Parents—Can You Live a Healthy Life with Poor Sleep?
Let's be real—parenting often means saying goodbye to those blissful hours of uninterrupted sleep. But here's the encouraging truth: your health isn't determined by sleep alone. While quality rest matters, it's just one piece of your wellness.
Health Is More Than Your Sleep Score
Think of your health like a symphony rather than a solo performance. Sleep plays its part, but so does movement and nutrition. When sleep feels out of reach, you can still conduct other aspects of your health. Maybe you can't control your toddler's midnight wake-ups, but you can nourish your body with wholesome foods or squeeze in a quick walk during nap time. And there may be aspects of your sleep that are in reach—focus on making progress on those rather than pursuing perfect sleep.
Maximize The Sleep You Are Already Getting
Since we can't magically add more hours to your night or stop young kids from getting colds or having nightmares, let's focus on maximizing the sleep you do get. Small changes can make a surprising difference. The three examples below are informed by sleep and chronobiology scientists like Dr. Mathew Walker (UC Berkeley) and Dr. Satchin Panda (Salk Institute).
#1 Pick a consistent bedtime: Consistency is key to your circadian rhythm—it helps your body anticipate what’s next and be able to respond appropriately. An earlier time would be great, but may not be possible for everyone. We know you’ve got to enjoy that alone time too!
#2 Time your last bite: Instead of focusing on quantity of sleep, focus on the quality. When your body has to divert resources to digestion, it can’t focus on cleanup–this is what ensures that the sleep you do get is restorative. Aim to finish your last meal 2-3 hours before bed—yes, even those tempting midnight snacks.
#3 Front-load your hydration: There is no ideal time of day to hydrate–do it when you need it. Drink plenty of water earlier in the day to minimize those midnight bathroom trips. Your body needs hydration, but maybe not right before bed.
Parental Health Can Recover
In a study published in Cell Metabolism in 2024, a group of Yale School of Medicine scientists show that women have accelerated biological aging during pregnancy (approx 2 years), and a recovery effect in the same women at about 3 months post-partum (as much as 8 years for some individuals)—and note that this would be the same period when sleep is severely disrupted for many parents. High pre-pregnancy BMI appears to have a negative effect on this recovery while breastfeeding appears to have a positive effect on it. More research is needed to better understand if the measures of biological aging are correlated with short and long-term maternal health outcomes, but just seeing this return of biological markers to pre-pregnancy levels offers a positive outlook!
Your Sleep Story Is Unique
You may have specific sleep challenges or you may feel like some of the above don’t fit perfectly into your lifestyle. Let us help with that by taking our Lifestyle Quiz. There are areas around sleep onset (how long it takes to fall asleep), sleep chronotypes (when your body naturally wants to fall asleep and wake up) and sleep quality, that we will explore. Take the Well•ish Lifestyle Quiz.