What Helped Me Sleep Again (and Might Help You, Too) Book Review!

Plus the Menu for the Week of June 23-27th

I Stopped Chasing the Sleep Sheep!

I talk about sleep a lot with my clients. Because let’s face it—if you’re not sleeping, it’s hard to make progress on any other wellness goal. To me, sleep is the key that unlocks everything else.

And it’s true for everyone. I discuss it with my teen athlete clients in relation to performance, and with my 85-year-old client in relation to her IBS. No matter the goal, sleep is at the center of it all.

I’ve had my own ups and downs with sleep over the years. I’ve even had stretches of what I’d call transient insomnia. I can remember, years ago, considering shooting whiskey in the middle of the night just to knock myself out. You can feel so desperate in those early morning hours!

While I’ve come a long way in improving my relationship with sleep, just a couple of weeks ago, I hit a rough patch—not anything like the whiskey days, but enough to remind me how fragile sleep can feel when life gets heavy. I was making some big decisions and feeling a bit overwhelmed with responsibilities. The stress response is the complete opposite of the sleep response—which is why a busy, stressed-out mind can make it so hard to nod off.

Of course, stress isn’t the only culprit. Over the years, I’ve worked with clients navigating all kinds of sleep disruptors—hot flashes during perimenopause, low iron levels, restless legs, or the round-the-clock demands of caring for a newborn. Not all sleep struggles are rooted in anxiety or insomnia, and sometimes it’s not just about calming the mind, but addressing what’s going on in the body or in this season of life. That’s why sleep deserves a curious and compassionate lens—because the reasons we’re awake at 2 a.m. are as varied as we are.