Routine, Routine, Routine!

I wanted to take a moment to write about something SO simple, yet very much overlooked by many of the moms (and patients) that I see in my practice - ROUTINE!

Your body loves it, your hormones love it, and your schedule loves it. When I assess a person's lifestyle I tend to spend a lot of time asking them about their daily habits, work schedule, eating patterns and sleep schedule. These things are KEY for me to helping me understand where imbalances exist and where I need to focus on taking the stress off a person's body.

Working with women I find that I can't avoid the topic of routine, because it's about 90% of the 'treatment' when it comes to hormone imbalance (including menstrual irregularities, irritability, anxiety, sleep disturbances, thyroid abnormalities and weight gain).

Your body likes to know when things are going to happen, including meal times and sleep times...when you miss these targets, the stress hormone 'cortisol' may be released leading to a plethora of negative effects on the body, including the dreaded waist expansion:)

I know it sounds boring, but keeping things 'predictable' can be a simple solution to some complex problems. I'm a stickler for regular meal times and an early bedtime in my own life, and I try to encourage the same for my patients where possible (yes, I go to bed between 9:30-10pm MOST nights...sounds lame BUT my days are super busy and productive, and this is what my body needs! I also wake up early and get things 'out of the way' like exercise and food prep, which keeps me on track).

I sometimes hear that peoples schedules are 'all over the place' and they find it impossible to create structure. I will often take 'chaos' in a person's life and help them create a pattern that they can follow to help make their actions more routine and predictable - even if it's not perfect or ideal, it's always helpful. I encourage you to look at your life and decide whether you're flying by the seat of your pants most days, or is there a plan or system that you live by - if there isn't, start with a few small modifications (like including breakfast at a certain time, or adding a workout in the mornings) that starts to become the foundation for a healthy routine!