# how do you stay healthy with little sleep?



## shambhala (Mar 4, 2006)

a question for all you mamas out there that get little or frequently interrupted sleep - how do you keep your immune system up? i am generally a healthy person, with infrequent illnesses, but since ds has started his frequent night wakings 5 months ago i have not had more than a 4 hour stretch of sleep & i can feel my body suffering. i have had two bouts of fever & i am on my second week of a cold that does not seem to get better.
i take vitamins, vitamin c, gargle with salt water, rest when ds naps, but nothing seems to help.







:
how does everyone else get through this??


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## Cujobunny (Aug 16, 2006)

I haven't had more than 3 hours sleep at one time since ds was born, I'm sure.

I exercise (I WOH part time and cycle to work, 25 minutes one way)
Drink lots of water
Rest whenever possible
Eat as healthy as you can, lots of fresh fruits and veggies and whole grains, small meals, no skipping
Wash hands frequently
Get outside, fresh air everyday
Take a multivitamin
Stay mentally positive

I never get more than a sniffle. Oh except for last year when we had a recurring stomach virus in our home that just would not quit.


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## Tuesday (Mar 3, 2003)

I just warded off a bad virus that hit our household. I'm getting hardly any solid sleep (especially when baby and preschooler and DH were sick) these days.

My tools to battle illness

- hot lemon drinks - squeeze a lemon or two in a mug along with honey and pour hot water on top - I also add 1-2 tablespoons of freshly peeled and grated GINGER root into the mixture. I sometimes add cayenne powder into the mix as well

- fresh GINGER tea (again just grated ginger root made into a hot tea)
I actually eat the ginger - it's strong but I swear by its power!

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/ConsHerbs/...ml#Precautions

- if I feel a cold coming on, I also find this tea is helpful - http://www.vitacost.com/Bija-Cold-Stop-Tea

- if I'm really sleep deprived, I'll skip any sort of vigorous exercise and just take a tea and lie down if possible. I do stretching and yoga. When I was single, i used to run and compete in races and workout out vigorously . But, these days with such competing responsibilities, I'm finding it better to be less hard on myself and just R E L A X and build up my immune system. GOOD LUCK!

(The sleep will come eventually too.)


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## Meg_s (Apr 13, 2006)

I think I've been lucky enough to have about 4 instances of more than 2 hours of consecutive sleep and maybe 6 of more than 5 hours sleep altogether in the last 14 mos. I have to really be sparing on the exercise. I hate not doing it but it's stressful and requires energy to repair my body that I just don't have. I dont' mean easy things like walking or riding my bike as a commute because I do that daily, we don't have a a car.


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## cheenya (Dec 17, 2001)

When I was going through stretches of no sleep, that were lasting months or more, I felt like staying healthy really came down to making sure my diet was excellent. Lots of fresh fruit and veggies, plenty of protein, etc. It's so easy to let meals slide when you're tired, but I learned not to.


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## Deir (Aug 19, 2005)

I have been without straight uninterrupted sleep for over 3 years!! Yikes I know. Anyway, since ds 2 was born, I have barely been sick and when I am it is quick moving. I have been amazed at this. the two differences are- No dairy ( Frankie is sensitive to it) and regular trips to the Chiropractor. maybe it's just luck or maybe it is those two things. I don't know!


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## bendmom (Sep 4, 2003)

I've been without straight sleep for over 7 years now. My body slowly adjusted, and with the mom hormones rushing, everytime either ds would roll over I would wake up. I have constant dark circles around my eyes and over the weekend I noticed some serious wrinkles around the under eyes, but I digress. We are strict vegetarians and do not drink soda, eat junk, etc. We eat a ton of oranges in the winter to get vitamin c. We probably go through a bag of mandarin holiday oranges in less than three days. We excersize daily, switching turns to watch the boys. I usually do yoga twice a week, and live for savasana. I do get every cold my oldest ds brings home from elem. school, last spring I ended up with a sinus infection and didn't take antibiotics. I just got through a really nasty throat virus too. Where am I going with this







I guess what I'm trying to say is, it's inevitable to get sick once you have kids, no matter what age. Fist it's no sleep/lowered immune system, then school and the lovely germ that dc bring home.


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## momto l&a (Jul 31, 2002)

IMO you dont.

After a few years it catches up to me.


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## Enudely (Jul 2, 2005)

I'm going through the same thing here.... Have been eating like crap because it's so much easier and am too tired to excercise. ANyway, I'm starting to feel like a fat blob! I wonder if I should just MAKE myself excercise? Im working on the healthy food thing too, just getting over the hump of a bad few weeks


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## Hokulele (Mar 2, 2005)

I'm glad you posted this because I've been wondering the same thing. Between the usual cosleeping night nursing waking and my relentless insomnia solid sleep is a distant memory. In the past 17 months since DD was born I've been sick more often than I was the entire 35 years I was alive before DD combined. Seriously, I always seem to be battling something these days.

My diet is pretty good although I could use more exercise but when? I'm a SAHM with a DH who works a lot of hours. I have zero (and I mean really zero) time to myself.


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## bendmom (Sep 4, 2003)

Ya know, I was so against putting ds #1 in daycare at a gym, but now that I can look back at how little time/athletic practice I got, which led to wheight gain, depression, etc. I am okay with gym daycare. I found a local community gym/swim center and ds likes being in there. It took a couple of times with just hanging out in the daycare and getting thw workers on the same page with him and not leaving. Plus, the ability for me to be able to spend an hour and a half in a dark silent room stretching with adults really makes it easier to deal with him and everything else like no sleep.


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## jazzharmony (Nov 10, 2006)

I take Vitamin C and Echinacea, particularly when I feel something coming on.

Whole foods diet. Cut dairy, sugar and refined flour completely out.

I don't always stick to the diet part but I try. I am a vegetarian who loves cheese


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## 2busy2clean (Feb 3, 2005)

My husband has had bad sleeping habits for the past 4 - 5 months because he works all nighters when he has deadlines at his job and he is working all nighters to do the plans to our house. In the past couple of months, my 2 y.o. has gotten sick and passed it on to me -- and my husband has reamained healthy. We are a close family so we share germs allot!








However my husband has been faithfully taking the vitamin/mineral supplement, "All One" and he adds an extra 2 grams of Vit. C to the 1 gram that is all ready in the All One. Other than that we try to eat home cooked meals 4 to 5 days a week.
We also don't do any vaccines - some of them shed and can make others sick, and the vaccines can cause immune problems too.
Sure do hope that you get a good nights sleep soon!!


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## loveandkindness (Feb 1, 2005)

I SWEAR by a product called Emergen-C. It is a powder you put in water and it fizzes up. It is a mega-dose of Vitamin C, with lots of B vitamins and other minerals. Not only does it keep me cold/virus-free, but I can really feel the energy boost I get from it. I drink it instead of juice in the morning, and if I am feeling exhausted in the afternoon (most days!) I drink another one.

My 3 y.o. DD loves it and drinks one in the morning with me! It's been more than a year since we've had any kind of sickness in our house.

You can get it at drugstore.com if you can't find it locally.


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