The Single Greatest Impact on Mental Health, Confidence, and Energy

by Myra Hartzheim
A pediatric sleep consultant holds a baby that keeps waking in the night
Outline

When I think about body-honoring daily rhythms, I feel a sense of loss. Not for my kids, but myself.

Growing up, we had little structure. We were free to stay awake as long as we chose. This “freedom” became my biggest inhibition.

Growing up I struggled with academics, motivation, and was told I was most challenging to discipline out of my siblings. I remember a consistent feeling of exhaustion that blanketed my childhood.

It wasn’t until after college that I learned the impact of “flexibility” on my life. After my daughter began to sleep well, and I had more structure in my life, I began to notice how clarity in thinking was actually possible. I started to see how productive I was during the day. I began to notice that my feeling of defensiveness over my behavior began falling off like scales because I didn’t (and don’t) have behavior problems – I had simply been exhausted all those years.

When I see how my son was able to easily transition to an entirely new classroom most of the way into the school year without batting an eye,

How learning comes so easily for him

How my daughter gets to have structure that grounds her healing as we navigate her gut issues

How my daughter is able to identify when her emotions are driven from a lack of internal balance rather than feeling associated with them.

And how both my children get to be armed with the power of rest and internal balance.

I feel grief in knowing that I can’t turn back the pages of my life and give my young self the gift of rhythm I needed. But I feel grateful that I get to give this gift to my children and my clients.

This grief fuels my drive and passion to not be silent, to instead preach the power of body-honoring rhythm “from the rooftops.”

Why? Because a child out there who would have been labeled as behaviorally challenging, academically challenged, lazy, anxious, depressed, etc., can instead feel confident, capable, empowered, and level headed – all because of consistent, restorative sleep (click to learn why not all sleep is equal).

For this reason, I speak loudly against the cultural value of “flexibility” to which I once subscribed, and live proudly (and gratefully) a more thriving personal existence because of my body-honoring rhythm.

A child with any physical, mental, or emotional challenges will be empowered by the engine of proper rest and sleep – and I want every parent to know it!

If you resonate with my passion, please comment and share why you share in that passion. Please share this message to reach more parents with this message as well! Help me shout this message from the rooftops!

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A pediatric sleep consultant holds a baby that keeps waking in the night

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Sleep

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