Too Much of a Good Thing?

Last night, I didn’t get a good night’s sleep.

I followed my usual routine, including having my sleepy time tea, so what went wrong?

Let me explain.

I have four children, two are at university, so they're home for the summer.? ?

As any parent of ‘adult children’ will tell you, there’s a strange phenomenon that goes on in the parent brain when they come home. ?

When they are away, you generally don’t worry about their daily movements, but at soon as they are home, it’s a different matter, their proximity triggers your protective instincts. This includes the need to know where they are- this is not rational but emotional, we have a deep-rooted concern for their safety and wellbeing- It’s biological.

Last night, my daughter went to a friend’s house, she texted to say she would be back at 10.30pm.

Just before midnight, my body woke me up, too much sleepy time tea!

I noticed the lights on and checked her room, she wasn’t home!

This is not what I expected! ?

My brain started predicting….

Triggering my stress response...my heart rate increased, my breathing quickened, and my muscles tensed.

My brain came up with the worst-case scenario-creating a sense of panic

I took steps to gain control of the situation, to shift from uncertainty to certainty.

I checked my phone and made a call.?

She was safe and would be home in 10 minutes.

I recognised what was happening in my brain and body, I took some deep, slow breaths to turn off my alarm.

Unfortunately, even though my brain now knew she was safe, my body was in a state of alertness not conducive to sleep.?I had higher levels of adrenaline and cortisol in my system, and this impacted my ability to both fall back to sleep and the quality of my sleep.

This got me thinking about awareness and the expression 'ignorance is bliss"

Too much of a good thing: When awareness becomes anxiety

Is your awareness serving you or is it driving a stress cycle that's causing feelings of unease and anxiety?

When your nervous system is in a state of constant hypervigilance, it impacts your stress levels, performance and relationships. While attempting to protect you, it misread cues of safety and you sense danger everywhere as it tries to keep you safe.

When this happens, your sympathetic nervous system uses a huge amount of energy, initially you might feel energised and focused, but this can lead to feeling manic and overwhelmed, and then exhausted. Your body and brain are on high alert preparing for everything going wrong and a vicious cycle is created-

Stressed body- Survival brain- Protective stories- Body and brain on High alert ...

Is this pattern impacting your leadership?

If you have a sense of unease or pending unease, then your nervous system is a state of dysregulation. It is not where it needs to be to ensure your brain functions at its best. Although some dysregulation is natural and necessary, too much for too long is detrimental to your physical and mental health, happiness and performance.

When your nervous system is highly sensitive, this could be due stress, neurodiversity or trauma, it alters how you respond and recover from daily challenges and results in behaviours that are not conducive to healthy relationships and optimal performance.

The nervous system gets stuck in a state of 'fight and flight’, and this is where awareness can become anxiety.

The good news is that your nervous system and brain are ‘plastic’, this means they can change at throughout life, you just need to know how harness the mechanism of neuroplasticity in ways that serve you.

Awareness is key to change. If you aren’t aware of something you can’t change it.

You might be aware of your unease, but you might not be aware of its root causes and its impact, you brain might have normalised it.

If you want to live and lead with more ease and flow it is necessary to do the inner work, to notice your patterns, to be curious about them and to discern whether they support your growth or limit you in some way.

What's your takeaway?

I hope it's to become aware of your awareness, to notice when it’s serving you and when it’s not.

I truly believe, that from every challenge comes a gift or opportunity, we might not be able to see it in the moment, in fact it can take years to reveal itself.

However, on this occasion, my takeaway is simple drink less tea before bed, too much of a good thing, is not a good thing!

While this may not seem like a big deal, just look at the impact of this small action on my sleep and peace of mind.

What seemingly small things are robbing you of your ease and flow and stopping you live your best life?

Awareness is key to change, because if you aren’t aware of something you can’t change it, even if that awareness is too much awareness!

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If you are interested in learning how you can live and lead better with the latest insights and tools from neuroscience, why not join me at the next NeuroSmart Power Hour

‘Boost Your Brain with Better Sleep’

Wednesday 4th September

12.30pm and 5pm UK time

You can Book Your Free Place here

If you want chat about how you can live and lead with more ease and flow and less stress and resistance, book a free call with me here

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