Tired All Day, Wired All Night? How to finally get your ✨energy✨back

28 Days of Decoding Your Body: The Hormone Balance Challenge 🕯️🍵🕊️ Day 10-11

Let me pain you a probably way to familiar picture

☀️ morning alarm goes off

You wake up

Your blinds are closed

You’re in a dark room

You pull out your phone and scroll a little

30 minutes go by….you slowly get yourself out of bed

You feel exhausted and groggy

You grab a cup of coffee

and your energy rushes back and you head to work until you crashes at 3

🌙 you come home from work and get ready for the evening

You have a glass of wine with dinner

You watch the latest season of “You”

You get into bed and start scrolling on TikTok

And hour goes by, you feel tired by wired and finally decide to turn off the lights

But your thoughts are racinnnngggg and you can’t quiet them

You take a hit of 🌿 and finally pass out

and the cycle repeats….

This is prob the most standard morning and evening I hear from my clients when they first start working with us

But here’s the issue:

• The morning is meant to be a time of = steady increase of energy, awakening of the senses, tone setting for the day

• The evening is meant to be a time of = slowing down the nervous system, going inward with the senses, a closing of the day

but the modern day life means our morning is filled with isolation followed by adrenaline and caffeine and the evenings are marked by stimulation and numbness

So it’s no wonder you live feeling exhausted, wired, burnt out, and like you’re constantly fighting against your dwindling energy

morning matcha with collagen and rays of sunshine on the skin = my fav wake up routine

Today’s Hormone Balance Action Steps:

💪🏼 Action Step:

• Get sunlight on your skin within an hour of waking up

✍🏼 Reflection: a template to build out your morning and evening routine

The Circadian Rhythm - Our Body’s Master Clock

So we have an internal clock called the circadian rhythm that dictates our energy and sleep schedule

And the absolute coolest thing my girl, is that it’s influenced by our exposure to light and darkness (we’re basically guided by the sun and moon)

In the morning, when we see light/sunshine, our brain registers that as the “morning” and when we need energy, so it tells our body to produce more cortisol and serotonin

which gives us energy and good vibes

Then in the evening, as the light dwindles down and we are met with darkness, this tells the body to downregulate cortisol (since we won’t need energy to sleep) and increase melatonin our sleep hormone

→ the end result: sunshine = energy; darkness = sleepy

Wait Isn’t Cortisol Bad?

Ah the overstated, overly simplified way that instagram fear mongers

short answer: no….we need cortisol

but it’s about how much cortisol our body produces

Like I said, in the morning our body wants to have that increase in cortisol - but only to a point

Within the first 30 minutes of rising, cortisol should be at its highest point during the day…and then slowly come down throughout the day

cortisol is meant to peak within an hour of rising and then come down throughout the day while melatonin increases

so what makes cortisol too high?

well, in the morning when we add extra stress on top of this cortisol peak from…

• black coffee straight to the soul

• tiktok, instagram, work emails first thing in the am

• rushing out the door for work without a moment to ground yourself

• skipping breakfast and forcing your body to run on its reserves

overstimulation + fight vs. flight mode = cortisol goes haywire

add on dark rooms and laying around in bed, and our body is quite confused about what it is supposed to do and when

Okay but I’m so tired, why don’t I just crash at night?

well, cause you’ve been giving your body little high doses of cortisol throughout the day

• that afternoon coffee (caffeine half life is like 12 hours for some)

• the evening doom scroll

• the adrenaline jumping show you watch before bed (yes, even the dramas and love island can give your body that cortisol bump)

• the emotionally intense dinner convos

• high fat dinner or late meals

so when you actually get to bed, your body hasn’t produced enough melatonin cause your cortisol is still jacked

Bottom line:

We’re living in a world that constantly fights our inner clock. Our ancestors once rose with the sun and wound down with the moon. We now run on caffeine, artificial light, background noise, and a steady stream of chronic, low-grade stress

Signs of a dysregulated internal clock:

• low energy in the morning or afternoon

• feeling tired but wired

• insomnia or difficulty sleeping

• extreme grogginess in the morning

• sugar cravinnnngggssss

• brain fog

• emotional reactivity

• poor concentration

signs of a regulated internal clock:

• a little sleepy but steadily building energy in the morning

• energized within 30 minutes of rising

• vibrant, clear headed feeling in the morning

• steady energy throughout the day (without needing caffeine)

• lower energy come 5:00 pm (but not a big crash)

• feeling tired around 9:00/10:00 pm

• effortlessly able to fall into sleep within 10-15 minutes of “trying”

Okay but what does any of this have to do with hormone health?

A lot

first off - both melatonin and cortisol are hormones

but besides that, high cortisol and lack of sleep can lead to:

• missed ovulation

• irregular cycles

• fertility challenges

• painful periods

Building a morning & evening routine that actually works with our body

The basics are finding ways to vibe with the energy we want to steadily build in the morning (without pushing cortisol too high) and slowly integrate inwards in the evening

☀️ MORNING ROUTINE BASICS

• Wake up at the same time every day (ideally, at or before 8:00 am)

• Once awake, open the blinds (no hanging around in a dark room)

• Rehydrate in the morning (if you’re doing the challenge, you’re already on it)

• Get sunshine on your skin!!!

• Blood sugar stable breakfast with protein within 1 hour of waking

• Gentle movement (think: brisk walk, pilates, yoga)

• Delayed phone activity

• Something to connect to yourself (meditation, breathwork, journaling, etc)

• No more than 200 mg caffeine x day

🌝 EVENING ROUTINE BASICS

• Dinner should be done 3+ hour before bed

• Limit big emotional conversation or work projects before bed

• Start dimming lights with sunset - turn to natural lighting like candles

• Stop all work at least 2 hour before bed

• Stop all screens at least 1 hour before bed

• Bring in 1-2 activities that signal to the body it’s time to sleep (meditation, yoga, journaling, hot shower, reading, etc)

• Light out 8 hour before wake up time

Put It Into Practice:

Get sunlight on your skin within 30 minutes of rising

This signals to your brain that it’s time to slowly wake up and rev up

And this doesn’t need to be complex. You can do this by:

• opening up the blind

• drinking your glass of water or doing your meditation in a corner of your home that gets sunlight (extra points for habit stacking)

• sitting outside while having your morning matcha/coffee

• going for a walk outside with your dog first thing or to a local breakspot/coffee shop

bottom line: let the sunshine in my girl

So now in your line up you have….

1. Drink water with lemon within 30 minutes of rising

2. Get sunlight on your skin within 30 minutes of rising

3. Take 5-10 minutes to meditate

4. Bring in a serving of cruciferous veggies x day

You’ve got this 💪🏼

Time to Reflect:

OoooOOoohh I love creating morning and evening routines

But the key? Make it something you can actually sustain. A 12-point list that starts at 4:00 am isn’t doable for most. So be realistic. Build up your confidence. And do what you say you are going to do.

Who knows…maybe you’re writing this in the a.m. beaming in the sun rays with a glass of water in hand 😏

pst: supplements, herbs, blue light blocking glasses and tips to support sleep down below 👇🏼