop, here it is!

Physical rest is key to your emotional state, which determines how you respond to the challenges, pitfalls and tribulations that life can throw at you. When you’re up against it and experiencing high levels of stress, your body steals the amino acid, Tryptophan which, when it’s working properly, converts to 5-HTP, resulting in the production of serotonin - your contented hormone. This means that all too familiar frazzled feeling is literally zapping your zen. Rest is critical for your nervous system’s equilibrium and it’s not just enough to eat and move well. Without rest, you will burn out and never recover from the day’s hurdles.

Benefits of Rest

Whilst a good night’s kip has obvious benefits, it can also support in dropping those pesky pounds. If you have jumped on the train to becoming ‘fat adapted’ and have left the carbs at the sluggish station, your body will go into ketosis whilst you sleep, meaning you will burn fat whilst you rack up the rest. Who doesn’t want an effortless fat burn? Not only this, when you reach the REM stage of your sleep cycle, your brain and body will repair itself, supporting your immune system, keeping you in fine fettle.

Now rest isn’t all about sleep, but it is the catalyst that will make everything else possible. When you’re exhausted, or completely flat lining, your body’s natural response is to find fuel, usually in the form of sugar, carbs or insulin spiking energy drinks. A lack of sleep increases your appetite and your cortisol levels, which can perpetuate that pesky weight gain and middle aged spread. Failing to catch the zzz will cause a dysregulation in your blood glucose, resulting in a constant cycle of spikes and cravings to boot. By surviving in these sugar spikes, you’re only going to prevent sleep all the more. To learn more about how to literally feed sleep, check out our food blogs to learn how you can feed your brain and support your body to rest with ease.

There really are a plethora of factors that can inhibit your slumber; our mood blogs are the perfect place to help yourself when it comes to supporting your sleep, as combating stress and anxiety may just be the key to remedying why falling asleep is evading you.

Top Tips for Drifting off:

Try not to eat too late because digestion can interfere with sleep.
Avoid high intensity exercise late in the evening because it can be overstimulating for your body
Ditch the devices around 30 minutes before bed.
Have a bedtime routine. This could include a little bit of self care like stretching or a skin care routine, or read that book that’s been gathering dust on your night stand. ,
Dim your lights in the evening to switch your body into night time mode.
Try and hit the hay at the same time every night - even at weekends. This will support your sleep body clock.
Keep your bedroom cool - between 60 -68 degree Fahrenheit increases melatonin, which is not only the vital sleep hormone but is also anti-aging.
Ditch anything that emits light when it’s time for bed - alarm clocks, your phone, the landing light, street lights outside will all interfere with you drifting off.
Avoid the booze because this just induces fake sleep, preventing the body from doing its detoxing magic.

Supplements for Sleep

Magnesium - You can take these in either supplement form or have an Epsom salt bath before bed and let your skin do the work.
Melatonin - This is only available on prescription, but it’s far better than traditional sleeping tablets that can make you feel like a walking zombie the next day. You could also try concentrated cherry juice, or bananas which are a great natural source.
GABA - A naturally occurring amino acid made in the brain which improves mood and supports sleep
L-Theanine - Lowers anxiety and chills you out. You take this in conjunction with lemon balm for additional sleepy benefits
Tryptophan and 5-HTP - Helps to produce melatonin.

calm

Hack Your Sleep

For more top sleep hacks, check out our review of the Hack your Hormones chapter, ‘Why Can’t I Sleep?’

Whilst sleep is the gold standard when it comes to rest, there are plenty of other ways that we can reset our bodies and allow them a moment of serenity and reprieve. Of course you can throw your hard earned money at your body’s pause button and there will always be good reason why a trip to the spa is a great idea; however, there are plenty of ways that you can engage in some restful self care that are completely free and readily available. Sitting with a good book instead of your phone, strolling through nature, engaging in some deep breathing, taking a cold shower, or a hot bath, or even having a little Nana nap are all ways that you can give your body the space it needs to reboot.

Free Rest Breaks - Tapping into a bit of You.

Social Media

We often experience unconscious stress when we immerse ourselves in the Instagram lives of celebs, influencers or even our friends and family. Their lives can often seem a far cry from our own realities and the negative psychological impact may, at first, go unnoticed, but those feelings of comparison can often sneak up on us and have a detrimental impact on our well-being and self love. Your rational brain knows what you see online is not real and all the bits in between are omitted for good reason, but they still have the power to make us set unreasonable expectations of ourselves. So, do yourself a favour and ditch the social media every now and again and give yourself a break. If you’re following people that have control over the way you feel, don’t be afraid to cull them!

Cold Water Therapy

Not only does cold water therapy support in getting rid of those insulin spiking carb cravings that negatively impact your sleep, when you take the plunge you trigger the Mammalian Diving Reflex. This makes you breathe in really sharply, kick starting your adrenaline and cortisol, making you feel super alert and improving your overall mood. Cold showers are an adaptogen in that they make you feel awake in the morning and sleepy at night. Furthermore, giving in to the cold can also support your hormone balance, waves of endorphins, better circulation, weight loss, stress relief, pain relief, muscle healing, antidepressant, stress management, and it can give your immune system a boost.

We know that plunging into Arctic temperatures is probably the least attractive of our hacks, but engaging in this technique 3 times a week will see your mood and energy skyrocket.

Techniques to Help You Embrace the Ice

Start slowly by submerging your face in cold water and let the body follow.
Turn down the dial in your shower gradually
Take a really hot bath before you take the plunge - your body will soon be crying out for a cool down.
Give the Wim Hof breathing technique a whirl which makes the cold water more bearable as you activate the vagus nerve, allowing your parasympathetic systems to take over to calm and balance you out.

Breathing like Wim

The Wim Hof breathing technique has been proven to stave off viruses, disease and depression as it alters the body’s chemical imbalances using oxygen and CO2, which heals inflammation at a cellular level, as well as supporting relaxation.

You can download his app for free but, in a nutshell, here’s how you breathe like Wim:

Take 30 deep breaths in through your mouth to a count of two and out for the count of one. You’re trying to get as much oxygen into your bloodstream as possible - you might become a little light headed.
Once your blood is oxygenated, take a breath and hold it for as long as you can. When you can’t hold it for any longer, breathe out and then pause with all the air in your lungs for ten seconds

Heat is also your Friend

Heat is restorative and maybe your way into embracing the cold. A hot bath can not only be so relaxing, they can have so many other beauty benefits. Give these bath ideas a whirl:

Epsom salt bath - your body will absorb the natural magnesium, making you feel more relaxed
Apple cider vinegar baths - brilliant for detoxing and relaxing your joints. You could add some essential oils to mask the vinegary smell.
Detox bath - add a cup of baking soda, a third of a cup of hydrogen peroxide and a cup of bentonite clay, which will draw out the impurities in your system

If you grab yourself a pop up infrared sauna, you’re on to a winner. A sauna can really help with those pesky cravings, improve your mood by lowering cortisol levels and increasing your serotonin, stimulate your lymph flow, get your bowels moving as the muscles in your abdomen relax, lessen fatigue, increase relaxation, reduce feelings of frustration and anxiety and stimulate your mitochondria, so you produce more energy.

When you sweat, you not only eliminate toxins from your body, but it also supports weight loss; when fat breaks down, it is released into your bloodstream and expelled in your sweat. If you don’t sweat them out, they will simply be reabsorbed into your body and continue to cling on for dear life. In a sauna, your heart rate increases, your blood vessels dilate and you begin to sweat more, which not only supports getting rid of fat, but also increases blood circulation.

Spike Yourself Serene

Much like acupressure, lying on a spike mat stimulates blood flow, which helps you to relax, reduces your stress levels, supports sleep, eliminates headaches, positively affects the nervous system and immune system, helps muscles to recover faster after exercise and increases energy levels. You can lie on the mat in your birthday suit, or in a light t-shirt. It can be uncomfortable to begin with, but your body will soon adapt to the sensation.

Cellulite is a connective tissue issue and it doesn't matter how well you eat, move, or how thin you are, you may still suffer with the dimples. Your spike mat and our Oestrogen Detox can all help in reducing the look of puckered skin.

(S)he’s Electric…

Our bodies are electric and our cells conduct electric currents which enable our nervous system to send signals, allowing us to move. Groundling or Earthing reconnects you with the Earth’s electrons; by standing, barefoot, on the earth you can tap into its 7.38 hertz frequency and this natural magnetic energy can assist your circadian rhythm (our natural sleep cycle) as you will absorb the free electrons, mitigating stress. A great way to start your morning is to enjoy a fatty coffee, in a dry robe, while you stand barefoot outside. Not only will you reap the benefits of the Earth’s magic, but you will also trigger your cortisol and support your vitamin D absorption.

oestrogen detox

Natural Skin Beauty Hacks

When you feel good in your skin, you’re less likely to engage in destructive behaviours that can be harmful to you. Engaging in skin care can sometimes be the perfect way to give yourself a minute or a way of embedding and bedtime routine.

Increasing your intake of Vitamin C and replacing your decreasing collagen are the perfect ways to start taking better care of the largest organ in your body, your skin. In addition, Astaxanthin supplements are great for improving blood pressure, cholesterol and preventing fine lines and wrinkles, as well as mitigating sun damage.
If you experience breakouts, mix some basic baking soda in water and rub it over your face to dry out your skin and the blemish. Follow this up with a spritz of hydrogen peroxide (oxygenated water) until the baking soda starts to fizz a bit. Finally, wash your face thoroughly and add a face oil or moisturiser. Try to keep your products as natural as possible because anything you put on your face is going to be absorbed and processed by your liver; any undue stress that you put on your liver is only going to steal energy from you.

It’s safe to say that sometimes getting some rest can feel completely impossible, but with these easy to embed hacks, it may feel a little less difficult. It’s time to rest up, Hackers!