About Martha


Key Takeaways

  • Martha ranks comprehensive personalized testing a 10 out of 10 for chronic insomnia, while prescription sleep meds score a 1 and sleep trackers score a 2.
  • Chronic insomnia usually involves more than one imbalance at once — gut health, neurotransmitters, a cortisol rhythm that runs high at night, and toxins the liver isn't clearing — so single fixes like melatonin or magnesium only help if that one deficiency is the sole cause.
  • Standard bloodwork rules out major problems but often misses the imbalances that affect sleep, which is why testing gut health, neurotransmitters, hormones, cortisol, and toxins together is more effective than testing one system at a time.


If you've struggled with insomnia for months or years, you've probably worked your way through most of the list. You've cleaned up your bedtime routine. You take melatonin, magnesium, and CBD — the exact combination many of my clients are on when they first come to me.


You've got a tracker telling you how little deep sleep you got. You've tried meditating. And you're still awake.


There's no one solution that's right for everyone. Here's what each popular fix actually does and how I rank it for chronic insomnia, from 1 to 10.


Sleep hygiene and CBT-I: 5/10


Sleep hygiene is what I call the sleep rules: a relaxing bedtime routine, staying off screens before bed, not eating too close to bedtime. CBT-I, or cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, builds on those habits and adds work on your thoughts and associations around sleep.


If your sleep problems are new — the past few days, weeks, or couple of months — and you aren't already doing these things, start here. These simple things could totally fix your insomnia.


For chronic insomnia, they're not enough. Watching TV before bed is not going to cause chronic insomnia, because millions of people do it every night and sleep just fine. It affects the quality of your sleep, but it's not the root cause.


Melatonin, magnesium, and CBD: 4/10


Melatonin is our sleepy hormone. Magnesium relaxes your muscles, and many people are deficient. Either one helps only if that deficiency is the one thing causing your sleep issues.


What I've found in people with chronic insomnia is that there's more than one imbalance in the body. Yes, you probably need magnesium. You might also need other minerals and vitamins, and other deficiencies and imbalances addressed.


CBD can help if you can't relax, and it helps with inflammation, which can be a big cause of sleep problems. But it's a Band-Aid, because it doesn't address where that inflammation is coming from.


Sleep trackers: 2/10


I wear a Whoop, so I'm not anti-tracker. But Whoop, Apple Watch, Garmin, and Oura Ring are not 100% accurate — probably not even 90%.


They're good for trends, but the exact amounts of deep and REM sleep they report are notoriously inaccurate.


The bigger problem is anxiety. Someone thinks they had a pretty decent night, their tracker says they didn't, and they feel horrible all day — then they worry about sleep again that night.


And even when the numbers are right, the tracker won't tell you why you're only getting an hour of deep and REM sleep.


Meditation: 5/10


Slowing down and focusing on your breath can really help when you're go, go, go all day, and calming your nervous system before bed is valuable even while you address imbalances in your body.


But many of my clients are already meditating when they come to me. It isn't enough when something else is driving the insomnia.


Acupuncture: 4/10


Acupuncture can be wonderful for your general health. But many of my clients tried it and it didn't fix their sleep.


Over-the-counter sleep meds: 3/10


ZzzQuil and Unisom help some people and not others. They're less addictive than prescription meds, so short term they're fine — but they're sedating you, not fixing why you can't sleep.


Prescription sleep meds: 1/10


This covers everything from Trazodone to Ambien to benzodiazepines, and some are more benign than others. A sleep medication covers up the symptom by sedating you. They have a lot of side effects and can be addictive, both physically and psychologically.


That's why I see them as a last resort. Short-term use during something really stressful or traumatic is fine. And if you've tried the more natural options and nothing works, it can be better to take a medication and actually get some sleep than to keep not sleeping.


Hormone support: 7/10


If you're a woman in perimenopause or menopause and sleep is one of your main symptoms, it makes sense to test your hormones and possibly start bioidentical hormone replacement therapy. That could solve the problem.


It ranks higher because it's starting to get to the root cause, especially for women in midlife.


Personalized testing: 7 to 10/10


Start with bloodwork to rule out anything major. But many of you have already done it and it came back normal, because bloodwork often doesn't show the imbalances that affect sleep.


After working with hundreds of clients, I've found it's usually a combination of things. Gut health. Neurotransmitters, the brain chemicals that regulate your sleep cycle and help you feel calm and relaxed. A cortisol rhythm that's higher at night or in the middle of the night, when it should be lowest, and lower during the day. And toxins, plus how well your liver can detox them.


The score depends on the type of testing. The testing I give a 10 looks at all the systems in your body — gut health, neurotransmitters, toxins, hormones, and cortisol — in a comprehensive way instead of one at a time.


If you can't sleep, it's a sign your body is out of balance and there are health issues happening that you don't know about. Everything lower on this list treats the symptom. The top of the list looks for the cause.


FAQ

Q: Why isn't magnesium helping my sleep?

A: Magnesium only fixes insomnia if a magnesium deficiency is the one thing causing it. People with chronic insomnia almost always have more than one imbalance, so they may need other minerals and vitamins, plus other deficiencies and imbalances addressed. That's why magnesium alone often isn't enough.


Q: Are sleep trackers accurate?

A: No. Trackers like Whoop, Oura, Apple Watch, and Garmin are not 100% accurate — probably not even 90% — and the exact amounts of deep and REM sleep they report are notoriously off. They're useful for spotting trends from night to night, but they can't tell you why your sleep is poor, and for many people they create more anxiety about sleep.


Q: Is it bad to take sleeping pills long term?

A: Yes. Prescription sleep medications like Trazodone, Ambien, and benzodiazepines cover up the symptom by sedating you, have a lot of side effects, and can be physically and psychologically addictive. Short-term use during an acutely stressful time is fine, but long term you want to find the reason you can't sleep.


Q: Why is my bloodwork normal but I still can't sleep?

A: Bloodwork is good for ruling out anything major, but it often doesn't show the imbalances that affect sleep. Chronic insomnia is usually driven by a combination of gut health, neurotransmitters, a disrupted cortisol rhythm, and toxins your liver isn't clearing. Those need to be tested comprehensively, together, to find what's actually keeping you awake.


If multiple imbalances — gut health, neurotransmitters, cortisol, hormones, and toxins — might be affecting your sleep, this is exactly what the Complete Sleep Solution program investigates. The program includes four functional lab panels that look at all of these systems together rather than one at a time, so you know exactly what's keeping you awake.


→ Learn how the Complete Sleep Solution program works 


Want to learn more about the imbalances that cause sleep issues and how to fix them? Sign up for the Smart Sleeper email series.


About Martha Lewis 

Martha Lewis is a certified Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioner and founder of The Sleep Detective™. Since 2019, she has helped 300+ clients identify the root causes of their insomnia using functional lab testing — including gut analysis, hormone panels, neurotransmitter testing, and toxin screening. She discovered her own root causes (hormone imbalances, heavy metals, and a parasite) after years of trying conventional sleep solutions, and now uses the same investigative approach with her clients.


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