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If you’re taking supplements, exercising every day, wearing blue light blocking glasses before bed, and doing breathing exercises and meditation to try to sleep better but you’re still having trouble falling asleep or waking up from 3-5am with your mind racing, this episode is for you.


Today I talk to Steve from the UK who lives a very healthy lifestyle but still can’t sleep. He’s taking THC to sleep but he doesn’t want to need it and he knows it’s not getting to the root of the problem. We talk about the clues I found that are affecting his sleep so he can sleep without THC and reduce the inflammation in his body and his pain. 


Sign up for a free Sleep Breakthrough call that will be aired on this podcast! You’ll fill out an assessment and then we’ll meet on Zoom and I’ll tell you 3 things to do right now that will have the biggest impact on your health and sleep. Schedule your call here.



Resources:

Mindset

Liver support

Gut pathogens 


00:00 Introduction: Struggling with Sleep?

00:19 Meet Steve: A Case Study

01:56 Steve's Health Challenges

03:00 Exploring Sleep Issues

06:15 Mindset and Sleep

09:21 Gut Health and Sleep Connection

14:02 Cortisol and Inflammation

16:06 Blood Sugar and Liver Health

20:42 Conclusion and Next Steps


Episode Transcript


[00:00:00] If you're taking supplements, exercising every day, wearing blue light blocking glasses before bed, doing breathing exercises and meditation, all to try to sleep better, but you're still having trouble falling asleep, or you're waking up from 3 to 5am with your mind racing, This episode is for you. Today.


I talked to Steve from the UK who lives a very healthy lifestyle, but he still can't sleep. He's taking THC to sleep, but he doesn't want to need it. And he knows it's not getting to the root of the problem. He's gone through some health issues recently that have made his sleep even worse. And it turns out he has signs of high cortisol at night, liver detox issues, and a possible pathogen in the gut.


And we talk about all of this in this episode. Even though he's dealt with a brain bleed and two spinal surgeries in the past couple of years, we can find what's causing inflammation in his body and lower it. And that is going to help with pain and his sleep. I [00:01:00] also gave him a mindset hack that he's super excited to use.


I'm Martha Lewis. As a functional health coach for the past five years, I've helped myself and over 200 clients find and fix the root causes of their health issues so they can consistently sleep seven to nine hours without drugs or THC. This is the Sleep Detective Podcast, where you will learn why you can't sleep and how to fix it naturally.


Hello, everyone. Today, I have Steve from the UK with us for a sleep breakthrough session. Welcome, Steve. Thank you. Nice to be here. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on. I'm definitely excited to talk about what's been going on for you and what you've tried because I know you've tried a lot of things and see how I can help.


I'll be amazing if you can. Yeah, definitely. So it sounds like you've been dealing with sleep issues for 20 years. Is that [00:02:00] right? Yeah, it all started when I was 18 and I've had periods of good sleep, average sleep and very bad sleep. Over the past couple of years, I've also had some health issues.


So a bleed on the brain a couple of years ago. I had a CSF leak, so cerebral spinal fluid leak after the bleed of the brain due to one of the procedures. And then recently over the past 18 months, two spinal surgeries. My sleep problems have flared up with a mixture of health issues, medications, pain, nerve pain.


And so I'm just struggling to get it back under control at the moment. Yeah. Okay. That's all good to know. It's crazy how those stressors, they're physical stressors. It sounds like a lot of what you're dealing with, but then they impact lots of different systems in the body. So yeah.


So that's good to know that's what you've been dealing with and it sounds tough for sure. So hopefully we can get it fixed. Yeah. [00:03:00] Okay. And it sounds like now you have trouble both falling asleep and staying asleep. Yeah. And I never used to have issues really falling asleep.


It was always staying asleep. So I'd get to sleep and then maybe an hour or two, I'd wake up later and then would wake up throughout the night. And then the early hours of the morning, I'd say in between three and five was almost like the worst point. And then suddenly an hour before I need to get up, I would be fast off asleep.


But recently it's falling asleep as well. So I feel like my mind is just. Constantly running when I'm trying to get to sleep. Yeah. Okay. That is good to know as well. And there's a reason for that. So we'll talk about that for sure. And I mean, it sounds like you're doing so much of the right things.


You're exercising, you're doing like breath work and meditation and things like that when you aren't sleeping to try to calm down, which is great. And [00:04:00] THC is working for you for sleep, right? It is, but ultimately that was prescribed for the nerve pain. And actually, I don't want to stay on it long term.


It's not a solution for long term. And particularly in the UK, you know, it's very highly regulated from a prescription perspective. I can't travel with it, so I can't leave the UK with it. I need to fix things so I don't have to have a THC. Yeah. And I talk a lot about how that's a band aid and it's great that it's helping, but yeah, like we shouldn't need to have THC to be able to sleep.


So when we get to the root of why you can't sleep, then you don't need that. And over time, THC does affect our sleep. Like it changes the amount of time that we're in different sleep cycles and things. So it's not the same kind of sleep as we would get without it. It's still good.


You're getting sleep, right? Like I'm not saying don't take it, but I'm glad to hear that it's not something that you want to do long term. Yeah, I think you're right. It's more the psychological aspect of [00:05:00] knowing that I could take it, that I'm gonna be able to get sleep.


I don't wake up feeling refreshed. It's not so I know the sleep cycles are not working in the way they're supposed to. Gotcha. Okay. And then you're taking some supplements like magnesium and ashwagandha for a long time. Yeah. Okay. And you're doing the, like wearing blue light blocking glasses before bed and getting off your phone and all of those things, which is great.


Yeah, I don't know, you've spoken before around sleep hygiene and that kind of aspect of it. And, I tried to follow the sleep hygiene things, but, I know people that have no sleep hygiene and will just fall asleep straight away. And that's, that's the ideal scenario. Yeah.


Yeah, definitely. And I always say like the reason people aren't sleeping isn't because they're watching TV before bed. Yes, like that might affect the quality of our sleep somewhat, but like you're saying, Millions of people watch TV before bed and sleep just fine. There's something more going on [00:06:00] with cases of chronic sleep issues.


Like, it's going to take more than just having a bedtime routine and all the stuff we hear about all the time. So, as you know, because you're doing all those things. Exactly. So I did notice that you checked off a couple things that I'm looking for about mindset. So complaining about sleep, telling yourself how tired you are throughout the day, all very common, right?


Like of course I was doing the same thing, but I do think that it can help to. not do that anymore and to become more aware of how much you're thinking those things, how much you're talking about it and really working on minimizing that. Because the more we talk about it and think about it the more it just becomes part of who we are and so you know, you don't want to get the identity of I'm a bad sleeper.


This is just [00:07:00] how it's going to be now. I'm not saying this is the magic thing that's going to solve all the problems, but it's one of the first things I start working on with all my clients, because while we want to get to the root cause, we can still change the experience of not sleeping. And I know for me, it helped a lot.


Cause back when I wasn't sleeping, I complained about it all the time. Like my husband, first thing in the morning, how'd you sleep? Oh, awful. I was awake from this to this. And then I get to work and complain to my coworkers and then I meet up with my friends later and complain to them.


So it was, yeah. And once I realized that and stopped it is when I was just able to think about sleep less and it not become this all consuming part of my life. Yeah. And I should know that already because I've done the same kind of process with dealing with pain. So when I've been recovering from everything, I'm trying to reframe how I think about pain.


Yeah. It's rather than having some pain and then everyone's asking, how are you doing? I'm like, I'm in [00:08:00] pain. This is the problem. This is the problem. I've tried to not talk about it. And I think that's helped. Yeah. Unfortunately then I think I've talked about sleep more. Yeah, the pain's better.


I just wish I could get some sleep or I'm just, I feel like I've had no sleep last night, that kind of thing. Yeah. And so it might be also training the people around you who are used to asking about sleep all the time. I had to tell my husband, I'm not going to talk about it anymore. Like even though I didn't sleep well, I'm still not going to talk about it.


So cause people are used to, that's what you're talking about. Right. So yeah. It's part of training them and then, yeah, training yourself and I can send you resources about this. Like I have a three step process of first noticing, like for a few days, just mark off how many times this is happening and telling yourself how tired you are or talking about how tired you are.


And then working on reframing it and it doesn't have to be into something positive like, Oh, I'm going to sleep great. [00:09:00] It's just I'm going to figure this out or I'm going to function fine or, whatever it is that resonates with you. But just to kind of turn those thoughts around. Yeah, that makes sense.


Yeah. Okay. Awesome. So then as far, everything else I think is really getting into the more physiological things that are going on with you. And it's interesting you know, knowing your health history recently too, like you did mark off quite a few things for inflammation in the brain, which I know can sound scary, but it's, it's something that can be addressed.


And what's interesting is that inflammation elsewhere in the body, especially the gut can get to the brain and vice versa. So the brain and the gut are connected via the vagus nerve. And so if there's inflammation in the gut that can lead to the brain, any kind of brain trauma. could be then leading to inflammation in the gut.


And so it just becomes this [00:10:00] two way path. And, you also mentioned some issues with possible acid reflux or GERD. Yeah, I suffer quite bad sometimes with acid reflux. And I think that is it started many, many years ago after Another shoulder surgery I had, they said take anti inflammatories like every four hours and I end up with, acute gastritis.


And ever since then, I've had cycles of acid reflux and GERD. So, I can understand the connection there. I have done the H. pylori tests and that's all fine. But obviously I know there's the other. Pathogens and things that you can get. Yeah. And what H. pylori test did you do? How did you test for that?


Was it a breath test or stool or what was it? It was a spit test, a rapid spit test. Okay. So I have a test. I don't know how accurate they are, but it's, you know, it was like the COVID test. So a lot of times, I have clients who have tested for H. pylori in other [00:11:00] ways and it's come out negative.


I use a test called the GI map that is much more sensitive to it. And so it can detect it at lower levels. And it's actually looking for the DNA of the H. pylori. So instead of looking for a byproduct of it, like a spit test or a breath test, it's actually looking to see if it's there.


I'm not saying that you definitely have H. pylori, but just knowing. The GERD, the burping that it's a possibility, or like you said, another pathogen, it sounds pretty likely. And you know, again, when there's brain trauma or anything like that, and that leads to inflammation in the gut, then that starts destroying the gut wall.


And then pathogens are more able to thrive. It's common and then digestion is affected, especially protein digestion when there's H. pylori or even just low stomach acid, which can be from H. pylori or [00:12:00] from, like you're saying the anti inflammatories you took and things like that damaged the gut.


Yeah. So I definitely think gut. Health is a piece of the puzzle for you. And yeah, so I would definitely recommend a test to see what's going on. otherwise we're just guessing and you know, if it's h pylori versus a parasite versus candida, which is type of yeast, we address all those things differently.


So there's not just one thing you can take oh. Maybe I have a pathogen. It's gonna, that's why the testing is so key. Just to add to my medical history as well. I actually caught campylobacter, about two years ago on holiday in Cambodia. So I came home, I had to be admitted to hospital in the infectious disease department and have, lots and lots of tests.


I hope that's all sorted and nothing to do with it, but that had a big impact on my stomach, as well. I had a long period of lactose intolerance [00:13:00] after that. It took me a long time to be able to reintroduce dairy into my diet and build up, as much as I can, my gut health.


But yeah, I definitely think a H. pylori proper test might, be worthwhile. And I would say a general stool test that's looking for all sorts of pathogens because it might not necessarily be H. pylori, it could be something else lingering. And, there's so much more to gut health too than just killing a pathogen.


People know about probiotics and, encouraging the good bacteria, that's super important as well, but there's more to it than that. It's like making sure you're digesting food properly, seeing how, your immune function in the gut is working, seeing if you're reacting to certain foods, things like that.


So it's really, yeah, there's pathogen and take a probiotic and it's different for everyone. So yeah, but that's good to know that you have that history for sure. Okay. Definitely something I'll [00:14:00] look into as well. Yeah. And you also definitely checked off all the symptoms for high cortisol.


So I would guess that cortisol is an issue for you. You checked off like the belly fat, that's hard to lose, increase appetite, that wired, but tired, especially at night. And you talked about your mind racing, trouble regulating body temperature, energy fluctuation. All of those are signs of cortisol imbalance.


And but my philosophy and approach is okay, well why is your body releasing cortisol? So it's not just about let's do what we can to lower cortisol. Like cortisol is an anti-inflammatory hormone. So if there is inflammation, it's protecting us really by helping lower inflammation.


So we don't just wanna force it to go down. And then there's this inflammation we need to find the source of the inflammation, and then cortisol will lower on its own. But you know, that can [00:15:00] be what's making your mind race. So do you think that, cold, could be linked to, stomach inflammation or It could be as a result of, my ongoing recovery and still, getting pain in my back and in my nerve.


I assume both of those things could be still increasing cortisol and then not necessarily things. The pain aspect and not necessarily something I can control. Well, I do think that if we can lower all sources or as many sources of inflammation in the body as possible, it's gonna help with everything.


Yeah. It's gonna help with the pain too. It's gonna help with what's going on there. So you. Yeah, so I think it's figuring out what's causing that inflammation. And I do think that everything can be helped. I'm not saying cured and you're not going to have any pain, but I do think it could all be helped by looking at, okay, what's going on in the gut.


We'll talk about blood sugar next, like just lowering inflammation overall [00:16:00] is going to help with everything. Okay. That makes sense. Yeah. So yeah, so blood sugar is the last thing I want to talk about and things like craving sweets, especially, which can also be from pathogens in the gut, but I'm kind of being hungry all the time, getting headaches.


And also, I noticed a lot of pointers toward liver health and liver detox issues. That headaches can be it and also tinnitus, like that, yeah, that ear ringing can really be from too much toxicity. And pathogens in the gut are also going to affect liver detox because they produce all these toxins that the liver then has to deal with.


And so then, It becomes overburdened and it can't deal with all the other toxins we're exposed to all the time. And the liver is most active in the middle of the night. So that can be another reason for waking [00:17:00] up. Liver, gut health, everything is connected. Yeah, for sure. So yeah, so as far as blood sugar, is it the pathogens that's causing these sweet cravings?


Or is it blood sugar? Because you didn't check off everything for blood sugar. Just a couple things. No. I've I've also gone through long periods of using continuous glucose monitors. And, actually my blood sugar response is very good and I very often see a consistent line.


With very few spikes. In fact, one of the last companies I was using, I told them that it wasn't working because my blood sugar was stable. So they sent me another one out. And, again, it was consistent because I, I don't eat a lot of processed foods. I don't eat a lot of high GI foods or sugar or sweeteners.


So I think my, that's one aspect of my health, which I think I'm okay with. Okay, good. That's one aspect. No, that's good. That's good to know. And it's good that you've looked at that [00:18:00] because again, it's a piece of the puzzle for some people and not for everyone. So it's interesting then where the sweet cravings coming from.


And if your blood sugar isn't really spiking at all. Then you might, it's okay for it to spike a little after we eat. Yeah. I don't know. Are you not eating many carbs at all? I am, but I'll try and follow, the routine of if I've got carbs on my plate, I'll eat the vegetables first and the proteins and then the carbs last.


Okay. Or I always combine carbs with lots of protein. So I'd never just eat my bread by itself. It'll always be with eggs and olive oil and, you know, try and limit the effects. Okay. Awesome. So yeah, the sweet cravings could mean that your body wants a little more carbs.


That's definitely something that I help people with is figuring out their ideal macronutrient balance. Cause again, it's okay for blood sugar to go up a little. We just don't want it to spike super high. But the sweet craving could be more [00:19:00] from pathogens. Especially candida is a type of yeast that thrives on sugar.


And if you're not eating a lot of sweets, then it's okay, something's causing these cravings. So I wonder if it's that. And candida is really toxic. It produces this toxin called acetyl aldehyde. And, that is, going to affect liver detox. It's going to affect everything. So you could be dealing with something like that too.


And what about high cortisol? Can that cause cravings at all? It can. Yeah. Okay. Yep. And whenever your blood sugar drops too low, but that's not really what's happening. So I don't think it's a high cortisol that's causing the cravings. Honestly, I think it does point more toward a pathogen knowing that your blood sugar levels are pretty steady.


Interesting. Okay. So again, definitely worth the test there then as well. Yeah, [00:20:00] exactly. And I will say that for a stool test, I mean, candida has to be a massive infection to show up. So it is easy to get false negatives for that. But knowing that you've had the infection from the hospital or that you went to the hospital for from Cambodia.


Candida also feeds off of larger infections, so parasites, H. pylori, bacterial overgrowth, things like that. So a lot of times if there are a lot of other pathogens, then I assume Candida anddeal with that further down the line. But yeah, a test would be the best way to tell.


Absolutely. Yeah. So what I would recommend then is again, working on that, on your mindset about sleep, I would look into the gut for sure. And I would also look into liver function, and I can give you some [00:21:00] resources for that as well. Just things you can do to support the liver. Definitely, the testing I do also looks at liver function.


So the hormone test I do shows how the hormones are being broken down, especially by the liver, so I can see different parts of liver detox. Even the GI map I use has a marker. That's the gut test. It also has a marker for glucuronidation, which is a part of liver detox. So that can help pinpoint more exactly, okay, what part of liver detox needs more support.


But in the meantime, you can still do some things like simple things like drinking warm water with a fresh squeeze of lemon juice in it first thing in the morning to stimulate bile production, doing things like Epsom salt bass or saunas can help remove toxins and just reduce the burden on the liver.


So I'll send you a list and I'll put that in the show notes for everyone listening of things you can do for liver. But it might need more pinpointing as well as to what exactly is [00:22:00] going on. Yeah. I mean, I did have a recent full panel blood work. Everything was within range for the liver function test, but I don't know whether or not they are the same tests that you would probably recommend, particularly looking at kind of the toxin side of things.


Yeah, it's definitely different. And, blood work is really meant to diagnose things when they are way out of range. And then there's also a matter of how we interpret the blood work. The lab's reference ranges are really based on an average of the population. And I've been trained to look for what are called optimal ranges.


And so, these are much narrower ranges that people are in when they are healthy with no symptoms, instead of being based on 25 percent of what's average. Sometimes we do see some imbalances by interpreting it that way, that, they look fine when you first get the test results back. But there are some imbalances.


But a lot of times different imbalances take a lot longer to show up on blood work. And that's like looking at [00:23:00] your liver enzymes. So you might be having issues with different parts of detox, but your liver is still able to make enough enzymes for now to keep up with things. And that's just one way of measuring liver function.


Whereas these other tests can show what's happening before it gets bad enough to show up on blood work So yeah. So that's why it's called functional lab testing. It's not diagnosing anything specific oh, you're getting fatty liver, like that's what blood work is starting to screen for.


It's more like how are the different systems in the body working, what isn't working optimally, so we can address those things before it progresses to something where it shows up on blood work. Okay. That makes sense. I think, um, again, probably definitely worth following through with the tests and seeing what they say.


Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Well, do you have any questions for me? I don't think so. I'm just looking forward [00:24:00] to particularly, you know, doing the gut test because I'd be interested to see what the outcome of that is. And then yeah, taking your advice on the mindset piece, because as I say, I've got to where I need to be on the pain aspect.


Right. I think. The first thing I say in the morning is, I'm exhausted, I had a bad night's sleep. It's going to be hard work. I think that's probably going to be a lot more challenging than, doing a load of tests and getting the results. I think the mindset shift will be a big challenge.


Yeah, but it's definitely an important step and it's going to help if you're also taking action toward the other things that we talked about as well. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Thank you. Great, Steve. You're so welcome. Thanks so much for coming on. It was great to meet you. Thank you. Thanks, everyone.


The way to stop taking THC for sleep is to find and fix the imbalances in your body that are keeping you awake and then gradually wean off the THC. Because as Steve says, he knows he's not getting restorative [00:25:00] sleep with THC because he doesn't wake up feeling rested. You are also welcome to sign up for a free sleep breakthrough call that will be aired on this podcast.


Just like Steve's today You'll fill out an assessment so I can see what's going on with you and then we'll meet on zoom and I'll tell you the three things to do right now that will have the biggest impact on your Health and sleep you can schedule your call at the link in the show notes. All right, everyone I will talk to you next time.

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