If meditation and breathwork haven't stopped your racing mind at night, it's because they can't fix what's really going on—there are hidden physical imbalances in your body that are chemically forcing your brain to stay alert when it should be going to sleep.


Today I'm breaking down the 4 most common underlying health issues that cause racing thoughts, why your annual blood work never catches them, and how to identify which one is keeping YOUR mind racing so you can actually fix it.


Schedule a consultation to get started with the Complete Sleep Solution program so you can consistently sleep 7+ hours uninterrupted, naturally and permanently. https://p.bttr.to/3VJwvDs


Episode Transcript


[00:00:00] If meditation and breath work, don't stop your racing mind at night, it's because they can't fix what's really going on. There are hidden physical imbalances in your body that are chemically forcing your brain to stay awake when you want to be. Sleeping. Today, I'm breaking down the three most common underlying health issues that cause racing thoughts, why your annual blood work never catches them, and how to identify which one is keeping your mind racing so you can actually fix it.


This is a 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 coach for the past six years, helping my clients find and fix the imbalances in their bodies so they can consistently sleep seven to nine hours without drugs.


And I especially work with a lot of high achievers who are busy and stressed and their [00:01:00] mind won't shut off at bedtime. I want to tell you about a client I am currently working with and I haven't asked him permission to share his story yet, so I'm gonna call him AJ today. So he is 36 years old.


He has a high pressure sales job that he loves. He also is married with two young children. And so he has plenty of stress. He's traveling a lot. He's working, until 11:00 PM at night on his computer, and he's kind of packing it in in his life. And so he was really concerned that he was gonna have to change his whole life to be able to sleep better.


And so when he got the test results back, he was super relieved because he could see that there are these imbalances in his body that were affecting his sleep. It wasn't just stress and his busy life because he can't [00:02:00] change a lot of that. Yes, of course, we're gonna work a little bit on lowering stress and setting boundaries and things like that, but.


He doesn't need to quit his job. He doesn't need to get rid of his family. Obviously that's not happening. So none of those things are possible right now. He, is getting to the end of the year. He has big goals, a big goal that he's working toward for this year, and so he's not about to slow down right now.


Luckily, by working on the imbalances in his body, he's already able to sleep better without having to make major lifestyle changes. So let's get into the three most common things that I see, especially in high achievers, especially in people whose mind is just racing. Whether that is at bedtime and they're having a hard time falling asleep, or whether it's waking up at that three, 4:00 AM timeframe that is so common and having a [00:03:00] really hard time going back to sleep.


So the first reason I'm going to talk about won't be surprising for you if you've listened to my podcast before, but it literally makes our mind race, and this is the hormone cortisol. So cortisol we know is one of our stress hormones, but the body should not be releasing it at night because it gives us energy, it wakes us up, it makes our mind race, it raises our heart rate and blood pressure and body temperature and all of those things are super important when we are, faced with danger.


But again, that should not be happening in the middle of the night. But what I see in so many of my clients, and especially in AJ too, is that his cortisol is super high in the middle of the night. So no wonder [00:04:00] he's having a hard time sleeping. And the way I look for this is I use a test called the hormone Zoomer, where you take four samples in 24 hours so we can see your cortisol pattern.


Because this is the thing, if you do blood work and it shows cortisol is normal, or maybe it even shows it's low or high, what we really need to see is what's happening throughout the day, because it could be normal in the morning when you took that blood test, and it could be even higher in the middle of the night when you're trying to sleep.


And so just knowing that it's normal in the morning doesn't help with anything. So that is why we want to take multiple. Samples throughout the day so we can see that pattern and what's exactly happening, especially at night. Now, the key here is, sure, I can recommend a supplement to lower cortisol.


That's just a quick fix. That's just a bandaid. What we need to do is find out why is cortisol high, especially at night. [00:05:00] So that is what the other tests that I use and my programs look for. So the hormone zoomer shows, okay, cortisol is high. Now let's find out why. And so that's why I run. Multiple tests in my program to get the big picture of what's going on, and so we can look at the reasons why cortisol is high, why hormones are outta balance, all of the things.


So if that's something you're interested in, you can sign up for a free consultation with me to talk about the Complete Sleep Solution Program and how I use functional lab tests to find what's going on in your body and give you a plan to fix those things so you can sleep well without needing drugs.


Now, the second reason that I see people's mind racing at night may gross you out because it actually means that toxic creatures are living in your gut. And so what I commonly see are that my clients have [00:06:00] some sort of pathogen living in the gut and. So this could be a parasite. This could be h pylori.


This could be bacterial overgrowth. This could be candida, which is a type of yeast. And AJ actually has a parasite, h pylori, and bacterial overgrowth. So not everyone has all of these different pathogens happening, but he does. So no wonder he's having a hard time sleeping. And the reason these affect sleep is because they are most active in the middle of the night.


They are releasing toxins, which causes inflammation, and then the body releases cortisol because it's an anti-inflammatory hormone. And so these pathogens are especially active in the middle of the night around three and 4:00 AM So this is such a common reason for waking up at that time. And this was my issue too, is that I had a parasite that I'd probably had for 13 years from traveling in [00:07:00] Nepal and India.


Years before, so those pathogens create toxins. And then there are other types of toxins that I'm looking for as well. Well, AJ had what's called copper toxicity. We need copper. It's an important mineral, but when it's too high, it becomes toxic and can cause symptoms, especially like racing thoughts and insomnia.


There are also different environmental chemicals. I'm looking for other heavy metals and all of those toxins because they are causing inflammation because they're causing the body to release cortisol. Are affecting sleep. And so AJ also had other markers on his test that showed inflammation as well.


So there's a neuroinflammation marker on the hormone zoomer and his was high. There's an gut inflammation marker on the gut zoomer, which is a test I [00:08:00] used for gut health, and his was also high. So just other confirmation that there's a lot of inflammation going on I used. The gut zoomer, for example, which looks for dozens of different pathogens where if you go to your doctor and ask for a stool test, it's looking at like nine different things.


So I've, I've had friends do this who, you know, think that they got Giardia from backpacking in the Tetons near where I live. And so that test will test for Giardia. But it's only testing for a few others. It's not very comprehensive. Whereas the gut zoomer that I use is testing for dozens of pathogens.


It's also looking at the good bacteria in the gut. It's looking at how well you're digesting food. It's looking at how much inflammation is in the gut. It's giving this overall snapshot of gut health because there's more to it than just. Dealing with a pathogen, right? Because that pathogen has caused damage to the gut and affected digestion.


And so we really want [00:09:00] to work on overall gut health and also create an environment where when you're exposed to a pathogen again, which is going to happen, that it's not able to take hold, the good bacteria in the gut are able to fight it off. Now, the third most common thing I see, especially in people whose mind is racing at night, is that they are missing a certain brain chemical that helps with relaxation.


So this is a neurotransmitter called gaba. GABA is our anti-anxiety neurotransmitter, and it is actually made in the gut by the good bacteria. So studies show that 90% of. GABA and also serotonin and melatonin are made in the gut, so we also have to have the healthy gut for this to be happening. But then there can be genetic reasons why your body isn't making enough GABA when you're stressed for a long period of time.


Or neurotransmitters like GABA become [00:10:00] depleted. Hormones affect gaba, so there's a lot of different. Pieces to this puzzle. But I love testing for neurotransmitters because when I see that someone's gaba, or serotonin or dopamine, all of which affect sleep, and I recommend supplements for those, their sleep improves really quickly.


Now, of course, we want to address, okay, well why are these low for the long term? But in the short term, it can really improve sleep. And again, something I'm seeing in people where their mind is racing. It's definitely gaba. So this is a urine test that I use looking at about 30 different neurotransmitters.


So not just our relaxing hormones, but they're also stimulating neurotransmitters that can affect sleep as well when they're too high. The good thing about GABA though is that anyone, I think it's mostly safe to try and supplement with this without even testing. [00:11:00] Now, of course, I have to say I am not giving medical advice and that you should talk to your doctor before starting any kind of supplement, but.


I love Quicksilver's Liposomal gaba L-Theanine supplement, and even if someone's GABA levels look pretty good on the test, they try that at night before bed, and it does help their brain calm down and relax and stop racing. So I think it's a pretty safe supplement that anyone could try.


But of course, I. Always believe in testing instead of guessing. So we know what your body needs. So again, those are the three things I am consistently seeing in my clients with that racing mind. And so this is why things like meditation and breath work, they aren't enough to help. Like yes, they are a great thing to try.


They can help lower cortisol, but they aren't addressing [00:12:00] why. Cortisol is high or why GABA is low or the pathogen in the gut and the other toxins that might be happening. Now, I have found a hack that actually really helps lower cortisol at night and it is called tapping or EFT, which stands for Emotional Freedom Technique.


So if this is something you're interested in, this has been a game changer for me. Sometimes when I'm stressed, of course I have a hard time sleeping, and when I do tapping, it helps me be able to fall asleep really quickly. And I have had clients who swear by this as well. So I actually recommend watching my next video called The Five Minute Technique to Stop Racing Thoughts At Night.


That talks all about tapping. I interview someone named Julie Schiffman and she gives some tapping, how it works, how to do it, and some sequences specifically for sleep, so watch that video next.

Listen and follow: Apple Podcasts · Spotify