You'll learn:


  • what metabolic chaos means
  • what causes metabolic chaos
  • how metabolic chaos can lead to insomnia
  • the problem with treating symptoms instead the root cause
  • how to get out of metabolic chaos so you can sleep normally
  • And more.


Find out more and sign up for the Insomnia Insight program.


Episode Transcript:


Have you tried everything from natural to pharmaceutical just to get a good night's rest? Join me, Martha Lewis, certified sleep expert and functional health coach as I unpack what's really keeping you up at night and how to change it, this is the Sleep Detective podcast and I'm going to show you how to sleep well so you can enjoy your life.


Hello. Hello everyone. It's good to talk to you again. So today I want to talk about the bottom line truth about why you can't sleep and how to fix it because I think there's so much misinformation out there about what actually causes sleep issues. And it's not because you're watching screens at night and not having a two hour bedtime routine and all of those things. And it's also not just because you're anxious about sleep and worried about sleep. It's definitely not all in your head.


As I've said many times before, there are imbalances in your body that are keeping you awake, but I want to explain what that means, how you've gotten to the point where your body isn't able to sleep normally and then it's going to make sense how to fix it. So I'm going to introduce this concept called metabolic chaos because if you can't sleep, it's actually your body telling you that it's in chaos. And what that means is that your body's out of balance. It's in dis-ease, right? That's where the word disease came from. It's not in ease, right? It's in dis-ease. So what does metabolic chaos mean? Your metabolism refers to every function that's happening in your body at the same time, and chaos means complete disorder and confusion. So when you're in metabolic chaos, your body has lost balance in many different systems, which leads to dysfunction and disease throughout the entire body.


So what causes metabolic chaos? Stress? Now, there are three kinds of stress we can experience. There's of course, there's mental stress that we usually know is there, right? There's worry, even excitement can be stressful, but also fear, anxiety. Our relationships can cause stress, a lack of purpose and a negative mindset. So all of those stressors in the mind actually lead to stress in the body and cause different systems in the body to get out of balance, especially the longer it goes on. Now, the second kind of stress that can happen is physical trauma. So you can get in an accident or muscle injuries or weakness, fractures, nerve compression, injuries, things like that, even intense or prolonged exercise. So those are more physical traumas that again, stress the body and can lead to metabolic chaos. And then there is also physiological stress. And so some of these things we know like eating inflammatory, processed foods, right?


Pesticides and herbicides and GMOs in our food, drinking alcohol and caffeine over the counter drugs and recreational drugs, EMFs from wifi can cause stress. And then there are some things that you might not even know are happening in your body that are also causing stress. So blood sugar imbalance, you might have heavy metals and other toxins, parasites, bacteria, fungi, viruses like pathogens in the gut and different mineral imbalances, neurotransmitter deficiencies, all of these are stressors that a lot of the times are hidden you don't even know are there. And they can be the result also of long-term chronic mental stress or physical stress. But over time the body can't deal with all of that stress. And so what happens is that it leads to what is called metabolic chaos. And so there's metabolic chaos, let's imagine that's happening in the middle. And then there are different systems in the body in circles around this metabolic chaos.


So there's the immune system, there's digestion, there's detoxification, there's energy production, there's our nervous system, there's our hormone system. And so what happens when the body starts getting stressed is that we have certain genetic weak links. And so for some people it's going to affect the gut first, it's going to affect digestion first. For some people it's going to affect detoxification first. For other people, it's going to affect our nervous system first, which is what regulates our sleep and our mood. So for those of us with sleep issues, that is what is getting out of balance from this metabolic chaos, maybe first or toward the beginning. Whereas other people can be in metabolic chaos and have different symptoms. That's why I'm sure plenty of people who aren't that healthy, but they sleep just fine. And so it doesn't mean that you are more unhealthy than they are because you weren't sleeping. It just means that you're unhealth or out of balance manifest by affecting your sleep. And for other people it manifests in different systems in the body.


So what's happens with metabolic chaos is that it leads to many, like I've said, it leads to many different imbalances in the body in different systems. So when the body is constantly under stress, it's making cortisol to deal with that stress, and that's good. We want to be able to make enough cortisol to deal with the stress we're under. But when that is chronically happening for a long period of time, what it's doing is it uses all of its resources to make cortisol and it doesn't use them to make our sex hormones, for example, because the body's always going to prioritize what it sees as survival or stress and not reproduction or digestion or even immune function. So it's using all its resources to make cortisol and then it doesn't have enough to make a lot of the sex hormones. So then they become depleted over time.


So that's one of the first thing that happens is that our hormones start getting out of whack, which can lead to sleep issues. Of course, high cortisol at night is going to lead to sleep issues, and then stress also starts damaging the gut. There are studies that show that it damages the lining of the gut just from worrying about money or being in a stressful relationship or getting in a fight with your spouse. When that's going on all the time, then your gut is being damaged. And so then over time you start reacting to different foods. There's a lot of inflammation in your gut. You aren't able to digest food as well, so you don't absorb the nutrients that we need to get from food. And then pathogens like you're more susceptible to a pathogen taking hold and causing a lot more damage. And so it's just stress cascades into all these different possible other imbalances in the body, including liver detox issues, mineral imbalance, all of these things which can then lead to insomnia and other symptoms.


And if you don't do anything to start correcting these imbalances, it's going to eventually lead to different diseases and disorders. And so again, your sleep issues are assigned, your body's out of balance, so you want to listen to that and we can find what those imbalances are and fix 'em. So you can get back to where your body is in balance again, and then you can sleep normally. So how to reverse metabolic chaos? There are three different stages of treatment. So the first is called relief care, and this is treating the symptom. This is what conventional medicine excels at, right? The problem is relief care can make the imbalances in the body worse leading to more metabolic chaos. So it can increase or change symptoms in the long run, even if it suppresses them in the short term. For example, let's say your achy and sore another sign, your body's out of balance and you take Advil or Tylenol to deal with that.


Well, that Advil and Tylenol is damaging the gut. It's putting an extra burden on your liver. So even though it's helping you feel better in the moment, it's causing issues if you're doing that regularly. I'm not saying you should never take those things, but it's not something we want to be taking every day. And if you're tired all the time and you're drinking a ton of coffee or energy drinks to wake up, that caffeine is having effects on your system over time that aren't good when you're overdoing it. So it's kind of similar to trying to solve a backup of traffic by extending the green light in one direction. And then what happens is that then the car is moved to other streets and then they're backed up over there. So the problem hasn't gone away, it's just moved to a different place. Same in the body.


It's moved to a different place in the body. Now the second stage is corrective care. It's realizing that the root cause is metabolic chaos and also knowing that there's no single root cause. So I know we talk in functional medicine a lot about the root cause, but there, and we can generally say it's stress, but there are a lot of places where stress could be coming from. And so really what we want to do, and what I do with the lab testing that I use is identifying as many healing opportunities as possible to help get the body back imbalance. So it's more even than just treating test results and getting the numbers in range on paper, it's really about restoring function so that you feel great and you sleep well, and you have energy and you're in a good mood. And all the things I know people have come to me who've gone to conventional doctors for their thyroid, for example.


And once everything looks good on paper, the doctor's like, great, you're good. And they're like, no, I still feel like crap. I'm exhausted. I've gained weight, I have no energy. So it's more about then about just getting the numbers right on paper. And so that is what we do at the sleep detective and in my programs. And then once the body is back in balance and you can move to the maintenance phase, which just involves staying in balance and healthy. And so that's what we teach you how to do is, okay, let's do everything we can really quickly to get your body back in balance so that you can start sleeping better as quickly as possible. And then we're going to teach you how to stay in balance so that this doesn't happen again. So I hope that this makes sense that it's really caused your sleep issues over time is stress.


And again, that can be many different kinds of stress. Something about some that you don't know about. So the way to be able to sleep better permanently and naturally is to find what those imbalances are, find where that stress is coming from and correct them. Get your body back, I balance and then you can sleep well. It's really about restoring health and because a healthy body can sleep. So in my Insomnia Insight program, it is a six month group program that helps you do exactly that. We will find and fix the imbalances in your body so that you can sleep well without drugs. And so I use functional lab tests. I use assessments that I've created to give me all the information I need so that nothing is missed of what could be keeping you awake. And then I will give you a personalized protocol of lifestyle habits and supplements to get your body back in balance.


And it's really simple. I keep it with one to three lifestyle changes because I don't want you to get overwhelmed and there are a few for everyone that can move the needle the most. So you don't need to have a 20 point checklist of all these things that you're changing when there are only one or three that are going to help the most. And then the supplements are for the short term. So we're going to correct different deficiencies. We might be addressing pathogens, we might be supporting certain functions of the body like the adrenal system and the detoxification system and the hormone system. And my approach is we're going to do everything at once as much as possible so that because every system in the body is being affected by the other. So if we just focus on gut health and don't support liver detox or nutrient deficiencies, and you probably aren't going to get better or it's going to take a lot longer. So my goal is I give you a supplement plan and it's temporary. So it's meant to get everything back in balance so that you aren't having to take things forever. And it's based on what your body actually needs that we can see from the test results. So you're not guessing at different supplements like trying magnesium of melatonin and CBD and all the things when that's not necessarily what your body needs.


And then I support you for six months as you implement your plan. So there are weekly live coaching calls on Tuesdays at 1:00 PM Eastern Time, and you also get daily chat support. So anytime a question comes up, you just throw it in the chat and I will get to you in 24 hours or less, usually the same day within a few hours. And that support is what it ensures that things are going to be successful. I have worked with so many people who've gone to other practitioners and they were given this long list of supplements to take and told to make all these changes, and it was so overwhelming that they didn't do anything and then they didn't get better. And so having support, holding you accountable, getting your questions answered, sometimes we need to refine the plan if a supplement isn't agreeing with you.


And so that is what that support is for, and it's also to keep you motivated and to celebrate with you. I love celebrating with my clients as they keep getting better and better and we all celebrate with each other in the group together. And if you sign up by October 31st, you will also get a jumpstart plan. So that means that as soon as you sign up and fill out the intake forms within three days, I will give you a plan with the top three things to work on to get started on right away. And this moves the needle for so many of my clients. At least half of my clients start getting an hour more of sleep in the first month just from this plan alone. And no matter what, you're going to have a jumpstart. So once your test results come in, which takes about a month, you'll have already made some changes.


And so you'll kind of have a head start so that then you're ready to jump into the next plan and you'll just be that much farther ahead. So I suggest signing up before the 31st so you can get that plan and let me know if you have any questions about the program or how it works, how the lab testing works. And I'm happy to get back to you. I will put a link about the program in the comments so you can see that as well. But I'm going to end every live stream with this, is I want you to know that you can sleep well even if you, I've helped people who've been struggling since high school and they're 40 years old or 50 years old, and that just means that's how long that their body's been out of balance. It doesn't mean they can't get better just because they've been dealing with it for decades.


So all we have to do is find the imbalances that are getting in the way of you sleeping and correct those and then you can sleep well. So even if you've tried so many things, even if you've been to naturopaths and functional medicine doctors and all that, they aren't specializing in sleep. So I just want you to know that you can get better and I would love to help you get there. That is my mission in my life and definitely my passion is going into detective mode, interpreting these test results, looking at your life as a whole and pinpointing exactly what it's going to take for you to get better in a very simple and easy to follow way. Alright everyone, thanks for listening.

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