Your options for overcoming insomnia


If you can’t sleep, you have 5 options for getting better.


Many of these options are Band-aids and most of them don’t get to the root of the problem.



In this blog post, you'll learn what the 5 options are and what will actually help you solve your insomnia for good.


This article was featured in the Jackson Hole News and Guide as well as here on my blog. Feel free to read it in either location.


Let's dive in! 


Option 1: Follow the basic sleep advice


The first option is to follow the basic sleep advice. If you Google “how to sleep better” you’ll find the same tips:

  • don’t watch screens before bed
  • don’t drink caffeine past 2 p.m.
  • follow a relaxing bedtime routine
  • exercise every day


These things are important, and for some people following these rules solves the problem. But if you still can’t sleep there’s something in your body that is keeping you from sleeping normally.


Option 2: Sleeping pill


Your second option is to take a sleeping pill. If you go to your doctor and tell her that you can’t sleep, she is likely to recommend following the basic sleep advice above. If that doesn’t work, then she’ll prescribe a sleeping pill.


There are many reasons why I don’t recommend taking a sleeping pill: They change your brain chemistry, they can be addictive and really hard to stop taking, and they can have side effects.


Pharmaceutical sleep aids don’t give you natural sleep and so you don’t get all the benefits that true sleep provides. 


Sleeping pills are a Band-Aid. They don’t get to the root cause.


Option 3: Supplements and gadgets


Your third option is to try different supplements and gadgets. Supplements from CBD to magnesium to melatonin to all kinds of sleep blends promise better sleep. If these don’t work for you it’s because things are out of balance in your body and you’re trying to guess what might work.


You might be deficient in magnesium and that’s contributing to your sleep problems, but a magnesium supplement on its own may not help. That’s because your gut needs to be healthy to absorb magnesium, you need to take the right dose, and there are likely other minerals that are also out of balance. Magnesium may be part of the answer but not the only answer.


I use supplements to help my clients get back in balance. Instead of guessing, I use functional lab tests that show exactly what their bodies need.


They’re also quite a few gadgets that have been invented to help people sleep better. Everything from a cooling mattress pad such as the Chilipad to beds that rock you to sleep to vibrating devices meant to stimulate the parts of your brain that promote relaxation and sleep.


These are also Band-Aids that aren’t getting to the root of why you can’t sleep.


Option 4: CBTi


The fourth option is cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, often called CBTi.


This method looks at how your thoughts, emotions and behavior affect your sleep. I think that this is a very important part of overcoming insomnia. If you have anxiety about sleep or you have habits that sabotage sleep, it’s important to address those. For this reason I use cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to help my clients.


This doesn’t help everyone, however, because it only addresses the mental part of insomnia.


If there’s something in your body that’s keeping you awake, then looking only at the mental cause isn’t going to help.


Many of my clients have tried cognitive behavioral therapy and it didn’t work for them because they also have something physically causing their sleep problems.


To get better you have to address both the body and the mind.


Option 5: Find and address the root cause


The fifth option for overcoming insomnia is to find the root of what’s causing it and address it.


If you’ve tried everything above and they haven’t helped, it’s because different systems in your body are out of balance and you aren’t truly healthy.


A healthy body sleeps well, and if you can’t sleep then you can’t be in perfect health, even if you eat healthy and exercise and live a healthy lifestyle.


Functional lab testing will show what’s out of balance in your body so we know what to address.


The most common physical causes of insomnia that I see are:

  • inflammation
  • an unhealthy gut
  • liver detox issues
  • hormone imbalance
  • mineral imbalance and heavy metal toxicity


My clients have different combinations of these imbalances. There isn’t only one answer and that’s why I find everything that could be causing their insomnia.


To get over your sleep problems long term, you want to:

  • address everything in both your body and the mind that are causing this
  • test instead of guess at supplements
  • address the cause instead of trying Band-Aids


My sleep solutions are designed to find and fix the root cause of your insomnia so you can sleep well without meds. You’ll know the imbalances that are causing your sleep issues and you'll have a plan to fix them in just 30 days so you can sleep better and make the difference you’re meant to make in the world.