Sleep

Anything But Mid is hosted by Amy Edwards and Whitney Stropp. Lightly cleaned for readability.

Whitney: And action! My name is Whitney.

Amy: My name is Amy.

Whitney: And this is midlife, but we are Anything But Mid.

Intro music and title card play

Whitney: Not bad, not bad for our first attempt.

Amy: Let's do it again.

Whitney: It was our first time. No, I don't want to do it again.

Amy: We keep it real.

Whitney: That's right. We're not doing it again. You don't have a do-over.

Amy: Actually, that's not true. You have multiple do-overs in life, and every day is a do-over.

Whitney: Every day is a fucking do-over. So, here we are, and we're starting this podcast. Why are we starting this podcast, Amy?

Amy: We're starting it because we've been friends for years, and I was manifesting basically doing something like this, and then you said yes.

Whitney: Yeah, and we are wanting to get the message out there that midlife has gotten so stressful now. Midlife is supposed to be where you get to relax and have some fun.

Amy: First of all, I hate the term midlife. It sounds old. We tried to come up with a new name... Max Life. I talked about that on my show and then I was like, this sounds so cheesy and dumb, so I nixed that. But I like that it's just anything else. Just don't call us "mid."

Whitney: Exactly. I had a dream last night, the craziest thing, because I went to bed thinking about the podcast. I woke up this morning after this dream that I had planned this dinner party with my friends and more people showed up than what I had imagined. Then the food that I had ordered was just one serving. So I didn't have enough food, I had way more people, and the table was broken. I woke up thinking in my head, "This is supposed to be fun." I started thinking about it and I'm like, "That's exactly what I want this next chapter to be." I think we're getting overwhelmed. I just got an email today saying I'm not eating enough jicama.

Amy: Oh, fuck off. Jicama's water.

Whitney: But I mean, it's like fiber or something. I didn't read it because I immediately was like, no wonder midlife isn't fun anymore. We've got to wear weighted vests, we've got to get our peptides, we've got to get our protein in, we've got to eat more jicama. It's so stressful.

Amy: It's too much to do.

Whitney: And we just want to get back to: let's have some fun. Let's be fabulous. Let's simplify.

Amy: Yes, that's the whole point. Do what works for you. I have felt like that for the last few years. My to-do list of all this stuff got so rigid, and then it causes more stress and our cortisol is up. It's doing the opposite. We're supposed to be creating a situation for longevity and setting ourselves up for a fabulous, happy, healthy life. And I feel like when I wake up to an email saying I need to eat more jicama, that stresses me out! I'm already taking a million supplements and powders, collagen, colostrum, creatine, all the "C"s.

Whitney: Right. I want to do the things that actually work, but at the end of the day: good food, good friends, and good sleep.

Amy: Sleep is my number one. I will optimize that all day long.

Whitney: So, how do you get good sleep?

Amy: Recently I did a staycation with my friend Elizabeth, and she laughed so hard when she saw me go to sleep. Let me guess, you taped your mouth? I don't always tape my mouth, but I really like taping my mouth. Of course, an eye mask. It has to be a silk eye mask that holds my eyes closed. It cannot be too heavy.

Whitney: Is it weighted?

Amy: No, those make me go blind. I tried a weighted one one time and I literally couldn't see for two hours. My vision was blurred and I literally threw it away. I use a very lightweight silk eye mask. I don't like any stuff on my eyelashes, like eyelash extensions. No. I always wash my face. Then I use "Intake" breathing. It is two little strips that you stick on the side of your nose, and then it's a magnetic thing that goes across and it pulls your nose open.

Whitney: Different than a breathing strip.

Amy: Oh my god, it is so good. Breathing strips leave a mark and I don't like the way they feel. Intake is the greatest thing. I can't sleep without it. My nose has been messed up since my nose job years ago, and so I used to have to sleep with my arm across my face holding my nostril up. It feels so good. Then also I have a night guard. And white noise. Always white noise. Pretty loud white noise. And then I never hit snooze in the morning.

Whitney: They say never hit snooze. You're supposed to wake up at the same time every day and go to bed at the same time every night.

Amy: I don't go to bed at the same time every night because Justin stays up later than me. But I do get up around 5:45 AM every day. I set an alarm.

Whitney: I had an alarm set for 7:30. I'm an empty nester free bird. But I turned it off and I just thought, "I'm going to let my body wake me up naturally." And then you're supposed to immediately go outside and get sun in your eyes. It helps with your circadian rhythm. Aren't we so smart? We sound so smart. I bought one of those alarm clocks that actually makes the sun kind of rise to bring light into your room.

Amy: Do you like it?

Whitney: It wakes you up in a natural way, but I can't quite figure out how to program it right, so I don't use it.

Amy: That's when you use ChatGPT and you're like, "Please simplify the instructions."

Whitney: What a good idea. I just had my diving board delivered, and first of all, I asked it, "Is this something I can do on my own?" And of course my ChatGPT is like, "Of course! You're awesome! You can do this! Just follow these steps." I use it all the time for instructional purposes, especially on tech stuff. I wonder what it would say if it wanted us to optimize our sleep. It would say temperature needs to be between like 65 and 68.

Amy: We do 67 only because Justin really likes it. I do 70 because I don't want to pay the bill and plus it's just fucking freezing. So good sleep is... I've never taped my mouth. That kind of gives me the creeps.

Whitney: It's awesome, but I think I drool a lot in my sleep, so it gets wet.

Amy: You sound like a dream to sleep next to! Let me tell you that right now.

Whitney: I am! Because nowadays I sweat a lot too. I call it my "burning orb." I have a burning orb in my chest and I sweat just my front, my back, and my chest. It's no joke. Sometimes I need a towel. Are you taking hormones?

Amy: Sometimes. I'm not sure what was making my face break out recently, and I cut fucking everything out. It's better now, but I started breaking out on my cheeks. Could have been because I was vaping.

Whitney: Wait, what? You were vaping? For people that don't know about Amy, she became "sober curious" during the pandemic when everyone else was like, "Let's fucking drink."

Amy: I really stopped in 2022. I got together with Justin, and he's in recovery.

Whitney: But vaping? Can we talk about that for a second?

Amy: Of course. In about June, we were in Hawaii and Justin bought a vape that was strawberry banana flavored. It was delicious. I got a little buzz and I was like, "I miss this! I see why kids love it! Give me more!" I was really stressed out from wedding planning. I did it until after the wedding, and then I was like, "I'm quitting." My face started breaking out, and I didn't know if it was the hormones, my supplements, stress, or the vaping.

Whitney: You were planning a wedding, I'm pretty sure stress had something to do with it.

Amy: I've literally cut everything out. I'm going to reintroduce them, but I want to talk to my doctor about my blood work.

Whitney: Blood work! I have had so much blood work done over the last year because of all this longevity stuff. I started like a year ago and joined something called "Function Health." You can get over 160 tests and it checks everything. Your doctor doesn't do that anymore. As a matter of fact, when I first got on hormones, my doctor didn't even check my hormones. She just said, "Let's just try this." My mouth was hanging open. I wanted the baseline. My testosterone was like 17 or something.

Amy: And what is it supposed to be?

Whitney: It's supposed to be like in the 60s or 70s ideally, I think. But menopausal women's hormones are gone.

Amy: Perimenopause fluctuates insanely. But once you hit menopause, at least you can get a baseline.

Whitney: Well you say that, but I had that 17, and this past year my testosterone has been all over the place. But I'm menopausal. I haven't had a period.

Amy: Fucking hell, I'm so jealous because I started literally today. I had a good six-month run with no period. I was like, "This is it, we're hitting it!" But it's not it. I'm still having one. I was a little sad when I stopped having it. Isn't that weird? We don't want it, and then it's gone, and then you're like, "Oh..."

Whitney: That's your whole life. You get sad about what's over. Again, going back into this "Anything But Mid," I don't want to be sad that I'm not in my 20s or 30s. I don't want to chase that. I want to be in this moment making it the best. I already had those experiences. This is a whole new experience and I'm going to embrace it and enjoy it.

Amy: Honestly it feels powerful. I like this phase. I was at something at a table with women and then I realized I was the oldest one. I was like, "Holy shit, I like this." It's just a matter of embracing it. We just get brainwashed into thinking like something has passed us by, but it's not true. We are in our powerful phase. We are in our "Max Life."

Whitney: You're absolutely right. Now with all the longevity stuff and the wellness stuff being so popular, it's creating a whole another level of stress. I'm thinking, "Oh, I'm not doing it right. I'm not eating enough jicama. I don't get enough protein. I need a weighted vest." I'm not saying that all of that's not true on some level, but we have to start weeding out... we can't do it all.

Amy: They're all trying to sell us something. Strip it back. What we need is sleep, we need to lift some things that are heavy, and walk around. We need to connect with somebody.

Whitney: I just read honestly that the number one factor in living longer and being happy is your relationship. They say that about the Blue Zones. They're doing it in community and being fed by community. In real life, 100%. They have more community than we do. They're not going home and parking their car in their garage and being isolated. Or being in a room with other people but you're on your phones. My kids come home from college and everyone is on their phone. I'm like, "We're not even talking."

Amy: I know, and then I'll get my kids to play "Jackbox." You put it on the TV and then you play it on your phone. So we're still on our phones, but we're together. Download Jackbox. It's really, really fun. You draw things or choose things and it shows up on the TV.

Whitney: That's so cool! It's like my sister has five-year-old twins. I was telling her that I'd heard something where you shouldn't let them watch things on their iPad or phone because it's separate. Let them watch something on TV and then it's a community activity. So that Jackbox game is right in line with that. My kids are going to be so excited. They love to play games.

Amy: I love playing games. We wandered into sleep territory, but really we were talking... and we're in our pajamas! That's going to be what we wear. Getting dressed for a podcast is just annoying. You're going to see us in this every time. I just want to wear these and a robe and that's it.

Whitney: Agreed. Fuck yeah we can do what we want. The theme song is one of my old songs called "Sell By." It is all about: fuck what they say about your expiration date. I was 40 actually when I wrote it. My producer Dwight Baker rolled his eyes and he goes, "Oh my god, I bet you have so much to say about that." I had seven pages written, motherfucker!

Amy: Exactly! You get me. But sometimes we just forget that. You need to do what works for you and do what you can. I cannot add any more supplements to my morning routine.

Whitney: What supplements do you take?

Whitney: I got tired of trying to figure it all out for myself, so I purchased a bundle through Bryan Johnson, the "Don't Die" guy. We're going to do an episode on Bryan. He kind of looks like a wax figure. But it took the stress away for me because I don't know how much to take or which ones are good. It gets insane.

Amy: I felt overwhelmed by it too. I worked with a functional nutritionist, Risa Groux. She did all my blood work and then she went through it and was like, "Here's what you need."

Whitney: I joined Instagram recently... well I'm reading the subtitles on Reels... and people say ChatGPT does not have the humanness that you need. They're almost like narcissists. But for my supplements, I literally just said, "I'm taking Bryan Johnson's blueprint bundle and longevity mix. Look at the ingredients and tell me if I can also take glutathione?"

Amy: I want to do an episode on glutathione. I use topical only. Apparently Dave Asprey is talking about that you should use topical glutathione because that's going to get in your system the quickest. But let me tell you something: it smells like a fucking rotten egg! It smells so bad. If you smelled my stomach right now... I do it in the morning and then it passes. But they sent some topical glutathione face products, and let me say, I had to throw them away.

Whitney: I am like the perfect consumer. I'm like, "Oh, I need that. Oh, I gotta get that." I just started taking it by mouth but now I need it in the topical form. And so I clicked on his link and it was a broken link! It says "Opening Soon."

Amy: The universe is saving you from buying yet another product! We're throwing a lot at you. We're going to get to all of that stuff in future episodes. We're not here to overwhelm anyone, we're here to do the opposite. I'm like, "What really works for me?" Our practice is tuning in. Our practice is: how does this make me feel? Not: I must eat jicama. I can't tell you how many jicamas I've bought and thrown away. Why are you twisting?

Whitney: I feel like I twist towards you and then I twist for the camera.

Amy: Oh, I thought you were using it to ground yourself.

Whitney: No! SURPRISE! I wore socks. My feet are always cold. They're a little sweaty... ironical is they're also freezing. Welcome to my world. We had talked before about sharing a "midlife moment." Did you have a moment this week?

Whitney: My moment was so frustrating, and I think I just have to embrace it because it happens to everyone. I was talking on the phone to one of my very best friends for 25 years. I fucking forgot her name.

Amy: I have chills running through my body. What?

Whitney: It happens! Names that you've always known just disappear. What made it so much more shocking is that I forgot my one of my best friends' names in the moment. Then you're like, "I have early-onset Alzheimer's." But when I took the Function Health test, I paid extra for the Alzheimer's gene and I don't have it. So it's midlife shit. It's hormonal shit.

Amy: How were you in that moment? Were you so alarmed?

Whitney: Yes. It has happened through the years. It's "grief brain." But now it's this "midlife brain." I'd been talking to my great friend on the phone. She told me that her husband's dad had just passed away. So I call him and I go, "Hey, I was just talking to..." Blank. Nothing. And so I go, "...your lovely wife and da da da da da." I could not think of her name. In hindsight, I wish I could have just said, "Oh my god, Ken! Name just went right out of my head! But you know, that girl you're married to!" and made a joke of it. But you become horrified and that creates more stress and anxiety. Let's fucking own it.

Amy: I know that sense of frustration. My moment... I told you the other day. I couldn't think of the word "charcuterie." I'm driving down the street and all I could think was "canapé." I was getting angry! I knew there was a "C" but I was thinking of it as a "ka" sound. I knew it was sort of a foreign sound, like French. I still could not access it. It's just weird that your brain won't cooperate.

Whitney: It's the same thing with our bodies. Now we just have to work a little harder. I do think that it makes it worse when you start trying to grasp for it and you just have to relax and let it be.

Amy: Am I staring at my phone too much? Am I doing things that are not exercising my brain in the proper way? Do you do Wordle?

Whitney: Yes. I do all those games and I still couldn't remember my best friend's name. Sometimes I like to think that it's just because I have so much in my brain, like a stack of files with a shit ton of paper. I can remember all the lyrics to "Girls, Girls, Girls" and then I can't remember a word. We need to set up a Gmail. So if you're listening to this and you have a topic that you want us to discuss, we would love to know.

Amy: I know one of the things that you want to bring to the show is your pep talks.

Whitney: Yes, I do. I feel like I'm very good at pep talks and they energize me. Giving them. As I was setting up this space for us to record, I realized that right here on my altar I have these rose gold pom-poms that you gave me. I wanted pom-poms for my birthday one year. You chose these, which are magnificent.

Amy: You want me to give a pep talk right now?

Whitney: Well, if someone's feeling overwhelmed, what would you tell them?

Whitney: You know what? I will give a pep talk because I'm great at pep talks. What do we want you to know today? We want you to know that you're enough. You've got this. Life isn't easy, it's not supposed to be easy, but you have all the tools you need to get through today. And if you don't, the universe is going to bring people in that are going to give you more of what you need. So you got this! You're good, you're safe, you're awesome!

Amy: Easy! Woo! I love it. I love my pom-poms. It's so funny that you still have them.

Whitney: Are you kidding? They're special to me. I still have my light-up wings!

Amy: I think this has been a really great first episode.

Whitney: Me too. Good for us! We have known each other and been friends and worked together in radio since 2018. We're just thrilled to be sitting here and talking about these things. We want to try to simplify things and make this the best new chapter. Let's go balls to the wall.

Amy: Whether you have balls or not, put them to the wall!

Whitney: I'm on testosterone, so you never know! You might grow a pair.

Amy: I think the point is: don't get overwhelmed because ultimately, do what works for you.

Whitney: We do what we want.

Amy: Fuck yeah we do.

Amy and Whitney high-five as the outro music plays