19: How your genes impact your sleep

Episode Transcript:

Welcome to the Why You Can't Sleep podcast. If you struggle to sleep and you've tried what seems like everything you are in the right place, there are imbalances in your body that are keeping you awake and you're going to learn what they are in this show. Now let's kick off this episode with an inspiring success story from one of my clients who has significantly improved their sleep by correcting the underlying health issues that were causing their insomnia.

My client Burton wrote:

"Before working with you, I was having trouble falling asleep and would stay up way too late. I also had trouble with waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to go back to sleep. I was alternating between Trazodone, Xanax, Advil pm and tart cherry juice to sleep.

Now I'm able to fall asleep on a consistent basis with a bedtime routine that Martha came up with. Without drugs, I can usually fall back asleep. When I wake up in the middle of the night. It's a huge accomplishment to not need sleeping pills anymore. Yay.

The whole experience was great. It was interesting to learn about gut health and how it relates to my sleep. I used to be hesitant about going to sleep because it was hard for me to fall asleep in general unless I took a sleeping pill. Now I feel much more confident about sleep. I'm not as groggy as when I wake up from a sleeping pill. I'm also going to bed at a reasonable time. I'm more healthy overall."

Awesome, Burton.

Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode. And now in this episode I'm going to be talking about your genes or your epigenetics or how your genes are being expressed and how those can affect your sleep. And I realized this was important to me more recently. 

So about a year ago, I had been sleeping pretty well, definitely way better than before, so I was pretty happy with that. But I had been learning about neurotransmitters and a mentor of mine has suggested that maybe this could be helpful for my clients with sleep. And so I decided to take a neurotransmitter test to see for myself, I always am my Guinea pig first. And it turns out I was really low in serotonin and the owner of the lab asked me, do you have issues with sleep? And I just kind of laughed because I'm like, that's what I help people with and my sleep is pretty good, but I guess it could be better. And so she recommended five HTP, which is a precursor to serotonin. I started taking that and my sleep improved even more. So now it is just solid pretty much all the time.

I'm sleeping really well. And so I feel like that was the final piece of the puzzle for me. Again, I was still sleeping so much better, but this really solidified it for me. And so now this is something that I also test my clients for because this can bring really quick results to supplement and support these neurotransmitters. But what I also realized too is that this is likely a genetic issue for me. And it's the same with the Mt HR gene. So I did testing over 10 years ago when I was working for a doctor as his nutritionist, and he told me that I had the M-T-H-F-R gene.

And this made so much sense to me too because so many of my family members on my mother's side have mental health issues. And so when I told this doctor that, he said, well, you don't because you take care of yourself, you eat really well, you're healthy, but if you ever start having any mood issues, then it could help to start taking methylated B vitamins. But I didn't need to just start taking them when I wasn't having any symptoms. But I realized that because of that, and this serotonin deficiency is likely genetic as well. And so it just has helped me realize the importance of looking at people's genes and how their genes are being expressed. And I'll tell you how I do that in a couple minutes. And I've had so many people who tell me that they think their sleep issues are genetic because some family member, their mother or their father or their sister or their brother also has sleep issues.

And while our genes can make us more susceptible to poor sleep, our genes are not our destiny. And so what we eat, how we move, how much stress we have, and so many other things actually determines whether your genes turn off or on. So there is this saying, the great analogy is that the genes are the gun and our lifestyle are the bullets. So our lifestyle is what determines whether the gun actually shoots or not. And so when your body is in balance, your genes stay clean and don't turn on. And then when your body is stressed and out of balance, those genes can turn on and cause symptoms. And so we are born with some genes already dirty, so we already are susceptible to those and these can actually give us certain weaknesses, but also certain strengths and other genes can become dirty when the body gets out of balance.

So again, it's more about our lifestyle and other imbalances in our body and how they are affecting how our genes are being expressed. So our genes are not our destiny. It matters how they're being expressed. And for this reason, I don't believe that genetics testing is that helpful because genetics just shows whether you have certain of these SNPs or mutations. But doesn't mean that just because you have that you should take a supplement, which is what a lot of these companies are recommending. Instead, I use an assessment to see for my clients, which of their genes are acting dirty, which of them are suggesting that their bodies are out of balance and working on that, because again, it only matters what's being expressed. It only matters what is acting dirty. So the testing doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if I have the M-T-H-F-R gene, if I am not having mood issues, for example, and if I get some other symptoms, then I do need to start supplementing, but I also need to focus on everything else in my lifestyle with diet and exercise and all of those things so that they aren't turned on.

So that's most important. And there can actually be a problem when you supplement and you don't need it. So for example, so many people who know they have the MTH of R gene are just taking methylfolate and methyl B vitamins. Well, too much methylfolate can cause anxiety, irritability, and insomnia. So it could be making things worse if you don't actually need it. Now, we do know that there are some genes that are known to directly be related to insomnia, the pimp or the PEMT gene, the MAO gene, the comp gene. When these are out of balance, it can directly lead to sleep issues. And then there are other genes that can indirectly lead to sleep issues. For example, the M-T-H-F-R and also the GST and the GPX genes affect liver detox. And so as I talked about in the first episode of this series about how liver function, liver detox issues can lead to insomnia.

So that's how it can indirectly do that. And then there's the doo gene that can cause someone to not be able to clear histamine well, and then high histamine can lead to insomnia as well. So those are some of the genes that can indirectly lead to insomnia. So this is why it's so perfect or so important to find what's going to work best for your body. For example, for diet, there's no one diet that is perfect for everyone. And so this is based on your genetics and your own metabolic type. And so balancing blood sugar is really key, but different for everyone what balance of macronutrients you should have or fat protein and carbs is different depending on your genetics, even what an anti-inflammatory diet can be slightly different for everyone. And same with exercise. You want to be exercising not too little, but also not too much for your, not just for your genetics, but also for the time of life you're in and what you're dealing with as well. Different supplements are some people do great on SSRIs, antidepressants and supplements such as SAM or five htp and others don't. And that can be explained by your genes.

And so different habits are going to be important for different people based on their genetics and what is being expressed. So as you can see, since it's different for everyone, it's really important to have this customized approach as to what's best for you. Not everyone needs to meditate 15 minutes a day, but for some people it's really helpful, especially if they have the gene that doesn't break down stress hormones well, and other people actually need more stimulation than that and it's not going to be helpful. So this is why figuring out what's right for you is really key, and that's why our program is so personalized for everyone because it's so different for everyone. The imbalances in your body that are causing your sleep are different for everyone. The role that your mind is playing is different for everyone and your genes are different as well.

And so this was really important for one of my clients recently who she is in the medical field and she was working, so she's working one week on and one week off and on her weeks off, she slept great and the week she would work, she slept horribly. And so we're getting to the bottom of this with the lab testing, but she took the genetics assessment that I give to all of my clients now, and it turns out she has one of the genes that is acting out right now is the comp gene, and that means that she isn't breaking down stress hormones well. So it totally makes sense that on these days she's working, she's working long hours, she's working a stressful job, she's running around and her body isn't clearing those stress hormones quickly, so it's affecting her ability to go to sleep an hour or two or three after she gets off work.

It totally makes sense, but knowing that I can recommend certain things that she can do and supplements that she can take to help with that. So that's what we're working on. So that is one piece of the puzzle, and yes, it matters also what's going on in her gut because that's causing stress too. Everything else still matters, but we can get started working on some things quickly knowing what's going on with her genes, what genes are acting dirty. So that's why this is so important. All right, that is it for today. I thank you for listening and if you want to get started in this program, it's very much a body mind approach and very customized. As you can tell. We will figure out what's going on with your genes, what's going on in your body, how your mind is playing a role. All three of these things are the key to figuring out your sleep.

And if you ignore one of these things, you're probably not going to get better. And this is why so many people I talk to, they say they've tried everything, but they haven't tried this like a body and mind approach looking at everything at the same time. And that's usually what's missing. So if you've tried CBTI and it hasn't helped this because it's just looking at the mental part. If you've tried, I've worked with so many people who've gone to other practitioners and haven't gotten better, and that's either they're just looking at the physical things and there's also this mental component, or a lot of times what I see too is they aren't looking at the big picture. And that's really important when we're looking at the body to look at everything that could be causing this. So you can't just address hormones or address gut health, and if you still have heavy metals or something else sabotaging your sleep, then you aren't going to get better.

As you've been learning from this podcast, the way to sleep better is to find the imbalances in your body that are keeping you awake. I created the Insomnia Insight Program so you'll know what these imbalances are and have a plan to fix them in just 30 days. In the Insomnia Insight Program, my team and I use four functional lab tests as well as assessments to look for everything that could be affecting your sleep so we don't miss anything. Then we will give you a personalized, holistic 90 day plan to get your body back in balance so you can get the deep sleep that you want. You'll know exactly which supplements and habits your body needs. No more trying to find the magic pill or following advice you find online that just doesn't work for you. You'll also get support for six months with weekly live coaching calls and daily chat messaging to get all of your questions answered.

This will ensure your plan is successful so your sleep keeps improving. You'll also have access to valuable training such as Smart Sleeper Habits where you'll learn evidence-based habits that will help you sleep more peacefully. You'll learn Smart Sleeper Essentials so you can fall asleep fast and stop the 3:00 AM wake up by finding the perfect diet for your body and by balancing your blood sugar and the Smart Sleeper mindset will help you get rid of negative thoughts and anxiety about sleep so that your mind doesn't sabotage you. The program also includes bonuses such as how to get out a fight or flight and calm your nervous system, how to minimize toxins and support your liver, how to make changing habits easier. Also, that you can restore your health and sleep deeply. There will also be challenges so you stay motivated to follow your protocol and celebrate as your sleep keeps improving.

There will be monthly bonus trainings to further improve your health mindset and sleep. There will also be customized case reviews available, so if your sleep hasn't improved in three months, you can submit a case review where we will review your results and plan until you exactly what to do next to make sure you're successful in the program. And if you sign up from this podcast, you can get a special bonus, a Customized Sleep Jumpstart plan. We will give you top reaction steps to improve your sleep right away as soon as you sign up while we're waiting for your test results.

The investment for the Insomnia Insight program is $2,500 plus the cost of the lab tests, which are around a thousand dollars. There is financing available from advancecarecard.com. You can find out more about the program and sign up at the link in the show notes.

In the Insomnia Insight program, 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 that you can sleep better and make the difference you're meant to make in the world.

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