Erica's New Book Releasing the Mother Load is coming out April 9th! Pre-order your copy today and get access to the presale bonuses!
LEARN MORE
Erica's New Book Releasing the Mother Load is coming out April 9th! Pre-order your copy today and get access to the presale bonuses!
LEARN MORE

February 20, 2024

September 8, 2021

Caring for the Postpartum Brain

E:
85
with
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
Neuroanatomist

What You'll Learn

  • The Impact of Sleep Deprivation On Our Brain
  • The Effect Of Screen Time On Sleep
  • Nutrition And Our Brain During The Postpartum Period
  • Alcohol’s Impact on The Brain
  • Movement’s Impact On Our Brain

Are you well rested today? I’m not! Moms don’t get a lot of sleep, and new moms get almost none. This can be hard on our brain. Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is here to explain how we can best care for our brains during seasons of life when getting a full night’s sleep is all but impossible.

The Impact of Sleep Deprivation On Our Brain

“We’ve got ten trillion cells inside of the brain, and these are little living creatures,” Dr. Bolte Taylor said. Like all living things, these cells eat and create waste. What happens to your newborn if you don’t clean up the waste immediately?

Sleep cleans out the waste created by these cells. Not clearing that waste is almost like a diaper rash on your brain! “If we don’t get a good night's sleep after especially two nights—or if we’re a new parent night after night after night—it’s like we’re trying to create a new system,” she said.

“That’s how the brain feels. Our brain health is reflected in our cardiovascular system, and our cardiovascular system is everywhere. Our brain controls our respiratory system,” Dr. Bolte Taylor explained.

These cells are alive and creating waste too, and then we might get a foreign substance coming in. The immune system takes care of this. Our bodies are a network of systems, and sleep keeps everything going.

Our bodies are a network of systems, and sleep keeps everything going.

“Sleep is a tool that the brain uses to bring it back into its own balance,” Dr. Bolte Taylor explained. “We are feeling creatures who think.” 

The more sleep-deprived we become the less stimulation it takes our neurons to detect threats. In other words, we may snap at things we wouldn’t if we were well-rested, or get overly anxious about things we might otherwise be able to think through.

The Effect of Screen Time On Sleep

“Sleep is critically important,” Dr. Bolte Taylor said. “Spend as little time as possible on the ipad, on the computer, on the phone.”

“Screen time has a profound impact on the circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is our natural light/dark cycle. Your body wants to sleep when it’s dark,” Dr. Bolte Taylor explained. And screen time messes with that natural rhythm.

Nutrition And Our Brain During The Postpartum Period

“Pay attention to how certain foods feel inside our body,” Dr. Bolte Taylor said. You don’t have to be allergic to something to be intolerant to it. An allergy is a severe reaction, but intolerance can cause inflammation which can be uncomfortable and even painful without being the severe reaction of an allergy.

Inflammation is linked to depressive mood. “The sugar molecule is actually a razor sharp molecule,” Dr. Bolte Taylor said “The molecule is so sharp as it passes through these really narrow passageways it cuts the wall of the blood vessel.” 

Once the cell has been cut, it’s open and communicates with other cells that it’s been damaged. Your immune system goes to work to clean up the stuff that was inside the cell which causes swelling. Swelling then restricts those cells tighter. 

Inflammation keeps your joints from moving properly, and it’s not going to be a single joint like your knee. It’s every single joint, because you’re dealing with inflammation. “If my body is inflamed, my brain is on overload trying to figure out what to do,” she said. 

If my body is inflamed, my brain is on overload trying to figure out what to do.

Your brain wants to send the janitorial system to clean up the inflammation. But the inflammation is all over your body, so it doesn’t know where to start. When your brain is overwhelmed, your threshold for anxiety goes down. This is one place mommy rage can come from.

With a lower threshold for anxiety, you have a greater potential for depressive moods, and you’re more likely to feel vulnerable too. 

“A nervous breakdown is an overload of everything going on. There’s too much. I can’t manage it. I feel out of control. I don’t feel safe,” Dr. Bolte Taylor said. “I think we can all relate to that feeling.”

Alcohol’s Impact on The Brain

“Let’s say there’s a thousand people in a tight room, and this is normal. This is just how we function,” Dr. Bolte Taylor said. “As soon as we put alcohol in, we all start to dehydrate a little.” The thousand people packed into that room go from happy plums to prunes. 

As the cells dehydrate, they can’t communicate with each other. You feel relaxed because your brain cells can’t function, and if you drink enough, you can take some of those brain cells down permanently. You kill them. 

Alcohol is not good for the brain. We can see this in the brains of alcoholics. They’ve lost brain cells.

“So what do we do instead? Go for a walk. Pick up that infant and walk around the neighborhood,” Dr. Bolte Taylor suggested. “Be kind to your own body.”

You might still choose to have wine on the weekend with your friends. That’s okay, but you may also want to cut it out when you have a tough week. Be mindful about it, and make the decisions that are going to be the most empowering for you.

“Before we go away from alcohol, there is a whole lot of sugar in alcohol. So that goes right back to, on top of the dehydration of these cells, we’re pumping our cells with sugar and that goes back to the dehydration,” Dr. Bolte Taylor explained. 

New moms are literally managing insanity since infants come into the world with a completely undeveloped brain. She said she’d rather have you soak in a bubble bath than go for the other bubbly, and I agree. Much of the information we’re given in pregnancy is about how to care for the baby. Not ourselves.

Much of the information we’re given in pregnancy is about how to care for the baby. Not ourselves.

So, I developed a free postpartum checklist centered around the idea of NESTS, Nutrition, Exercise, Sleep, Time for self, and Support. This free resource has you map out how you’re going to prioritize these things in the postpartum period. No one mothers the mother during this transition, so I want to help you do it for yourself.

Self-soothing is going to help you have a higher threshold for anxiety. “If my level of rage is easily triggerable, what that says to me is that my threshold level of my own biology is out of sync. I need help,” Dr. Bolte Taylor said.  

Movement’s Impact On Our Brain

The cardiovascular system moves all of the nutrition to all of the cells. “If we’re having a problem with the quality of sleep, our own movement system is saying, ‘I need to exhaust myself,’” Dr. Bolte Taylor said. We need the movement in our own body.

This doesn’t mean you need to add a gym routine to your already hectic schedule. It can mean moving all of the laundry up and down the stairs or walking with your kids to the playground. 

If you’re finding you’re in a season where you’re having insomnia, it might be a good time to think about cutting caffeine, moving more, and implementing a sleep hygiene routine.

When you’re overwhelmed because you have a thousand things to do, your anxiety threshold is low, and it can be easy to snap. If you’re struggling to manage your own rage level, the All The Rage Workshop can offer you ways to cope.

NEWSLETTER

Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Tags:

sleep and care for your brain

Stage:

Postpartum

Share Now:

OUR GUEST

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
Neuroanatomist

Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor is a Harvard trained and published neuroanatomist. In 1996 she experienced a severe hemorrhage in the left hemisphere of her brain causing her to lose the ability to walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life.  Dr. Taylor is a dynamic teacher and public speaker who loves educating all age groups, academic levels, as well as corporations about the beauty of our human brain and its ability to recover from trauma. In 2008 she gave the first TED talk that ever went viral on the Internet, which now has well over 26 million views. Also in 2008, Dr. Taylor was chosen as one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” and was the premiere guest on Oprah Winfrey’s “Soul Series” webcast.

Erica Djossa
Erica Djossa
PMH-C | Founder of Momwell
Erica is the founder of Momwell, providing educational resources and virtual therapy for moms. She is a mom of three boys and a registered psychotherapist. Erica’s work has been featured in the Toronto Star, Breakfast Television, Scary Mommy, Medium, Pop Sugar, and Romper. how they want it.
RELATED ARTICLES
March 18, 2024
March 13, 2024
Understanding Menopause and Mental Health: What to Expect and When to Seek Treatment
E:
216
with
Dr. Heather Hirsch
Founder of the Menopause & Midlife Clinic
March 18, 2024
March 6, 2024
Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts About Baby: The Role of Stress, Anxiety, and Anger
E:
215
with
Dr. Caroline Boyd
Clinical Psychologist
March 25, 2024
February 28, 2024
How to Embrace Career Change as a Mom: Finding Your Passion and Overcoming Guilt
E:
214
with
Jess Galica
Career and Leadership Coach, Best-Selling Author
February 26, 2024
January 31, 2024
Postpartum Rage vs. Parental Anger: How Social Expectations Create Overwhelmed Moms
E:
210
with
Dr. Ashurina Ream
Founder and CEO of Psyched Mommy, licensed clinical psychologist
February 20, 2024
January 24, 2024
You’re Not an Angry Mom: Why We Experience Mom Rage (and What We Can Learn From It)
E:
209
with
Minna Dubin
Author of Mom Rage: The Everyday Crisis of Modern Motherhood
February 20, 2024
January 17, 2024
What Causes Mommy Brain? The Role of the Invisible Load on Forgetfulness and Brain Fog
E:
208
with
Dr. Jodi Pawluski
neuroscientist, psychotherapist and author
February 20, 2024
January 10, 2024
Hormone Health and Wellness for Moms: Busting Myths and Understanding Your Cycle
E:
207
with
Dr. Jen Gunter
bestselling author, obstetrician, and gynecologist
February 20, 2024
January 3, 2024
How Parents Can Avoid Information Overload: Maintaining Confidence in Our Decision-Making
E:
206
with
Cara Goodwin
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
February 20, 2024
November 29, 2023
Prioritizing the Invisible Load of Motherhood: Valuing Our Own Time and Letting Go of Mental Labor
E:
201
with
Whitney Casares
Founder and CEO of Modern Mommy Doc
February 20, 2024
November 15, 2023
Breaking Generational Trauma Cycles: Healing Our Past and Moving Forward in Motherhood
E:
199
with
Dr. Mariel Buqué
Psychologist and the author of the book Break the Cycle: A Guide to Healing Intergenerational Trauma
February 20, 2024
November 8, 2023
Is There Such a Thing as Healthy Perfectionism? Reframing the Concept of “Perfect” in Motherhood
E:
198
with
Katherine Morgan Schafler
Psychotherapist and author
February 20, 2024
October 25, 2023
Redefining Postpartum Fitness: Adjusting Your Goals and Healing Your Body
E:
196
with
Amy Kiefer & Krystle Howald
co-founders of Expecting and Empowered
February 20, 2024
October 11, 2023
Embracing the 7 Types of Rest: Why Moms Are Exhausted and What Actually Helps
E:
194
with
Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith
Board-Certified internal medicine physician and award-winning author
February 20, 2024
October 4, 2023
Interpreting Newborn Hunger Cues and Sleepy Signs: How to Learn Your Baby’s Needs
E:
193
with
Sharon Mazel
Author of Bite-Sized Parenting: Your Baby’s First Year
February 20, 2024
September 20, 2023
Managing Mom Anxiety: Why Millennial Moms Are So Anxious and How to Overcome Our Fears
E:
191
with
Dr. Lauren Cook
Licensed Clinical Psychologist
February 20, 2024
September 13, 2023
Embracing Power as Moms: Reshaping Dynamics In and Out of the Home
E:
190
with
Claire Shipman
NYT Bestselling Author
February 20, 2024
September 6, 2023
How to Raise Confident Kids: Breaking Cycles of Negative Self-Esteem
E:
189
with
Dr. Vanessa Lapointe
Founder of The North Star Developmental Clinic
February 20, 2024
August 23, 2023
Understanding Sensory Self-Care: How Overstimulated Moms Can Regulate and Regain Calm
E:
187
with
Holly Peretz
Pediatric Occupational Therapist
February 20, 2024
August 16, 2023
Navigating Matrescence: The Roller Coaster of Becoming a Mom
E:
186
with
Dr. Catherine Birndorf
Co-Founder and Medical Director of The Motherhood Center of New York
February 20, 2024
July 26, 2023
The Journey of a Bereaved Parent: Stefania Thomson’s Story of Navigating Grief and Loss
E:
183
with
Stefania Thomson
Bereavement and Grief Advocate
February 20, 2024
June 21, 2023
Myths About Toddler Behavior: How to Reclaim the "Terrible Twos"
E:
178
with
Dr. Cathryn Tobin
Pediatrician
February 20, 2024
March 29, 2023
Birth Trauma Part 2: Facing Pregnancy After a Traumatic Birth
E:
166
with
Kayleigh Summers
Clinical Social Worker
February 20, 2024
March 22, 2023
Birth Trauma Part 1: How Birth Trauma Impacts Our Family Decision Making
E:
165
with
Kayleigh Summers
Clinical Social Worker
February 20, 2024
March 15, 2023
Real Self-Care for Moms: Why Mindset Matters More Than Massages
E:
164
with
Dr. Pooja Lakshmin
Psychiatrist
February 20, 2024
February 8, 2023
Overcoming Mom Guilt: Rewriting the Motherhood Contract and Charting Your Own Path
E:
159
with
Libby Ward
Founder of Diary of an Honest Mom
February 20, 2024
December 28, 2022
Coping During Postpartum with No Family Support: When Reality Clashes with Expectations
E:
153
with
Emmalee Bierly and Jennifer Chaiken
Founders of ShrinkChicks
February 20, 2024
November 23, 2022
The Mental Load of Motherhood: How to Address the Imbalance of Household Labour
E:
148
with
Gemma Hartley
Journalist and Author
February 20, 2024
November 16, 2022
Surviving the Baby Witching Hour: How to Cope With Colicky and Fussy Babies
E:
147
with
Dr. Whitney Casares
Pediatrician
February 20, 2024
November 2, 2022
How To Deal With Toxic Positivity As a Mom: What To Do When Someone Invalidates Your Feelings
E:
145
with
Whitney Goodman
Marriage and Family Therapist
February 20, 2024
October 19, 2022
Returning to Work After Maternity Leave: Navigating the Emotions, Difficulties, and Challenges
E:
143
with
Dr. Cassidy Freitas
Marriage and Family Therapist
February 20, 2024
October 12, 2022
How to Know if You Have Postpartum Anxiety: Red Flags to Watch for in Pregnancy, Birth, and After Baby
E:
142
with
Dr. Sarah Oreck
Reproductive Psychiatrist
February 20, 2024
October 5, 2022
Protecting Maternal Sleep: The Relationship Between Sleep Deprivation and Postpartum Depression
E:
141
with
Dr. Nicole Leistikow
Reproductive Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist
February 20, 2024
September 21, 2022
Encouraging Independent Play: Why Unstructured Play Matters and How to Foster It
E:
139
with
Susie Allison
Founder of Busy Toddler
February 20, 2024
August 31, 2022
Why Does a Messy House Give Me Anxiety? How to Stress Less About Cleaning and Keep Your House Functioning
E:
136
with
KC Davis
@domesticblisters on TikTok and Founder of Struggle Care
February 20, 2024
August 3, 2022
Overcoming Postpartum Depression and Anxiety: Why Support Matters and How to Find Resources to Help
E:
132
with
Dr. Wendy Davis
Executive Director of PSI
February 20, 2024
July 27, 2022
Overcoming Working Mom Guilt: Why Moms Should Never Be Ashamed to Be Ambitious
E:
131
with
Lara Bazelon
Law Professor and Author
February 20, 2024
February 16, 2022
What is Matrescence? The Transition into Motherhood (And Why Being a New Mom is Hard)
E:
108
with
Dr. Katayune Kaeni
Perinatal Psychologist
February 20, 2024
February 2, 2022
Discover Your Personal Core Values
E:
106
with
Dr. Cassidy Freitas
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
February 20, 2024
January 26, 2022
When Mommy Rage Strikes: How to Prevent and Control the Anger
E:
105
with
Dr. Ashurina Ream
Founder of Psyched Mommy
February 20, 2024
January 5, 2022
Sleep Training Doesn't Have To Be Scary
E:
102
with
Dr. Aubrie DeBear
Founder of Baby Sleep Dr.
February 20, 2024
January 19, 2022
Carrying the Mental Load: How to Redistribute the Burden and Give Moms More Freedom
E:
104
with
Eve Rodsky
New York Times Bestselling Author
February 20, 2024
January 12, 2022
Baby Blues vs. Postpartum Depression: How to Spot the Signs So You Can Seek Support
E:
103
with
Dr. Kristina Deligiannidis
Reproductive Psychiatrist
February 20, 2024
December 29, 2021
Decluttering: The Secret of an Easy to Tidy Home
E:
101
with
Katy Wells
Declutter Expert
February 20, 2024
December 22, 2021
100th Episode: Erica’s Husband Tells All
E:
100
with
Frenel Djossa
February 20, 2024
December 15, 2021
The Pressure to Get It Right
E:
99
with
Dr. Jen Douglas
Psychologist
February 20, 2024
November 24, 2021
Overcoming Gender Disappointment
E:
96
with
Dr. Renée Miller
Clinical Psychologist
February 20, 2024
November 17, 2021
Adding a Sibling to Your Family
E:
95
with
Bryana Kappadakunnel
Family Therapist
February 20, 2024
November 10, 2021
Regulating Your Nervous System
E:
94
with
Dr. Quincee Gideon
Psychologist
February 20, 2024
October 13, 2021
Momming With ADHD
E:
90
with
Dr. Melissa Shepard
Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist
February 20, 2024
October 6, 2021
Supporting NICU Moms
E:
89
with
Kristin Reinhart
Registered Social Worker
February 20, 2024
September 29, 2021
Alcohol, CBD, and Cannabis While Pregnant and Nursing
E:
88
with
Dr. Jennifer Lincoln
OB-GYN
February 20, 2024
September 22, 2021
Working As A Mother
E:
87
with
Dr. Courtney Tracy
Founder of The Truth Doctor
February 20, 2024
September 8, 2021
Caring for the Postpartum Brain
E:
85
with
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor
Neuroanatomist
February 20, 2024
August 18, 2021
Is Breastfeeding Worth Our Mental Health?
E:
82
with
Johanna Phillips
Maternal Mental Health Specialist
February 20, 2024
August 11, 2021
Exploring Mommy Wine Culture
E:
81
with
Michelle Smith
Addictions Counselor
February 20, 2024
July 28, 2021
When Treatment Becomes Trauma
E:
79
with
Dr. Quincee Gideon
Clinical Psychologist
February 20, 2024
July 21, 2021
PMS or Something More?
E:
78
with
Dr. Nichelle Haynes
Perinatal Psychiatrist
February 20, 2024
July 7, 2021
Preparing for Labor and Delivery
E:
76
with
Liesel Teen
Founder of Mommy Labor Nurse
February 20, 2024
June 23, 2021
The Self-Compassionate Mother
E:
74
with
Dr. Kristin Neff
Associate Professor and Author
February 20, 2024
June 16, 2021
The Overstimulated Mommy
E:
73
with
Larissa Geleris
Occupational Therapist
February 20, 2024
June 9, 2021
Mom Brain
E:
72
with
Dr. Jodi Pawluski
Neuroscientist and Psychotherapist
February 20, 2024
June 2, 2021
OCD in Postpartum And Motherhood
E:
71
with
Jenna Overbaugh
Licensed Professional Counselor