201: Sleep Tips That Actually WORK | Morning Routines, Magnesium, Meal Timing & More
The Fitnessista Podcast: Healthy In Real Life
Gina Harney
4.9 • 522 Ratings
🗓️ 19 March 2026
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Hi friends!
I have a brand new podcast episode live, and today I'm diving into one of my all-time favorite topics — sleep! 😴✨
This is a solo episode where I'm walking you through the exact checklist I use with my own clients when we're troubleshooting sleep. Because here's the thing: when we fix sleep, so much else starts to fall into place. Digestion, hormones, mood, energy, body composition — it all connects back to how well you're resting at night.
Whether you're a new mom running on fumes, someone who wakes up at 1am and can't fall back asleep, or just someone who never feels truly rested — this episode is for you.
Here's what we chat about:
- The power of morning sunlight and why getting outside first thing is a game-changer
- Why most people are taking the wrong type of magnesium — and what to look for instead
- How castor oil packs support your liver, calm your nervous system, and help shift your body into rest-and-digest mode
- The meal timing sweet spot that makes a noticeable difference in sleep quality
- Why alcohol before bed is sabotaging your deep sleep (and what to have instead)
- The connection between blood sugar dips and that dreaded 1–3am wake-up window
- How to manage stress and screen time before bed so your nervous system can actually wind down
- My honest take on unplugging the Wi-Fi router at night and keeping your phone off your body
- My current favorite sleep supplements — including one that gives me that warm, calm feeling without the hangover
And so much more!!
This episode is a friendly reminder that great sleep doesn't just happen at night — it's built throughout your entire day.
If you've been struggling to get consistent, restful sleep, I hope this gives you a solid starting point. And if you want to go deeper, I'd love to help you run some functional lab work to see what might be going on hormonally or metabolically. Send me an email at gina@fitnessista.com with "sleep" in the subject line and I'll send you all the details — no coaching fee to review your results, just answers!
I love winding down with a warm cup of Organifi gold before bed, and I always pair my nightly routine with my favorite Magnesium supplement and Magnesium spray for extra relaxation. I also swear by my Weighted blanket AND you can find all of my go-to sleep tools and more over on My favorite biohacking products page!
Sweet dreams, friends. 🌙
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Detailed show notes here: https://fitnessista.com/podcast
Partners:
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If any of my fellow health professional friends are looking for another way to help their clients, I highly recommend IHP. You can also use this information to heal yourself and then go one to heal others, which I think is a beautiful mission. You can absolutely join if you don't currently work in the health or fitness industry; many IHPs don't begin on this path. They're friends who are passionate to learn more about health and wellness, and want to share this information with those they love. You can do this as a passion, or start an entirely new career.
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Thank you so much for listening and for all of your support with the podcast! Please be sure to subscribe, and leave a rating or review if you enjoyed this episode. If you leave a rating, head to this page and you'll get a little "thank you" gift from me to you. http://fitnessista.com/podcastreview
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to The Healthy in Real Life podcast episode number 201. |
| 0:05.1 | Welcome to the Healthy in Real Life podcast, bite-sized tips for healthy living that you can implement right now. |
| 0:12.3 | Join us weekly for interviews and real life advice for creating the happiest and healthiest version of yourself. |
| 0:19.4 | Here's your host, fitness expert, author, and mom of two, Gina Harney. |
| 0:24.8 | Hey, friends, this is Gina, creator of the Fitnessista blog and brand. |
| 0:28.4 | I'm so excited that you're here today. |
| 0:30.0 | Thank you so much for tuning in. |
| 0:31.6 | And I'm so excited for today's episode. |
| 0:33.5 | I figured I would just hop on here, do a little on the fly episode about one of my all-time |
| 0:38.6 | favorite topics and that is sleep. So I love sleep. Sleep is one of my very favorite things. |
| 0:44.1 | It makes a huge difference in how I feel when I don't sleep. It's like my entire world comes |
| 0:49.8 | crumbling down. I know many of you can relate to this. It's also really hard when you have small |
| 0:54.8 | kids and newborns and you're not sleeping regularly. I think it's what had such a huge impact on my |
| 1:01.2 | postpartum experience. I think it was just the fact that I wasn't sleeping. And it's one of the |
| 1:05.8 | things that I like to help clients with first because it does impact so many different systems in the body. Once we fix |
| 1:12.4 | sleep, it's like, all right, the hardest part is done. What else are we going to do? And that's |
| 1:17.2 | something I like to help clients with within the first couple of weeks. Okay, you're not sleeping. |
| 1:21.3 | Let's figure out ways to help you get restful, solid sleep every night. So sleep, of course, |
| 1:27.2 | it impacts our digestion, our insulin |
| 1:29.7 | sensitivity, our mood, our immune system, our hormones, our energy levels, all the things. So I'm so |
| 1:38.0 | excited just to chat about some of my favorite strategies for sleep. I'm going to go through |
| 1:42.6 | a little to-do list, little checklist that I like |
... |
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