Sleep deprivation is no joke (and mothers pay the price)

When you don’t get enough sleep—especially when you’re woken during deep, restorative sleep—it affects everything: your mood, memory, body, and relationships. 

You might look back at your twenties and remember functioning on very little rest. But once we reach our thirties and forties, that resilience to sleep disturbance changes—especially for postpartum mothers.

And just when you most need rest? Parenthood steals it.

During deep sleep, your brain performs critical maintenance. It clears metabolic waste, repairs damaged cells, and recalibrates sensory processing. 

Deep sleep supports memory consolidation. Dream Sleep supports "problem solving".

Disrupted sleep therefore effects both memory and "puzzle" logic. Sleep is also when your body produces key restorative hormones such as growth hormone and DHEA—both essential for tissue repair, immune balance, and mood regulation.

Without enough of this critically important deep, consolidated sleep, those processes are interrupted.

The consequences are both immediate and cumulative:

• Impaired memory and slower reaction times (unfortunately similar to a blood alcohol level of 0.05%)

• Greater irritability, sadness, and emotional reactivity

• Increased cravings and insulin resistance, which can disrupt blood sugar regulation

• Reduced immune function and heightened vulnerability to illness

• Lower levels of self-esteem and relationship satisfaction.

Sleep deprivation isn’t just about causing tiredness or fatigue—it’s a physiological stressor that reshapes the brain’s ability to regulate mood and cognition.

Postpartum care starts with a collective prioritisation of sleep. Supporting a mother’s biology by supporting her ability to sleep is a vital piece of the postpartum puzzle.