1267: The Hidden Habits Disrupting Your Sleep and Hormones With Ciara Foy

"When you put the time and effort into your sleep, it really does pay a massive ROI in your life." In this episode, Heather and Ciara Foy unpack the physical, hormonal, and emotional shifts that leave so many middle-aged women anxious, burned out, unable to sleep, and disconnected from themselves and their lives. This conversation goes far beyond sleep hygiene and hormones, exploring the deeper patterns of self-sacrifice, stress, over-functioning, and depletion that determine women's health. We talk about why sleep becomes more difficult during this stage of life, how cortisol, insulin resistance, and nervous system dysregulation work together, and the small but powerful changes that can radically improve your energy and mood. Most importantly, this episode is an invitation to stop abandoning yourself in the process of caring for everyone else and start recognizing that feeling good, rested, and supported is essential. What to listen for: ☑️ Why middle-aged women become insulin resistant, and how that affects sleep ☑️ The many changes in hormones that lead to higher anxiety and difficulty sleeping ☑️ How do you contribute to your stress by self-sacrificing and not letting things go? "If you don't get radically honest with yourself, I don't know if your body will stick around. You have to fight to feel worthy of feeling good right now." ☑️ The way you treat yourself and your health is what you model to your children ☑️ Focusing on sleep during highly stressful times will help you avoid burnout ☑️ Sleep hygiene tips that most women don't know how to implement "Good sleep starts in the morning. If you get up and immediately pick up your phone, you're disrupting your sleep. You need to make a commitment, even if it's 20 minutes, that you don't immediately get on your phone." ☑️ Why morning sunlight is crucial to your hormones and circadian rhythm ☑️ Managing your insulin and hormones by not intermittent fasting or eating after 7 pm ☑️ If you get your second wind at night, you're going to have higher cortisol levels "The most important thing is just to start doing something. Pick something that you can focus on and execute from and make sure that you're just following through with that one promise that you're keeping for yourself." ☑️ What needs to happen to motivate yourself to implement these changes ☑️ The invisible value of hiring someone to help you mentally carry the load ☑️ Slight pivots add up and start moving you in a completely different direction **** About Ciara Foy: Ciara Foy is a hormone and metabolic health expert with 20 years of clinical experience helping women over 40 resolve the root causes of stubborn weight, fatigue, brain fog, and burnout. Through functional testing, DUTCH hormone panels, bloodwork, and gut assessment, she builds personalized protocols that restore energy, rebuild body composition, and bring women back to feeling sharp, strong, and like themselves again. Bestselling author of Empowered by Food, host of The Empowered Feminine podcast, and featured in ELLE and FLARE. Connect with Ciara: Website: www.ciarafoy.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/ciarafoyinc ** For those of you who are ready to stop feeling drained, overextended, and out of alignment… join me inside the Energetic Time Management Accelerator, a focused experience designed to help high-achieving women uncover what's draining them, clarify what truly matters, and create a simple plan that fits their life. We'll pinpoint your biggest time + energy leaks, identify the top areas to focus on for quick momentum, and map out exactly what to let go of so you can reclaim your energy, your time, and your joy. Ready to make your time work for you without adding more to your plate? Join the Energetic Time Management Accelerator: www.heatherchauvin.com/time Explore the top episodes listeners come back to when they're stuck, burned out, or standing at the edge of a big shift: www.heatherchauvin.com/10 Follow Heather on Instagram: www.instagram.com/heatherchauvin_