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If you’ve tried everything (the sleep programs, the routines, the mindset work) and you’re still lying there awake, this week’s episode is going to hit close to home.


I sat down with a client (Dennis) who dealt with this for years—sleeping just 3–4 hours a night, waking constantly, doing everything he was “supposed” to do…


…and nothing worked.


Until we looked somewhere no one else had.


Here’s what we get into in this episode:

  • Why sleep programs that focus on the mind often aren’t enough
  • The hidden imbalances that can keep your body from sleeping (even when you’re exhausted)
  • What actually changed when we addressed the real drivers of his insomnia


Within about a month, things started shifting.


Now he’s sleeping 7–8 hours a night AND getting his energy back because we finally addressed what was underneath it.


If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything right and still not sleeping, this will connect some dots.


00:00 Why Sleep Hygiene Fails

00:54 Meet Dennis Case Study

01:31 Life With Chronic Insomnia

02:27 What He Tried Before

03:09 Lab Results Reveal Imbalances

04:22 Fixing Gut Hormones Cortisol

05:37 Biggest Breakthrough Explained

07:05 Timeline To Better Sleep

07:57 Beyond Sleep More Energy

08:16 Medical System Misses Root Causes

09:27 Wrap Up And Next Steps


Episode Transcript


[00:00:00] You've tried the sleep programs, the bedtime routines, the wind down habits, the positive thinking, and you still can't sleep. This was my client, Dennis. He'd been struggling to fall asleep since his 20s. He was getting three, four hours a night of really fragmented sleep. He did everything the mental sleep programs told him to do, and none of it helped.


I'm Martha Lewis, functional sleep coach. What I do is run comprehensive lab testing to find out what's actually going on in your body. Hormones, gut health, cortisol, neurotransmitters, minerals, because most people with chronic sleep issues have real biological imbalances driving the problem, and those don't respond to mindset work.


When I ran Dennis's labs, what we found explained everything, and once we addressed it, he went from barely sleeping to getting seven or eight hours a night. In this episode, Dennis and I are gonna talk about what he was experiencing [00:01:00] before he started working with me, what his results were, and what we did about it, because there's a good chance some of the same things are affecting your sleep too.


Martha Lewis: Hi, Dennis. Thanks so much for being here. 


Speaker: My pleasure. Yeah, I'm excited to hear your perspective of your story and your journey. , 'Cause I know you were dealing with sleep issues for a really long time, like since your 20s- Yes ... right? Years. Yeah, okay. So how were you sleeping when you started the program, when we started working together?


Previous to starting the program, it would take me three to four hours a night to get to sleep, and then the sleep was very fragmented. I'd wake up, go back to sleep, wake up, go back to sleep. So it was, it was just a s- a torture. It was a struggle.


Yeah, okay. [00:02:00] And what was your health like before you started too? How were you feeling most days? I think, m- I think, you know, what, what I found from the program, you know, was kind of different than what I thought. I thought I was in pretty good shape and my health was good, but the underlying metrics, you know, told a different story completely.


Right, okay. Yeah. And so what had you tried before for sleep, before we started working together? Yeah. I, I tried, um, uh, there was a program called the Sleep Science Academy, um, that I did. I did Sleep Reset. You know, I, I was always searching to try to find reason for it, and those programs basically dealt with the mental side of sleep.


Right. And it never kind of dove deep into the underlying issues that may affect your [00:03:00] sleep, as you do. So, um, that was something that benefited me tremendously. Yeah, okay, great. So what stood out to you about what the test results showed? I had no idea , my hormones were out of balance.


Um, my cortisol was out of balance. My testosterone was out of balance. I mean, just about every matrix was out of balance, and they all contributed to a sleep issue that I suffered with. Right, yeah. , And I remember your melatonin was really low, which I don't- Yes ... always see on people, but, and that can be a sign of poor gut health really, since most melatonin's made in the gut.


Yes. So. And, yeah, and I, I also, um, wasn't a big water drinker, so I wasn't hydrating. And I wasn't getting enough protein, so, you know, all those things kinda combined, uh, [00:04:00] to get me to a position of, um, not sleeping well. Right. . And, yeah, also saw, um, kinda depleted neurotransmitters and minerals, and then in the gut, a lot of bacterial overgrowth.


That's what really stood out- for me, and some inflammation in the gut. So those are all the things that we addressed- Yes ... here working together. Yeah.


So what were the changes you made? You just mentioned drinking more water, eating more protein. ... I, I, I did the supplements, um, almost religiously.


Uh, I slipped up a couple of times, but basically I stayed to the protocol. And, um, I think I'm out of everything now. I'm not, not using anything, and so sleeping pretty good. Awesome. You know, there's... I've come to realize that, you know, your sleep is gonna change and you're gonna have great nights, you're gonna have a little off nights, but, you know, you can deal with that.


It's not anywhere [00:05:00] where it was. Right. Yeah. So I'll get, I'll get an occasional night where I don't go to sleep right away. Mm-hmm. But I do sleep. Mm-hmm. Yeah. But it doesn't k- it doesn't keep recurring day after day after day after day. Yeah, which is awesome. That's what we're looking for. Mm-hmm. I mean, I always say we're not gonna perfect sleep every night.


No one does. No. You know, including myself, including my husband, who's a great sleeper. Yeah. You know? Yeah. We all have off nights, but definitely the goal is to have those fewer and farther between, and most of the time we're sleeping pretty well. Mm-hmm. So yeah.


What do you think made the biggest difference in you and your sleep getting better?


I think your program really addressed, um, the core issues that was affecting me. You know, the mental aspects of sleeping I understood. Mm-hmm. You know, 'cause I went through all those programs and, you know, I understood that. Um, [00:06:00] but I can almost predict I'm not gonna sleep because my cortisol was highest maybe five or 10 minutes before I was, for before my bedtime.


Mm-hmm. So it was juxtaposed. Instead of having cortisol building up during the day, it was accelerating at night. Right. Yeah, and that's so common with people with sleep issues. Mm-hmm. So yeah, so it sounds like what made the biggest difference was addressing those underlying issues that, you know, we don't know are there until we do the testing.


Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, all, all the mental side of sleeping, you know, going to bed at a certain hour, uh, you know, I, I understood all that. Right. And, and it d- and it didn't work. Right. But, you know, yours worked. Yeah. I mean, uh, you know, those things are important, but I always say, you know, if, if you have all these imbalances going on, all of the sleep hygiene and the [00:07:00] positive thoughts and things aren't gonna be enough, unfortunately.


Right. So yeah. Okay. And do you remember how long it took you to see improvements? Um,


I'd say about a month into the program. You know, I mean, there was a gradual ramp up. You know, I would take, you know, a couple steps forward, then I'd fall back and, you know, we'd have our, was it monthly visits? Yeah, or twice a month. Twice a month, yeah. Yeah. And, you know, that would kind of put me back on course.


So, um, it gradually ramped up. So, you know, now I'm going to sleep relatively soon. I'm sleeping seven, eight hours a night, um, where before if I had two hours or three hours of sleep it was a lot. Right. Yeah, that's a huge improvement, so I'm so glad to hear that. Yeah. And has anything else changed besides sleep and [00:08:00] how you're functioning?


Yeah, so um, you know, one of the issues I had was I had no energy, and so now slowly I'm getting more and more energy. Good. Okay, great. Well, is there anything else you would like to add? I think most people don't realize that their hormones and their physical chemistry plays a tremendous role in this, insomnia.


And I don't think the, um, medical community addressed that as, as ... They kind of embraced more of a, you know, cognitive behavioral therapy template, but they don't really dive deep into your organic chemistry as you did. Yes. I hope that changes- You know, I- ... with the medical system someday. Yeah. So, so I've had, you know, I, I went to sleep studies, you know, where I put all sorts of wires, in my head and, uh, you know, [00:09:00] but just told, told them that I, I wasn't sleeping, which I knew before I went in.


Right. But so, you know, y- you're, you're unique in your practice. Well, I'm so glad that it was helpful and that you're in a much better place now. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for- Yeah. Thank you ... coming on and sharing your experience. Yeah. Thanks for everything that you've done for me, and I, I appreciate our time together.


Yes, me too.


If you've been doing everything right, Dennis' story is probably familiar. And the reason those things haven't worked is probably the same reason that they didn't for him. Nobody looked at what was actually going on in his body. That's what I do in the Complete Sleep Solution program. I run comprehensive functional lab testing, looking at hormones, cortisol, gut health, neurotransmitters, toxins, and more, and build a plan around what we actually find.


The first step is a free [00:10:00] consultation with me. We'll talk about what's going on with your sleep, what you've already tried, and I can tell you whether the program is the right fit. The link to book is here.

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