Stacey Solomon has revealed that Joe Swash's absence from home caused her stress levels to spike, affecting her sleep while she managed the children and her work commitments alone.
The Sort Your Life Out presenter, 37, has been with Joe, 44, since the 2010s, and the couple are raising five children — Zachary, Leighton, Rex, Rose, and Belle — while juggling their respective careers.
Stress monitor reveals nighttime strain
Stacey said she did not consider herself to be suffering from stress until she looked into her sleeping patterns and stress levels on a podcast appearance. On The Energy Equation, she wore a stress monitor for four days before sitting down with host Oli Patrick to discuss the results.
During the interview, Stacey talked about how she felt when Joe was in Guatemala, South America, and how she reacts just before he leaves home and just before he returns. She realised that the anticipation of his homecoming, combined with his absence, had caused her stress levels to spike.
Night feeds and early starts
She said: "During the day I never feel stressed, but if I get to a point like the nighttime when I know that I need to sleep and I knew that day Joe was coming back from Guatemala, I was going straight to back to work to Manchester."
"So I knew the next day I had to be even more on it, to go back to work and do the handover. Then, not being able to get the kids to sleep stresses me out because I'm already anticipating the next day and how I'm going to deal with that next day and that is the only time at night I might get stressed."
Stacey explained that when Joe is at home, she can unwind knowing he has the children in hand, meaning she can focus on her work. She continued: "When Joe's home I can be like, 'Joe, I've got to go. I've got to go to bed. It's nine o'clock and I've got to leave at six in the morning'. Whereas, because I knew he wasn't there and I was doing the night feeds and then I was going straight back to work and he was coming back."
A simple solution for better rest
Reflecting on Joe's absence, Stacey admitted: "The control freak in me, I lost it." When it came to her own solution for a good night's rest, she kept it straightforward: "I think the best thing for me is to just to lay down and go to sleep."
"Even though it took me 90 minutes to get to sleep, it would have taken me longer to run a bath, put the oils in, do all that and then try and go to sleep after. I feel like sleep is the best present to myself."
Stacey & Joe season three begins on Tuesday November 10 from 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
