Sleep Like a Baby. Or not. Because Babies Don't Sleep Well: Health & Consistency Series in the New Year

Hi friends!

I hope you are doing well! I am doing well. One of my goals this year to continue to improve my own wellness was to become a 'morning person.' I already get up relatively early and now I am working on waking up at 5am, and solidifying a solid morning routine.

Thus bringing me to another piece of the total wellness picture I've been painting for you in our health and consistency blog series.

Drumroll please! The next pillar of wellness is sleep. Achieving quality sleep is a huge portion of your wellness. If you have trouble sleeping, you know how distressing this can be, and how hard it is to achieve a healthy life with a lackluster sleep routine.

I don't need to tell you how important sleep is, do I? Maybe I should share a few things just in case. Here they are:

• 40% of adults with insomnia may have a diagnosable mental health condition. (Link to study)

• 50% of people who watch TV before bed get less than seven hours of sleep.

• Noise may disrupt sleep and increase production of the hormones adrenaline and cortisol, as well as increase heart rate and blood pressure.

• 54% of people report that stress and anxiety is what is disrupting their sleep the most.

• Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) makes women at least two times as likely to report insomnia-like symptoms before and during their period.

Now you're saying to yourself, "Megan, great, I already know sleep is important. How the heck do I improve it?" Well I've got you!

Here are 5 tips to improve your sleep today:

1. No naps longer than 10 minutes per day. I know this is hard, but you're decreasing your sleep pressure every time you nap. If you're a parent, remember when your kiddo was dropping a nap and they'd fall asleep in the car ride home on the way to your house to do their new naptime, and you'd cry because now it meant they weren't going to take a 2 hour nap like they should? Just me? Oh. Well, regardless, that's a perfect illustration of the concept of sleep pressure. No naps means lots of pressure to sleep in the nighttime, which is when you really want to be sleepy anyways!

2. Reduce and time your caffeine intake. No caffeine within 6-8 hours of bedtime. And only consume less than 5 cups of coffee per day. Seriously. Caffeine's half life is on average 4-6 hours, but also can be anywhere from 2-12 hours.

3. Make sure your room is comfortable, clean, dark and quiet. I cover every light in my room with electrical tape, that's how disruptive sleep is to melatonin production. And melatonin is the sleepy hormone.

4. Quit using your bed for anything other than sleep and sex. No more TV in bed. No reading in bed. No folding laundry. No homework. NOTHING. Just sleep and sex. You want to train your brain that bed is where we go when we feel sleepy.

5. Move up your wake up time. And consequently your bedtime as well. Melatonin production starts the moment it gets dark outside, and stops when the sun rises. So you need to reset your circardian rhythm by getting early morning sunshine or bright lights. And you need to then get evening daylight, because it's softer and tells your brain that it's time to start melatonin production.

So, there you have it! Change some things in your routine and get the sleep you deserve!

If you need accountability and more assistance with improving your sleep, send me an email or click the link here if you'd like to schedule a free consultation and work with me to achieve total wellness for yourself!

Take exquisite care of yourselves,

Megan

Micro-dose Your Movements: Pursuing Health and Consistency in the New Year (Series)

Hi friends!

I hope your life has settled down some since the whirlwind of the holidays. For me, it's always a mixture of exhaustion, sugar overload (apparently my body doesn't need to eat 62 cookies per day, who knew?), and 'what day is it?' when I finally get to reset after New Year's.

Continuing in our series about pursuing health and consistency in the new year, I want to share an often-overlooked habit that can have a profound impact on your health and longevity. It’s inspired by a fascinating observation about people who live to be 100 years old—or even longer. These centenarians share many habits, but one of the simplest, most consistent ones is this: they move their bodies. A lot.

But here’s the kicker—they don't typically have formal exercise routines or are hitting the gym for hours on end. Centenarians tend to incorporate natural movement into their daily lives. They stretch, bend, squat, garden, and get up and down from the ground regularly. They’re not cramming all their activity into a single workout session—they’re sprinkling movement throughout their day. And that, my friends, is one of the keys to living a long and healthy life. If you don't believe me, take a gander at this research article by Dan Buettner and Sam Skemp, that details the 9 habits of centenarians. Number one on the list? Natural Movement.

There's also a ton of other interesting things on the list as well, such as belonging to a spiritual community, finding a purpose for your life, and regular, daily routines to shed stress. Most of these actions are recommended by your friendly neighborhood therapist (that's me!). We're all just trying to get to a healthier version of ourselves, and following these behaviors is a way to achieve that.

Let’s Talk About Micro-Dosing Movement

This brings me to the idea of "micro-dosing" your movement. Earlier this year, I came across an article about micro-walks, and it stopped me in my tracks (pun intended). The concept is simple: instead of committing to one long walk, you take several smaller walks throughout your day. For people who feel overwhelmed by the idea of traditional exercise, this could be a game-changer!

Of course, my brain couldn’t stop there. Why limit it to walks? We could micro-dose any type of movement. While I personally love my morning workouts, I also find it so helpful to weave smaller bursts of movement into the rest of my day.

Simple Ways to Add Micro-Movements to Your Day

Here are some easy, practical ways to micro-dose movement into your routine—no gym required:

• Listen to your smartwatch. When it prompts you to stand, take it one step further (literally!) and do 10 squats. It’s a quick burst of activity that adds up over time.

• Turn chores into a workout. Folding laundry? Do it standing up and add a side-to-side step. Washing dishes? Throw in some calf raises. Deliver your folded laundry (hah! What's that?), in multiple trips and go back and forth throughout your house to do so.

• Take micro-walks. Walk to your mailbox a few times a day or make a couple of laps around your block. You don’t need a destination—just a few minutes of fresh air and movement.

• Break walks into smaller chunks. If a long walk feels daunting, aim for 2-3 shorter walks of 10 minutes each. The benefits are the same, and it’s easier to fit into a busy day.

• Park further away. Whether it’s the grocery store, your workplace, or any errand, choose a parking spot that’s farther from the entrance. Those extra steps add up quickly.

• Walk to your destination when possible. For example, I sometimes walk to Starbucks from my office—it’s a quick 10-minute walk, but it’s a lovely way to stretch my legs and clear my mind.

• Dance it out. Put on your favorite playlist and dance while you tidy up. It’s an instant mood booster and a sneaky way to get your heart rate up.

• Try chair yoga. Just five minutes of chair yoga, once or twice a day, can do wonders for your posture, flexibility, and overall well-being.

• Earn your next episode by, you guessed it, moving your body! Tell yourself you can't watch another episode of that Netflix show until you get up and jump around or do high knees or walk for 5-10 minutes.

• Incorporate evening stretches. Add a quick mobility or stretching video to your bedtime routine. It’s a relaxing way to wind down while keeping your body feeling limber.

The Power of Small, Consistent Actions

Here’s the beauty of micro-dosing movement: small things add up to big things. When you commit to sprinkling movement throughout your day, it’s not just about building a habit—it’s about building a healthier version of yourself, one small step at a time.

In this new year, I encourage you to focus on doing the next right thing over and over again. It’s not about perfection or grand gestures; it’s about consistency and intention. That’s what will carry you through to lasting change.

I’m rooting for you, always. Let me know how you’re weaving micro-movements into your day. Whether it’s a quick dance party in the kitchen or a mindful stretch before bed, I’d love to hear what’s working for you. I can’t wait to see how far you’ll go in the year ahead.

I'm rooting for your success, and I can't wait to see where you are in a year!

Ready to Take the Next Step in Your Wellness Journey?

If you’re feeling inspired and want personalized support to build healthier habits, manage stress, or work through challenges holding you back, I’d love to help. I offer individual therapy sessions tailored to your unique needs, whether you’re focusing on movement, mental health, or deeper healing.

Click here to book a consultation and let’s explore how we can work together to create the life you deserve.

Take exquisite care of yourselves,

Megan

So You Wanna Lose Weight This Year, Huh?: How to Pursue Healthy Goals for a Lifetime instead of Just for the New Year (The Health & Consistency Series)

Hi friends!

Today, I'd thought we'd tackle the ever-looming topic of new year's resolutions, and with that, the most popular one by far: losing weight.

"This is the year I lose the weight!," I thought... in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020, and 2021, and... You get the picture. I did it to myself every year. In fact, I can't recall a year past the age of 12 where I didn't wish I was 'just a little thinner.' I attended my first WeightWatchers meeting in my teens (why????), and I know it was by my request and desire for a thinner, more socially acceptable body. Now, I look back at pictures from high school, and I think that I must have had intense body dysmorphia, because my body was proportional and healthy.

So, if you're wondering if I see you, understand you, or hear you, I truly do. I've lost and gained enough weight to the equivalent of at least 1 (maybe 2) whole adult human over the course of my life. Okay, so the ADHD part of me went ahead and calculated it, because I was curious: 174 pounds, lost and gained, from 2014-today. I get why you want to lose the weight, and I get why it's been so hard.

But two-ish years ago, I decided to change the goal. No longer was I going to force myself to make my goal solely losing weight, because spoiler alert: it. wasn't. working. I changed my outlook to pursuing health overall and consistency. And I want you to consider that as a possible goal for you too.

I'm almost 85 pounds smaller now (this process has taken two long years and has happened 4 years after getting an autoimmune diagnosis, being pregnant five separate times but only carrying to term 2 children, and leaving a workplace that was making me physically unhealthy). Weight loss was part of the goal, but the majority of my goal was figuring out how to manage my new illness, be present for my child, and be healthy well into the future.

Before my mindset transformation two years ago, I felt trapped on a dreadful merry-go-round at the carnival of restrictive eating habits, body dysmorphia, and punishing exercise routines. I've moved on from the yo-yo dieting culture.

You can get off this merry-go-round, too. Allow me to show you how.

So I thought we'd do a series of ways you could pursue overall health and consistency in the new year, without stressing about weight loss. How does that sound?

This post, let's focus on exercising consistently. That's it. Maybe you start with that habit development in 2025. If you start with one healthy habit and get it down, then you can add to it month by month and change your life, one step at a time.

I've become an exercise enthusiast and have completely transformed my perspective on working out. Previously, I viewed it solely as a means to 'get smaller' or lose weight, but now I recognize its broader benefits. Exercise helps me maintain my mental health, better manage my anxiety, improve my chances of living independently as I age, and lower my risk of diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer. It has shifted from something I dreaded to something I love, because I altered how, when, where, and why I exercised. I believe you can become an exercise lover too. Take a look at some tips below.

My 6 tips for making exercise fun and consistent are:

1. Consider skipping the gym membership. Seriously. If you're neurodivergent or busy or your work schedule is hectic or you require childcare, the gym is not realistic for you. I promise. I know you. You know you. And I know that you know that you won't drive to the gym every morning at 5:30am once it gets really dark and cold outside. And then you'll feel guilty for skipping. And then you'll let the guilt and shame keep you from going there. Then it'll become a ball of anxiety and nerves and feeling foolish everytime you don't go, and you'll never achieve your goals.

   
   

   

   
   

   Plus gyms are overstimulating. (now, if you LOVE the gym, totally fine to keep going there, but most of us just think we need a gym membership and we really. truly. don't.) I workout daily with GrowwithJo on her app, and I LOVE it! It's fun, fresh, and accessible. I can literally roll out of bed and click a button and start working out. And thus, brings me to my second tip...

2. Find what type of movement feels least like work for you. So, if you find that you love weightlifting, try a few different weightlifting youtubers and see what you like. If you used to love to dance, find a dance youtuber you love (I like Emkfit)! Go for a walk outside if you love the scenery. You don't have to do a bootcamp where you get yelled at, if you don't want to. Gone are the days of the early 2000s where we all punished ourselves with movement we didn't love. Now, movement needs to be accessible, fun and freeing. It needs to be something you can stick to, for the long haul. And you need to investigate and try new options from time to time to keep your routine and feelings towards it fresh. Of course, I'm also a huge proponent of GrowwithJo, and her app Growwithjo home. She's amazing! (And her attitude towards exercise is so healthy and not 'too much.'). You can try her workouts out for free on Youtube as well!

3. Try the five minute timer trick. I tell myself on hard mornings: "I'm going to just workout for five minutes and if the timer goes off and I want to quit, I will." And guess what? I never have, because by five minutes in, the feel-good endorphins are flowing and I feel like finishing the workout.

4. Pick a 'walkout' song to pump you up for the exercise of the day. Yup, just like they have in baseball. I chose 'We Ready' by Archie Eversole and play it on days when I just don't want to. In fact, create a whole playlist of walkout songs!

5. Remind yourself of what future you deserves or will gain by working out. Future you deserves a body that is healthy and moves freely and easily well into your old age. Future you deserves for you to keep the promises you make to yourself. Future you needs to know that they can depend on present you to make the daily decisions to help you live well, both now and later. Sometimes, I imagine myself in my old age, being able to garden and live independently and travel and then I push myself harder in my workout today. I want that future, and I know you do too. No one pictures themselves being bed-bound in a nursing home for their future. So, do the work now so you can reap the benefits later.

6. Figure out what motivates you: is it competition? Progress photos? Moving up in dumbbell weights? Stats on your Apple or Garmin Watch improving? And then, write down your moments when you notice how working out is bettering your life. Choose to only write down the moments where your body is being bettered overall, not just getting smaller. Because sometimes, we don't get smaller, we just get better, healthier, or stronger.

There you have it, try these tips in the new year and see if you can't move the needle and make yourself a lover of exercise. Over the past year, I have become the person who gets up at 5:30am and works out every single day. And I can confidently say that I do love it. That it has been the best thing ever. And I'm really glad I started pursuing health & consistency over a smaller body.

Keep up the good work, friends. I see you trying to better yourself every single day, and I am proud of you.

Take exquisite care of yourselves,

Megan