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Here's the truth that's going to save you hundreds of dollars and months of frustration: most of the supplements you're taking for sleep aren't working because you're guessing instead of testing. But today, I'm breaking my own rule. I'm going to share 4 specific supplements that can start improving your sleep THIS WEEK - even before you know your lab results. And I'll tell you about the one that's the closest thing I know to a magic pill for sleep."


By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly which 4 supplements to try first, why they work for the most common sleep imbalances I see in my practice, and how to take them safely. These aren't random recommendations - they're the same supplements I reach for first when my clients need immediate sleep support while we're waiting for their functional lab results.


Link to Quicksilver GABA/l-theanine and Gaia Herbs Nighttime HPA on Fullscript.


Beam minerals 20% off with code SLEEP


Trozzz 10% off with code “detective” 


00:00 Introduction: The Truth About Sleep Supplements

00:54 Meet Your Host: Martha Lewis

01:19 My Personal Sleep Struggles

02:07 Why Most Supplements Fail

03:49 Supplement 1: GABA and L-Theanine

07:13 Supplement 2: Nighttime HPA by Gaia Herbs

11:05 Supplement 3: Beam Minerals

13:59 Supplement 4: Tro Z by Transcriptions

17:23 How to Use These Supplements

19:35 The Importance of Foundational Health

22:21 Conclusion: Next Steps for Better Sleep


Episode Transcript


Here's the truth, that's going to save you hundreds of dollars and months of frustration. Most of the supplements you're taking for sleep aren't working because you're guessing instead of testing. But today I'm breaking my own rule. I'm going to share four specific supplements that can start improving your sleep this week, even before you do any lab testing and know your results.


And I'll tell you about the one that's really the closest thing I know of. That's a magic pill for sleep. By the end of this episode, you'll know exactly which four supplements to try first, why they work for the most common sleep imbalances I see in my practice, and how to take them safely. Now, these aren't random recommendations.


They're the same supplements I reach for first when my clients need immediate sleep support while they're waiting for their lab results. You're listening to the Sleep Detective Podcast, where you will learn why you can't sleep and how to fix it naturally. I'm Martha Lewis. I've been a functional health and life coach for the past six years, and I've helped over 200 clients find and fix the root causes of their health issues so they can sleep well without needing medication now.


There were times when, back when I was really struggling with sleep, which was nine years ago at this point, my son just turned nine years old and my sleep issue started in late pregnancy with him and didn't go away even after he was born. And happened for another two years before I finally learned about functional lab testing and found the imbalances in my body that were keeping me awake.


And so along the way, I tried so many supplements. I worked in a health food store managing the supplement department, and I also worked for a doctor as his nutritionist. You know, I was getting all kinds of things to try and I was open to trying anything natural to see if it would help. And what I found after doing the functional lab testing was there were specific imbalances in my body that were causing my sleep issues.


And so that's why, you know, melatonin didn't work for me because I actually wasn't deficient in melatonin. Some of my clients are deficient in melatonin. And melatonin doesn't work because there's more going on than just melatonin deficiency. But having targeted support is what is really key. So I know you've probably tried all these things, melatonin, magnesium, any other supplement out there?


Have a lot of clients who are trying, Huber Man's Cocktail of Magnesium three eight and. A couple other things that I can't recall off the top of my head right now, but those things aren't working 'cause those aren't what their body actually needs, so. These supplements I'm going to recommend are different because they address the most common root causes that I do find through the lab testing in so many of my clients.


And why supplements haven't worked for you yet is because they aren't customized for you. And so these four supplements I'm gonna talk about today, target, the biggest sleep saboteurs I see. With working with hundreds of clients, so think of these as your sleep detective starter kit. They are not going to cure chronic insomnia.


I think that the only way to do that is to find and fix the imbalances in your body that are causing your sleep to be disrupted. But these can start correcting some of those imbalances that are most common. So. Let's get into it. The first supplement I recommend that helps so many of my clients almost immediately is GABA and L-theanine, and there's one in particular by Quicksilver that is a liposomal.


Or liquid version. So a lot of GABA supplements don't even get through the blood brain barrier and get into your brain, and so your body can't really use them. But because this is liposomal, that means that you put it in your mouth, hold it under your tongue for 30 seconds, and it absorbs there in your mouth instead of having to.


Swallow a pill, your gut has to break down the pill, and then whatever's in the pill is spread throughout your body. This is going to be absorbed pretty much immediately. And just so you know, I'll also link to all of these supplements and where you can get them in the show notes, you can find them there.


So this is great if your mind is racing at bedtime, if you really have difficulty transitioning from go, go, go mode to sleep mode. And especially if anxiety is keeping you awake. So GABA is. Our anti-anxiety neurotransmitter, and so many of my clients and myself are deficient in this, and that can happen for many reasons when the gut isn't healthy.


Because the good bacteria in the gut make up to 90% of our neurotransmitters, including gaba, it can happen when your body's stressed and then GABA's depleted more quickly than it should be, and for genetic reasons as well. So some of us will need to supplement with this more long term. So again, because this is liposomal it does absorb pretty much immediately and most of it is absorbed 'cause it's not depending on your gut to break it down and absorb it.


And GABA really helps calm the nervous system. And L-Theanine helps promote relaxation without drowsiness. And healthy is actually the precursor to gaba, but these two together seem to work really well. Better than just one of those on its own is what I have found. And so this is, especially if you are that type A personality who has a hard time turning off your brain at night.


If you're lying awake, planning the next day, if you have any kind of anxiety about bedtime. And of course this is even better if testing shows that you're low in gaba, but I found that this helps with so many of my clients, even if. They do a neurotransmitter test and GABA isn't necessarily low. It's in range, but maybe it's on the low range.


This can still really help with sleep right away. So this is something you can take pretty much right before bed because it's absorbed so quickly. I would say right before, up to 30 minutes before, and. I recommend two to up to four pumps of this. So again, it's liquid, so you're just taking little pumps of that in your mouth.


And I have had clients sleep better pretty much immediately from this. So this could improve your sleep right away. Now the second supplement I recommend is called. Nighttime, HPA by Gaia herbs. So HPA stands for hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis. So this is supporting not just the adrenal glands, but the whole axis.


And so this is really helpful for those 3:00 AM wake-ups with racing thoughts, that feeling of tired, but wired. And so these are all because of cortisol imbalances that affect sleep. So this specific formula has adaptogenic herbs that help us deal with stress better. And so things like ashwagandha that you may have heard of.


So adaptogenic herbs are grown in stressful environments, like a lot of them are grown high in the Andes Mountains in South America, so they're exposed to cold temperatures and wind. And, high elevation, to deal with those stressors, these herbs produce these compounds to help them. Deal with that.


And when we consume those herbs and we get those same compounds that help deal with stress, there are also herbs in this that help with relaxation. It's not going to necessarily put you to sleep like the GABA l-theanine or the four supplement I'm gonna talk about. But they do help your mind and your body get into a more relaxed place.


So this really. Helps with that HPA axis or adrenal dysfunction. And so it's really gentle support just for, people who are under a lot of stress, which, if you aren't sleeping well, your body's definitely under, under stress for sure. And I do want to warn about something because this is something I see some of my clients taking when they come to me and even it's been recommended by adrenal fatigue specialists and that is any kind of supplement with phosphatidyl searing in it.


And a common one that I. Recommend for some of my clients with Phosphatidyl Seine is called Cortisol Manager. But the problem with taking this without testing is that it's assuming that everyone has high cortisol. Where actually many of my clients, when we test using the Dutch test, their cortisol levels are low or their body isn't making a lot of cortisol.


Even if their cortisol. What's available to be used is high. Sometimes what the body's making and what's available to be used don't match, and that indicates different imbalances. A saliva cortisol test, a blood cortisol test is only showing what's available to be used, whereas a Dutch test also shows how much is being made.


So if your body is not making much cortisol, you don't want to take a supplement that lowers cortisol, especially long term. So you don't want to take phosphol searing, which is gonna lower cortisol even more and make you feel worse. And so that's why I don't recommend Phosphol searing or cortisol manager until we know that your body is making a lot of cortisol and what's available is also very high.


So this HPA nighttime supplement. Can really help, professionals under a lot of stress and high achievers, anyone waking between two and 4:00 AM consistently, which is many of my clients, and especially if you're dealing with a demanding career or a life situation right now. And so this is really a safe way to address cortisol and adrenal health and your stress.


Your body, even before you do any kind of testing. Now, supplement number three might be surprising. It's called beam minerals, so this can really help with having to go to the bathroom often at night. With restless legs or muscle tension and with electrolyte imbalances that affect sleep, and why I recommend these minerals specifically.


So what they are is they're trace minerals from humic and fulvic acid, and so this is why magnesium a lot of times doesn't help with sleep, even though so many people are deficient in magnesium. It is not just about magnesium. It's really about the balance of calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and all of the minerals in the body.


At a cellular level, and so beam minerals supplies the proper balance of all minerals and very small amounts, so I'm finding more and more that this is better than isolating different mineral supplements, including magnesium, and it really helps support cellular hydration. And the cells will only absorb what they actually need.


So instead of trying to force large amounts of calcium or large amounts of magnesium into the cells that just wants to stay in balance and have all the minerals balanced, this is providing those in a very balanced way. And then the body only takes what it needs. And oh, and also it helps clear heavy metals from the body in a very gentle and safe way.


So it doesn't force them out, but it binds to them and pulls them out of the body safely. So if you're waking up multiple times a night to pee, if you are an athlete or very active, especially if you do a lot of sweating and anyone with muscle tension at night, this is only going to help and. So this is something I, recommend for most of my clients, whatever mineral imbalances are showing up on the hair tissue mineral analysis test that I do.


And so just keep in mind that balance is so much more important than trying to supplement with these individual minerals. So this is a great all around supplement. It's something I plan on taking long term because. It's hard to get all the minerals we need from food, mainly because our soils in the United States especially are so depleted and food should be where we're getting most of our nutrients.


But that's hard to do when the soils don't actually have those minerals. And I also use a reverse osmosis water filter, so I'm not getting heavy metals and chemicals from tap water, but that filters out all minerals as well. So it's really important if you're. You know, drinking distilled water and reverse osmosis water that you're getting minerals back in on a regular basis.


Okay, now for the fourth recommendation, the magic pill, and I just discovered this, a colleague of mine told me about this, and it is called tro z. And it's by a company called Transcriptions. So this is the closest thing I know to a magic pill. But it does have some important considerations, like any kind of powerful tool, right?


So this is really for severe insomnia when nothing else seems to work. Can really be used for emergency sleep support for rough nights, let's say, you're going through a stressful time, you have. A presentation you're giving the next day and you tend to not sleep well before those presentations, that could be a good time to use it.


Or if you know you had to stay out late for some reason and you're really wired trying to go to bed, then this could be a time to use it. And also if you're dealing with multiple sleep challenges all at once. So again, this is kind of the big gun for more severe cases, and this is a multi targeted approach.


This is why it works. It addresses several sleep pathways at the same time, and it's very. Comprehensive support for when you need it most. And so I have one client who used this instead of a sleeping pill when he would have a particularly rough night. And so this really enabled him to not use sleeping pills anymore.


He was only, I. By the time he was a few months into the program, he was only using them every now and then anyway. If he had had a few rough nights in a row and he really wanted to reset and get back on track, he started using this TRO instead, and it totally worked. He didn't need a sleeping pill.


And then recently I had another client come to me who was. Not sleeping at all, like just unable to fall asleep. It had been nights and weeks on end at this point, and as soon as he started taking this, he began getting three hours of sleep consistently right away. And so for someone going from zero to three hours, it was life changing for him.


He was so excited. And now he's sleeping through the night and not even having to take this all the time. So it can really help get over this hump of. Dealing with some pretty severe sleep issues now, here is what you need to know. It is pretty expensive. Now a lot of my clients are taking CBD and THC gummies and things.


Those can also get pretty expensive. But you know, if you need the full dose and you could be spending, I think it's around $30 for a week to two week supply. So it's not something that you wanna take long term. So it's not meant to be this forever solution, but again, it can help us get over the hump while we're also working on the imbalances in your body so that you don't need to take it long term.


I will say too, it can make some people groggy the next day. Some people feel totally fine, so it's just different for everyone. You kind of have to experiment and see how it is for you. So this is really meant to be used as an emergency sleep kit while we investigate. Okay. What's really causing your sleep issues?


So this could be for you if you have severe chronic insomnia or if you're needing occasional kind of that rescue sleep support. And if you've tried everything and lots of different supplements and still can't sleep. So let's talk about how to actually take these. I don't recommend that you. Just go out and order all four of these necessarily.


I would start with the one that matches your biggest symptom and then track your sleep for a week before adding another and save that tro for when you really need the big guns. Or if you are in a, you know, severe state right now, you could go straight to that for sure. Now. And there are some important considerations.


Of course, I have to recommend that you consult your doctor before taking any kind of new supplement, especially if you're taking medications. So TRO is not recommended to be used if you're taking, gABA support or gaba GABA medications, so that would be benzodiazepines Act on GABA receptors. Now, it can be great to use as you're trying to wean off of medication, but because TRO does support the GABA system, it's recommended not to combine that with GABA supporting medications.


Otherwise, you just wanna make sure like the herbs and the nighttime HPA formula aren't interacting with any medications. Sometimes ashwagandha can interact with SSRIs or antidepressants, so you want to be careful of that and. So what you might notice in the first week, the GABA can work immediately.


The TRO can work immediately. The nighttime, HPA again, that's not sedating. That's helping your body handle stress over time and helping you relax at night. So that could take longer to notice an effect. And then the beam minerals might not. Affect your sleep immediately, but it is supporting your overall health more for the long term.


But if you're dealing with things like restless legs and muscle cramps and tension, then it can help with those things more immediately. So keep in mind, these supplements can give you some relief. They're not addressing the root cause, especially long term. So. It's really just managing the symptoms. So before we dive into lab testing, I do recommend that there are foundational pieces that need to be in place first.


And so here's what I've learned after helping hundreds of clients is that supplements work better when your foundation is solid. And what I mean by foundation is when your habits, your diet, your blood sugar. Exercise when you're living a healthy lifestyle, right? We can never out supplement eating McDonald's three times a day and sitting on the couch in front of the tv.


Now, if you're like most of my clients and listeners, you already live a pretty healthy lifestyle and so. This might not be for you, but it's surprising how many of my clients who are really fit and at a healthy weight and eat well, they're dealing with blood sugar imbalances. And I've had so many clients who have a smoothie for breakfast first thing in the morning 'cause they think that is what's healthy for them, but it's actually spiking their blood sugar, even if they're using protein powder and adding fat. And like me. I mean, I found out smoothie spike, my blood sugar. The only sugar I had in there were berries. I didn't add any juices or anything. I had protein powder, I had almond butter, I had all the things.


But smoothies are pre-digested food and so it can just enter your bloodstream so much more quickly and spike blood sugar. And then sometimes people aren't eating enough carbs or eating too many carbs for their body. Even though they're eating healthy, they're eating organic, you know, they're caring about what they eat, but there's so much confusing nutrition information out there that one of the things I do with my clients is help them find the ideal diet for their body 'cause everyone's body is different. I don't think that every single person on the planet should be keto. Or should be low carb, or should be high carb or high protein, or any of these trendy things that are happening right now and have been happening for the last few decades. We are all metabolically different.


We're at different points in our lives, and so we need different macronutrients or that balance of fat, protein, and carbs so that all of these things are. Something that I call the essentials or the foundations that you can get in my Sleep Essentials course, and at least half of my clients start getting an extra hour of sleep just by fixing these essentials.


These are the first things I start working on with my clients who sign up for my programs with the lab testing, because it takes about a month to get the test results back, but we start working on. These essentials right away and so many people start sleeping better because of it. So if you're ready to go beyond these supplements and start addressing the real reasons you can't sleep, I really recommend my Sleep Essentials course.


So you'll learn the smart sleep habits that actually matter. Not the generic advice that you hear everywhere. I'll show you how to find the perfect diet for your body using metabolic typing. We'll get your blood sugar balanced so you can stop waking up at 3:00 AM and think of it this way. So supplements are like putting premium gas in a car with a dirty engine.


The sleep essential course cleans your engine so that then everything works better, and once your foundation is solid, then the targeted supplements are that much more effective. So right now the Sleep Essentials course is $97. You get lifetime access to this, probably less than you've spent on so many supplements that haven't worked.


And unlike random supplements, it's going to give you a systematic approach that works for your unique body. So. What you wanna do now is try one of these supplements this week, grab the Sleep Essentials course to build your foundations and go beyond just these supplements and when you're ready for the full investigation, if you wanna do the lab testing in one of my other programs, you'll have the groundwork already in place for incredible results. So you'll just jumpstart your results because you've already made a lot of changes, so you don't have to choose between quick relief and long term solutions. And you can use these supplements for immediate support while you also build your sleep foundation.


Your body's been giving you clues. Not sleeping is a clue, so now you can start listening and responding systematically. All right, everyone. Thanks so much for listening, and I will talk to you next week.

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