Do you sleep better during the holidays? Or is it even harder to fall asleep and you're awake even longer in the middle of the night, no matter what you do?


In this episode, I’m breaking down the one factor that decides whether the holidays help or hurt your sleep.. I’ll explain how both your habits and the imbalances in your body all feed into this one thing, and I’ll walk you through a few practical shifts that can lower your overall stress load so you can sleep better, even when the season is busy and unpredictable.


Schedule a consultation to get started with the Complete Sleep Solution program so you can consistently sleep 7+ hours uninterrupted, naturally and permanently. https://p.bttr.to/3VJwvDs


Want more tips about how to sleep better? Listen to this episode: How to Sleep Better This Holiday Season: 


00:00 Introduction: Holiday Sleep Struggles

00:57 Understanding the Stress Bucket

01:56 Impact of Stress on Sleep

03:29 Holiday Stressors and Sleep Disruptions

04:39 Alcohol and Sleep Quality

06:11 Circadian Rhythm and Holiday Routines

08:02 Managing Holiday Stress for Better Sleep

08:40 Why Some Sleep Better During Holidays

11:32 Practical Tips for Better Holiday Sleep

13:37 Conclusion and Additional Resources


Episode Transcript


[00:00:00] Do you sleep better during the holidays or is it even harder to fall asleep and you're awake even longer in the middle of the night no matter what you do?


In this episode, I'm breaking down the one factor that determines whether the holidays help or hurt your sleep, and I'll explain how both your habits and imbalances in your body all feed into this one thing.


And I'll walk you through a few practical shifts that can lower your overall stress load so you can sleep better even when the holiday season is busy and unpredictable.


This is a Sleep Detective podcast where you'll learn why you can't sleep and how to fix it naturally. I'm Martha Lewis. As a functional health coach for the past six years, I've helped over 300 clients uncover what's keeping them awake so they can consistently sleep seven to nine hours without drugs.


Now I want to start off by [00:01:00] explaining what a stress bucket is and what this means for sleep. So the way I see it is that our bodies can handle a certain amount of stress. So let's say it is a bucket full of stress. So when the stress you're dealing with is lower is, say, half of the bucket or three-fourths of the bucket, then your body's in balance, you can sleep well and everything's good.


When your bucket is overflowing, so there's more stress than your body can handle, then that's going to affect sleep. It's going to affect balance in the body, and it's going to lead to different symptoms. And for those of us who are prone to struggle with sleep issues, that's one of the main things that it's going to affect.


So when we talk about stress, we tend to think of stress as bad, which is actually called [00:02:00] distress. So that's the bad kind of stress. And we know about emotional stressors and so being busy during the holidays, worrying about money, or worrying about getting gifts together in time and hosting holiday dinners and all of those things, that's mental and emotional stress.


But there are also stressors in your body that you might not even know are there, especially if you don't have any other symptoms. And so both kinds of those stressors can get worse during the holidays or maybe they could get a little bit better.


Now, what happens when your stress bucket is full and overflowing is that your body is releasing cortisol. And when it's overflowing, it's releasing cortisol all the time. Now, sometimes more than others, like if you're acutely stressed, if you know that you're, stuck in traffic and late and worried about getting somewhere [00:03:00] on time, your cortisol is going to rise even higher.


But if your gut isn't healthy and you're reacting to foods and there are pathogens in the gut and your liver isn't detoxing properly, then that's also causing all this just low grade constant stress. And so we want to talk about both of those things when we're talking about sleep.


Okay, so first I want to talk about why sleep gets worse during the holidays. For some people, and there are multiple factors to this, you probably already know some of them, but they are important because if you're dealing with these issues every day, they can get even worse during the holidays if you aren't careful.


So something I talk about a lot is blood sugar swings. So if you aren't eating enough protein, if you're eating too many carbs for your body, if you're drinking alcohol, that's all affecting your blood sugar. [00:04:00] And when we are having this extreme rollercoaster blood sugar during the day that's gonna continue into the night and affect sleep.


Now sugar is also going to feed pathogens. So if you're dealing with any kind of pathogens in your gut, like a parasite or especially candida, just loves sugar, even bacterial overgrowth, then, you know, it's so common to just be reaching for the cookies and the candy and the things that are everywhere during the holidays but that is. Impacting your sleep in multiple ways.


Now, I'm sure you realize that alcohol is not great for sleep, right? We know that it causes lighter sleep. Sometimes it can help with falling asleep, but. As your body's detoxing it, about four hours later, that's when it's going to wake you up.


And so it can really affect our REM sleep and cause these early wakings. And of course, just feeling like crap the next day because even if we do technically sleep eight hours, it's not the [00:05:00] same quality of sleep.


Now alcohol though is also adding to your toxic load, and almost all of my clients need some sort of liver support. There are too many toxins. There are more toxins than the body, especially the liver can deal with. So it's kind of like that stress bucket being full. You know, same thing as saying our toxic bucket is full and and overflowing, and so when the liver has more toxins than it can handle, then those toxins circulate around.


And the liver's most active in the middle of the night. So this is causing inflammation in the middle of the night, which is causing your body to release cortisol, which is going to wake you up. So, you know, alcohol affects us in many ways besides just disturbing the sleep stages, but also with blood sugar and also with our body's ability to detox.


And so if your detox is already compromised, then, [00:06:00] alcohol is just adding to that toxic burden and making it even worse.


Now, it's also really easy for our circadian rhythm to get disrupted over the holidays, especially if we're going out more, maybe eating meals later, going to bed later, and so this is going to change our cortisol and melatonin patterns when our routine is disrupted, and so that can also affect sleep.


Of course it doesn't help that the days are short and we get far less sunlight. And so that's another thing that is affecting our circadian rhythm.


And then of course, there's also the mental, emotional stress, like I mentioned. Dealing with tough family members possibly. And you know, the fact that everyone might be getting together over the holidays and those different dynamics that come up there.


Of course, being overscheduled, so some people are busier than others during the holidays. And so if you find yourself [00:07:00] just, you know, there's something going on every evening then, and that feels overwhelming, then that is adding to your stress. Some people really get into trying to do everything right too in this perfectionism of getting all the right presents for everyone and making these elaborate meals and hosting.


So all of these things are going to increase cortisol, so no wonder if your body's already stressed and then we add these additional stressors. Your bucket is just going to be overflowing and overflowing, and of course you're not going to sleep well.


So it's really not the holiday's fault. It's just they are, all these additional stressors are pouring more fuel onto the fire that's already there. And so instead of the reasons why you aren't sleeping, they're not going to go away. They actually get magnified. Over the holidays when we're dealing with more stress.


So if this is something that is happening to you, [00:08:00] I can help with this. My Complete Sleep Solution Program is a six month program that uses four different lab tests plus multiple assessments to look for everything that is affecting your sleep. And then we work together and I give you a step-by-step plan to correct all those imbalances so that then you can sleep well, whether it's during the holidays or any other time. So if this is something you're interested in, you can schedule a free consultation with me at the link in the notes.


Okay. So talked about why some people sleep worse, but some people actually sleep better during the holidays and a lot of times these people sleep better on the weekends too and it's because of these factors. So of course if you are fortunate enough to be able to take time off of work over the holidays, then that reduced work stress is definitely going to lower that stress bucket, right? [00:09:00] It's going to lower cortisol because there's less stress coming in.


Now sometimes you know, again, if you aren't working, then you're able to get outside more and get that sunlight during the day. And so that can actually help with your circadian rhythm.


Now if you aren't working, you might have slower mornings, you can sleep in and catch up on sleep debt, which is also going to lower overall stress, and you might be feeling just emotionally, uh, safer and calm because you aren't dealing with work, this is a great time to have a break, and so that is going to lower cortisol and stress.


So this doesn't mean that there aren't imbalances in your body that are affecting your sleep. You know, during the week, say if that's, or during regular busy life, this is just a sign that your stress [00:10:00] bucket gets to be a little bit lower over the holidays, which is great, but we can't just be off work all the time, right?


So it's if as soon as you go back to work, your bucket's overflowing again, and you aren't sleeping well, it's not just because of work. It's also because your stress bucket is already almost full and so that just little additional work stress, even if your job isn't that stressful, is causing it to overflow.


This is a great thing to become motivated that if you are sleeping better during this time, then you still want to look into in the new year, okay, why, why am I having such a hard time sleeping when life is normal and at a normal stress level? And so looking at hormones, looking at gut health, looking at toxins, all of those things, or explaining why your sleep isn't consistently good all the time.


So really the holidays can be a [00:11:00] great diagnostic tool. If your sleep gets worse now it's a sign to dig deeper, especially functionally at the things that I'm looking for, the different imbalances in the body that are affecting sleep, and if it actually improves, then imagine being like that year round as we lower your stress bucket by finding the imbalances in your body that are causing it to overflow.


So I just want to mention a few things that you can do to sleep better during this time, if you're one of those people where it gets worse. So. You know, I'm not gonna say you should never eat sugar during the holidays or anything like that. What can really help is to have protein, fat, and fiber with sweet to stabilize blood sugar.


And so maybe if you're going to a holiday party and you know that you wanna have a drink and there's gonna be lots of treats, then either eat. A salad with some protein before you go out or some veggies with some [00:12:00] protein, or make sure that you go toward the savory appetizers first and not as many carbs.


Get some protein and then have some sweet treats and your blood sugar won't spike as much. If you do that.


Now, you know, it can also help to limit alcohol. And not drink as much, but also the timing. So what I usually recommend is going to bed sober. I love nothing more than a happy hour if I'm gonna have a drink, I do not like having a night cap late at night.


You want to give yourself one hour for each drink before bed. So let's say you're gonna go to bed at 10 o'clock and you want to have two drinks, then have a drink at six, have a drink at seven, and then you have at least a couple hours before you're going to bed for your body to start processing that.


And then some things you can do to kind of minimize stress or getting morning sunlight. Maybe need to have some boundaries with family or set lower expectations for [00:13:00] yourself and others of what you are going to do over the holidays. Definitely recommend taking breaks with either gentle movement, going for a walk, or doing some meditation or breath work.


And I will say if you get home late from a party, you might not wanna watch tv. Recommend doing some breath work or meditation, calm your system, and then read and then go to bed. And I think you'll find that you will get a lot more sleep that way.


If you want more tips, I have a whole other episode from last year called How to Sleep Better during the Holidays, so I recommend that you watch that next, where I dive into these things even deeper that you can do to sleep better now.


So I want you to sleep better during this time, not worse, and of course, in 2026 as well.

Listen and follow: Apple Podcasts · Spotify