Best of 2024: Annika Carroll: The Unexpected Sleep Disruption - Understanding Inflammation’s Role in Your Sleep Cycle

In this episode, we dive deep into the complex world of sleep with our guest, Annika Carroll, an expert sleep specialist and CEO of Sleep Like a Boss.

We explore the myriad of factors that can contribute to sleep problems – such as lifestyle behaviors, mindset, inflammation, and physiological issues – and practical steps to improve your sleep. In an eye-opening discussion, we shed light on the interconnectedness of the human body, from gut health to cortisol regulation.

For the complete show notes and links visit inspiredliving.show/177

Creators & Guests

Host

Julie Michelson

What is Inspired Living with Autoimmunity?

The podcast for high achievers who want to stay sharp, focused and full of energy despite their diagnoses. Those who know there has got to be something better than simply accepting decline.

Hosted by Julie Michelson, a National Board Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach who used to suffer from crippling Rheumatoid Arthritis until she learned the tools and strategies to take her power back from autoimmunity.

In this podcast, Julie brings you interviews with thought leaders in the Functional Health and Wellness space. You will get actionable recommendations to Take Your Power Back and catapult your health. No fluff, just concrete, useful steps to improve your health!

Welcome back to the Inspired
Living with Autoimmunity Podcast.

I'm your host, Julie Michelson.

Today, we are joined by Anika
Carroll, CEO of Sleep Like a Boss

and Sleep and Health Coach for Women.

In today's episode, we're talking all
about optimizing sleep and the connection

between inflammation and insomnia.

Anika shares her knowledge
about gut health and sleep.

And she provides many essential tips
for improving your sleep, whether

you are struggling with insomnia
or you're just ready to optimize.

Anika, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you so much, Julie, for having me.

I'm excited.

I am as well.

This is such an important
conversation and, and such a,

a common challenge for people.

Um, but I would love for you to
share with listeners your journey.

I know you have personal
experience with sleep challenges.

Um, so how did you become
the sleep specialist?

You know, it kind of, I used to
think sleep was my superpower,

like in my 20s and 30s.

I was like, I would hit
the pillow every night.

I was out.

I would wake up 30
minutes before the alarm.

I would go, go, go.

It wasn't a big deal.

Then I had my son, which was
a very traumatic experience

because he was a super preemy.

And spent months in the NICU and
that whole experience just kind of

revved up the nervous system a little.

And then I went back to work like
a year later and then had like

really worked myself into a burnout.

And the interesting thing when I couldn't
work, I was exhausted and I couldn't

sleep and I didn't understand it.

I was like, my body is screaming
for rest and why do I wake up?

At one or two or three every morning and
I don't go back to sleep and it's just

miserable and it took a lot of visits
to doctors who ran everything and my

doctor was even very diligent and ran
panels that I don't think generally get

run and they stuffed like cameras down
my throat to see if there's stuff in my

gut and things and nobody found anything.

And then I was like, well,
this is like something's wrong.

And so I dug deeper, went into
working with naturopaths, went into

working with functional diagnostic
practitioners who finally ran

different tests, put everything
together, and I could sleep again.

And that was kind of that moment where

I was like, Oh, you know, if you can't
sleep, you can't heal but also if we're

not sleeping, our body just starts
getting sicker over time, potentially.

And if we're already, if our bucket's
already a little fuller, and we're then

not sleeping, it kind of overflows.

And so I was starting to talk to
people and I was like, there's so

many people out there who don't sleep.

So that's kind of how I learned
that sleep is a complex thing.

It should be really natural to
every one of us or most of us.

Yes, there are some people who
have an illness that will prevent

them, but that's a minority, right?

Generally, everybody
should be able to sleep.

for sure.

And if we don't, we have to
really dig into why that is.

And those could be different
reasons for different people.

But we should all be able to do it.

And if we're not, we're just not
supporting our system in an adequate way.

So, it is my passion to help
other people with it, for sure.

I get it.

This is, you know, this is how we
land in the wellness space, right?

Is, um, when we have complex,
complicated histories that

took a long time to figure out.

And it's like, Oh, we can,
we can do this faster.

We can help people shortcut now.

And I love that you said if you
can't sleep, you cannot heal.

You just can't.

And, and so, so let's talk about,
let's start with what are some of these

causes of insomnia, whether it be,
and I don't know if you differentiate

between trouble falling asleep or
also so common like you experienced

is that wake up, you know, somewhere
between one and three in the morning.

Um, so, so what are, what are some things.

I'm sure when you first are working with
people, even before the labs come back,

you have an idea maybe of what's going on.

Yeah, there and, and maybe we'll break it
down and onto two different levels and get

to that falling asleep and staying asleep.

So I, from the way I look at
sleep is to me, there's three big

buckets that we have to look at.

The one is what I call behavior.

Is my behavior throughout the day,
contributing to my ability to fall asleep?

Or am I hindering my ability to fall
asleep or sleep through the night?

And I'm just giving one right now
that is very obvious to people.

Do I drink coffee at 5 p.

m?

Just so you know what I mean by behavior.

Am I doing things with my nutrition,
with my lifestyle, with my thinking

that are not sleep inducing?

Um, the other big one I see, that
is something I often see with people

who start to have trouble with
sleep in any which way, is mindset.

Because we start to
tell ourselves a story.

I'm a bad sleeper.

This is going to happen
to me tomorrow again.

How I'm going to make it
through the day, I have no idea.

There is big important meetings tomorrow.

How can I even manage this?

My body is just like...

Broken.

Um, none of that is actually true.

All of those are stories
and thoughts, right?

And, but that is a big thing.

That's what happens to people
because of those experiences.

And that can often be a self
sabotaging behavior or thing

that just makes sleep impossible.

If we tell our body it
can't sleep, it can't sleep.

Because it's going to protect
you and keep you up at night.

And you're like, great.

The third bucket, so behavior and mindset,
and then the third bucket that I see, and

that's often people who come to me when
we're at that stage, is physiological.

So there's something wrong in
the body that hinders your body

to get into this safe state of
letting go and falling asleep.

Or that hinders the body from
sleeping through the night.

And a lot of my clients, they are often
like, I've done all the sleep hygiene.

I turned my phone off.

I have the bedroom dark.

I do all this stuff and
I still have problems.

And my doctors have run all the labs
and everything comes back normal.

Um, But something's still wrong.

And it's often a combination
of all of these actually.

Yeah, it reminds me of, I remember
I used to, you know, say, oh, you

know, what's the root cause, right?

Like one thing.

Um, and it's, it's never, you can't
separate those threads and it,

because one does lead to another too.

And they do in, in like reciprocal
ways, which is the problem, right?

It's like the bad behavior leads
to the physiological issue.

But if you had a physiological issue,
it can also trigger bad behavior

Yeah.

And

bad choices and mindset.

It's kind of all intertwined.

yeah, yeah.

It's hard.

I know.

It's so difficult.

Um, because not surprising.

A lot of my autoimmune clients
have sleep challenges when we're

getting started and there is.

Such an important thing about -and it's
so easy for me to say sitting here-

holding it a little more lightly, right?

Because when you get in bed and you're
immediately in your head of like,

Oh, am I going to sleep tonight?

Is it going to happen again?

You know, like, like you said,
you're then you're creating that

reality through those stories.

So I love that.

You point out that, you know, there
may be a hierarchy of, of, you

know, these buckets, depending on
the person, but it ends up usually

being all three down the road.

So, yeah, yeah, amazing.

So I want to talk a little
bit because it's my.

favorite topic in the world is because
I'm just such a geek is inflammation

and, and everything, you know, we
say and do and all these things.

I mean, all, all of this, whether it's
autoimmunity wellness in general, you

know, just health span, it all comes down
to inflammation and chronic inflammation.

So how.

How do you see inflammation
directly impacting sleep?

Yes, maybe I'll take it 1 step back
and quickly describe a little bit

of the process of sleep in terms of
hormones and everything that's involved.

So people then get where I'm coming from.

Perfect.

to make it very simple, there are.

Two, there's more, but we'll,
we'll simplify it a little.

There's two main hormones that
guide what we call our circadian

rhythm, our sleep wake cycle.

Um, the idea of the human circadian
rhythm is that we are up when the sun is

up and we are down when the sun is down.

This does not apply to shift workers,
but in general, that is how the

human body would ideally operate.

So back in the day, we
would be out with sunrise.

And when the sun goes down, we
would be in our caves with the fire.

And then we would turn the fire, like the
fire would go off and we will go to sleep.

How does the body do this?

The body does that through
releasing or excreting hormones,

cortisol and melatonin.

And people might've heard of
melatonin because a lot of people

use it as a sleep supplement.

Um, But the important hormone here is
cortisol, and cortisol is, has a bit

of a bad rep as a stress hormone, but
it's actually what gives you energy.

Sure.

We need to, we want our cortisol to

want cortisol, and we want good
amounts of cortisol, we just want

them at the right time of day.

Mm

We want it to...

Coming in the morning and really the body
to power up cortisol that gives us energy

for the day that helps do all kinds of
things, our metabolism, our blood sugar

regulation, all these things are dependent
on cortisol and we want cortisol to come

down nicely throughout the afternoon, get
lower in the evening and then melatonin

comes in and melatonin rises and should
be able to make you fall asleep and

then help you sleep through the night.

Um, so this should be like, okay.

A good balance of how these
two work with each other.

The interesting thing about that is how
the body knows when to release what,

Mm

to release cortisol, and when to
release melatonin, all depends

on light or the absence of light.

Yep.

The day, like the sun or the moon,
basically, um, how much light at what

degree falls into the retina of your
eye and then you can imagine there's

like a timer in your brain that gets
set and that tells the body when

to release, not just cortisol and
melatonin, all kinds of other hormones.

But those two, and if that works
well, you can sleep well, you'll

have energy throughout the day
and you'll sleep well overnight.

Now, if we have inflammation,

Mm hmm.

what a lot of people don't
know is cortisol is an anti

inflammatory, a great one.

It helps the body, it helps the
immune system manage inflammation.

So it could be acute.

So like the classic example
is the paper cut, right?

You slice your finger on a piece of paper.

Maybe it starts bleeding and it
becomes quite red before it heals.

Um, that's inflammation.

That's acute inflammation.

That's your body sending all its goodies
to heal that cut and cortisol will

be there to rev up the immune system
and help with that immune response.

So that's acute.

That's gonna go away.

Fine.

We're back in balance.

If we constantly have inflammation,
residing from the gut, making its

way through the system, our body will
constantly release cortisol in amounts

that are potentially not healthy because
they're not being released at the time of

day in the proper quantities that we want.

And it can hinder melatonin's
ability to do its job.

If this goes on for too long, Um, because
a lot of us don't even know that we

have inflammation and we just live our
lives and wonder why we're so exhausted.

Then at some point, your body is like, you
know what, there's so much inflammation.

I'm doing everything I can,
but it's just my capacity.

It just isn't there.

And it will either just downregulate
its immune response, so you might

be getting sick a lot more, might be
catching every cold on the planet,

um, because the immune system just is
not strong enough, and you might start

seeing changes in your circadian rhythm.

Like we sometimes also then see people
who are like, you know what, I'm

getting this, like, I'm really tired
all day and then at nine o'clock at

night, I'm like, now I could work.

Yep.

It's like,

It's common.

It

it is very common, but
it's not intent, like we're

It's not ideal.

Not optimal.

no.

And is that something you can do
for a few weeks, maybe technically?

It's not ideal because a lot of
people can't, like, you can't come

back, but coming back is the problem.

So it's really that connection
to understand that cortisol

is an anti inflammatory agent.

And if we have inflammation,
and like we said, so many people

have it and don't know, that is
often one of the key drivers.

And if then cortisol is in the
system for too, in too high amounts,

we have a problem with melatonin.

So we cannot sleep
through the night often.

Our liver gets really stressed.

Another one of those
pesky 3am things, right?

Eventually your thyroid's going to be
affected because your thyroid's like,

if you're going 180 miles an hour on
cortisol all the time, I'm going to slow

down because I'm here, the metabolism
regulator, and I'm not pushing the gas

pedal if you're high on cortisol because
you burn the body out immediately.

So the body is really smart,
but it down regulates.

Eventually, when cortisol becomes
lower, another hormone becomes

lower, and that's called DHEA.

That is like a counterbalancing
hormone to cortisol.

If that goes down and is not adjusted,
your sex hormones are going down.

All of, yeah, that's

Testosterone, estrogen, progesterone,
and, and what we're always, people

are like, oh, is this really such
a big, if you don't have your sex

hormones right either, and your
sleep can be affected by that too.

I see it all the time in clients,
but that is often not the root cause.

Yes, there is perimenopause, menopause,
there's andropause, there are changes

in flux, but the root cause often
is inflammation that just has been

lingering for so long and has had its
implications, and then people never

slept well and never restored the system.

Yeah.

And this is the, the, the
hormone balance is so essential.

This is one of those things that can go in
all kinds of directions because as women,

it is common when, if somebody is estrogen
dominant or going through perimenopause,

you know, as their progesterone drops.

And, and especially if they've
got a lot of estrone or, you know,

inflammatory estrogen, it will affect
their sleep and, and, you know,

getting those hormones balanced.

This is, again, we're
talking early in the cycle.

We're not talking about somebody who has
insomnia for years, but it's amazing,

you know, where, when you can get
those hormones rebalanced sleep, all

of a sudden people are like, Oh, I'm
sleeping like a rock star, you know?

So, say somebody has that going on and
it's not treated, then you can totally

get into that, that cycle and then you've
got that chronic inflammation, you've

got the chronic sleep challenges, and
it becomes, and then we won't talk about

it but I can't talk about sleep and not
mention detox, like we're, our brain is

detoxing when we sleep, we're, as you
mentioned, we're healing when we sleep.

So, I would say the sooner people
can interrupt that, that cycle.

Um, and thank you for the, the nice
explanation for people on, on how.

You know, cortisol, a melatonin play.

My clients always think I'm nuts when
the first thing we start to do with

sleep is, you know, am sunlight in
your eyes without your sunglasses on.

And they're like, no, no, no,
but, but my problems at night.

And I'm like, Oh, but it
starts in the morning.

So

Exactly.

That's the thing, right?

Your bedtime routine
starts in the morning.

What you do that one isn't
that time routine important?

Yes.

Cause we need to wind down, but that
last hour isn't going to cut it.

If everything you've done
throughout the day was.

Counterproductive.

Yeah.

Is that not just not going to cut it?

And, and because of that light and dark
relation of cortisol and melatonin, that

is why that morning light is so crucial.

And what it does also, like,
that's what I hear from clients.

All the time within a week, you're
like, my afternoon energy is so good.

And I'm kind of sliding into the evening.

I'm not like dumping.

And then I need something that I
know I shouldn't be having because

you're not going to caffeine anymore.

They're going to go to sugar.

So that just makes it so much
smoother and it's, it's free and

it's technically so easy to do.

And once you have the habit of
it and you feel the benefit,

it makes it easy to keep going.

it really does.

It's so and again, you know, we're
living we have all this technology.

You and I are, you know, looking at
blue blue light right now happens to be

morning, you know, that's so, um, but
we need to actually all take action to

protect that natural cycle or return
to that natural cycle, because I loved

how you mentioned even, even the fire.

I mean, I have in my bedroom, I have
red lights, like my, my light bulbs

are red because, you know, that that's
the kind of light we were getting in

our eyes before we would go to sleep.

And so my brain, I can feel my brain sigh.

When it just, you know, it's
that cue, it's like, huh.

Oh, good.

I totally agree.

And I think the, um, and some
people might be like, Oh my

God, red lights in my bedroom.

Like this all just sounds like

We joke.

It does look a

would be doing.

it looks a little like a
brothel from the outside.

It does.

that too.

Yeah.

And I get it.

But what I always tell my clients,
like the number one thing I think

in the household that we often
forget about, because they're

everywhere, are pot lights.

And pot lights are not just, and we
had some put in like two years ago, and

I've been talking to people, it's like,

the, in the States, we call
them can lights, but yeah, yeah.

Oh, and actually all light bulbs, unless
you're making intentional choices.

Yes.

And like, that's what we do.

Like, we do that.

But the light, the, the ones that
are in the ceiling are so bright.

Like you can basically, there's
not many manufacturers where

you can even get a different hue
that it's just more orangey red.

And the important thing there
is what we never think about is

where's the light coming from.

It's straight.

Above you.

So the angle that it falls into your eye,
your brain thinks it's 12 o'clock noon.

And why should I release
melatonin at 12 o'clock noon?

I'm not set up that way.

So it will not do that.

So if you have those lights and
you can put them on a dimmer.

Is the first thing I do the other
thing really try like in the kitchen

if you have under counter lighting,
turn that on everything that's below

eye level side table lamps, you
know, we some people don't have them

anymore, but we used to have these in
the living rooms next to our couches.

And then you can read your
book and the light shines on

the book and not in your eyes.

That's all great.

Those kinds of things like really
avoid that overhead light at night.

So your brain doesn't think.

It's party time.

Mm

I love that.

And the kind of light
bulb matters as well.

And so the home I'm in, well,
it's not that new anymore.

Now it's about 6 years old, but
even 6 years ago, I had to fight.

built the home and I had to kind of fight
with the electricians because I said I

don't want LED lights in my house and
I don't want fluorescent lights in my

house and they were like that's insane
that's ridiculous that's and I know

now they are making Like you said, you
know, there, you have to be intentional

to, to, to find the warmer hues.

Um, but I have old school, old
fashioned incandescent lights in

Mm hmm.

Um, because I could, I
could make that decision.

, And so, I actually do know people
that don't use lights at night, they

only use, you know, candles, and,
um, then you have to be careful about

the, that's not so, well, and, and
the, you know, what kind of candles,

they're not always so healthy either.

But, but that's the thing we
don't actually have to live like

cave people, we can compensate.

Um, and so I love, I love that
suggestion of, you know, really pay

attention to that angle of the light.

And, and again, I guess maybe it
is old school, get some lamps.

So how do you go about finding, you
know, what is going on with your clients,

whether it was looking for inflammation
or determining, you know, where you, where

you really need to address with them.

So what I do is I, the one thing I do is
I run a bunch of functional tests on them.

So I do look at their gut.

Because that is the source of
the problem often, and that's

where we find the leaky gut.

So if we have the leaky gut, we
have systemic inflammation, we often

have inflammation in the brain.

And if we have inflammation in
the brain, there is no way you're

going to get a good night's sleep.

Like, it's just not happening.

So we can seal that gut and
get that out of the system.

And then they're a lot better.

There could be, from a sleep perspective,
in general, there could also be some

other things in the gut that cause sleep.

Candida overgrowth, yeast infections
is a nasty one for sleep, like

people often don't know that, but
it is so nasty if you get Candida

out, people sleep a lot better.

Parasites, people always tell
me I, there's no way I have

parasites, I've maybe even never
left the country in my life.

Oops, there they show, right,
it's like, they're everywhere.

Um.

And then I look at hormones.

So, of course, I look at
your cortisol pattern.

I look at your melatonin.

I look at your sex hormones.

So we run the Dutch test.

Um, then I look at nutrient deficiencies
in heavy metals, because nutrient

deficiencies, if we are, if we
have, like, an imbalance in calcium,

magnesium, for instance, because
people often supplement magnesium when

they can't sleep, which is, Great.

It's just we kind of have to watch out
that the rest of the body doesn't get

out of whack if we're doing certain
things for too long or too high doses,

because calcium is a very calming
mineral can very much support in sleep.

Um, if we have heavy metals, mercury.

Lead.

Those kinds of things rev up your system.

They need to not be there.

Um, copper is a huge one for anxiety.

I often see it in women
who've been on birth control.

Some women are on copper IUDs.

Yep.

Um, they take, um, antihistamine
sleeping pills at night.

As soon as we see that and we address
that, the anxiety gets, goes away

and then we can work on the rest.

Like that's really, copper is a big one.

And the other thing I've started doing
now and I'm seeing very good results

with that is neurotransmitter testing.

Love it.

So we look into those campaign
call messengers that can either

like basically rev up your
system or calm down your system.

And we need them both.

So adrenaline, serotonin, all
those kinds of fun things.

And they need to be in a
healthy ratio to each other.

And if ratios are reversed sometimes that
really has a big issue on, uh, with sleep.

People have big issues
with sleep and I see it.

You see the correlation.

I have one client right now.

This poor person does
not have a microbiome.

Hmm.

literally there's almost
nothing left in this person's

gut in terms of good bacteria.

We don't have a lot of overgrowth,
but we just don't have like keystroma.

This person's neurotransmitters are tanked

Sure.

That's where your
neurotransmitters are made.

So it's all it all works together.

But then if we can support her and I
don't want people on like a massive

supplement regime for the rest of
their lives, but I want them to go

into a place where their body's able
to pick back up and do these things.

So we do all that functional testing.

The other thing I do with people is I look
at "What's 24 hours in your day like?"

Sure.

What are you doing when?

Are there, when are you eating?

What are you eating?

When are you exercising?

What are you doing there?

How's your stress management?

All those kinds of things.

And then we do, in correlation with the
gut testing, we do look at diet for sure.

Because talking inflammation, right?

Like a lot of people, like if we say
it starts in the gut, it starts with.

What do we eat?

What do we breathe?

What do we drink?

Right?

That's where the inflammation
doesn't just show up in the gut.

It comes from something and nutrition.

So what we eat or consume is
one of the biggest contributors.

So we need to make sure
that that is in a state.

That is good for the body and potentially
at least in the beginning in a more

restricted state so the body can heal
because it's just at that place where

it just, it just needs a breather, like,
and then, right, so we need the whole

person does because you're not sleeping
but we need to kind of find those puzzle

pieces that will just give the body.

A way to reduce cortisol overall,
let it breathe and then let it

get to healing and to sleep.

So I can't help myself on this
as it could be a rabbit hole, but

you, you, you dropped a teaser.

Are there certain foods in your work when
you're creating that restricted period?

Do you have foods that you
just for everybody say, Hey,

let's pause these things.

Yes, I, and to me, there is,
there's one food where I am

super strict and that is gluten

Uh huh.

and everything else I want
people to try their best.

Diet changes are really hard, depending
also, do you have a family and they

don't want to come along and then
you need to start finding ways, um,

try your best with everything else.

The things that I definitely, so
gluten for sure, alcohol and sugar need

to go for a certain amount of time.

If we're trying to fix
sleep, those are not helpful.

And with sugar, I mean,
processed added things.

Can you have some maple syrup,
some honeys and things like that?

Yes, you can in moderation.

I do like to restrict dairy.

At least in the beginning, um, that's
often very hard for people because

like, especially cheeses with how it
works in the body is a very difficult

thing for people to give up, but we
often have digestive issues anyhow,

like a lot of my clients either have
constipation or diarrhea or something.

So when we take dairy out, I
often say just do it for a week.

Just give it a try.

you're so much more gentle than I am.

Yeah, but the digestion
improves in three days.

Basically, they're like, Oh, my God.

I'm like, I told you it was the cheese.

So we take that out.

And to me, we need to take it out
a bit and then put it back in at a

later stage once we've healed the
gut, and depending on also how their

calcium levels look and things will
kind of, because it's very high in

calcium and not so high in magnesium.

So we kind of look at that a little.

Um, and then it depends on what we find on
the gut test like if somebody has candida

there's a few things I'll have to cut out.

Even though they might be great, but
like your sauerkraut and fermented

things might not be so great for a
minute until we have that sorted and

then everything can come back in.

But yeah, it's basically the, I would say
I start with the really big offenders.

So things that most people react to, so
gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol, for sure.

And anything that you know, that you
get some weird, funny feeling in the

stomach the minute you ate it, you
get bloating, things that make your

tongue feel funny, your skin itchy.

Because a lot of people have actually
quite a list, but those things are

just so nice to eat sometimes, right?

Because, like, your body craves
them sometimes, even though

it knows they're not so great.

And those I would really also take out,
because they just always cause that immune

response in the gut, and we already have
the information, and we don't want to...

Pour more oil in the fire, basically.

Yeah, no,

But are you more, are you more
strict with your, uh, diet?

I am, , I individualize , for
my clients, for sure.

And, and yes, the, all of
those are definitely included.

I, I do a lot of food sensitivity
panels as well, because, you know,

I know that when somebody has auto
immunity, there's no question.

Do they have leaky gut?

Yes, you have leaky gut.

Yeah.

And, but I'm, I'm like you, I actually
go even like I tell again, especially

if we're talking about people
with an autoimmune diagnosis, that

gluten really does need to be cut.

There is no kind of sorta gluten
free, like you, this is something

you are going to need to avoid.

We do a reintroduction because
I want them to feel how horrible

they feel once they're cleaned.

But yeah, and then I like I'm going
after those food sensitivities as well

for that same reason because so many
people have come in and they've been

really On, on plan already with diet,
but they didn't heal the leaky gut.

And so, you know, then they've got
the sensitivities to those, you know,

wonderful nutrient dense veggies they've
been eating because they're good for you.

So yeah, that's

Yeah, I totally, and that's it.

Like, I think I had a client
and it's funny with the

gluten because I had a client.

She has lichen, and she was on
a cortisone cream forever, which

totally wrecked her adrenals.

And, um, I was like, well, we have
to get you off that cortisone cream.

And then, and I was like, and by
the way, we're cutting gluten.

And then she was like, well,
this is going to be so hard.

Cause my boyfriend's
family is actually Italian.

So there comes the pasta, right?

And they did it.

And within like two weeks,
she's like, that is gone.

And then she reintroduced
sourdough, which worked a certain

kind from a certain bakery work.

And then she, they bought the wrong bread.

And she's like, I'm
having a full flare up.

What am I doing?

I'm like, yeah, this and this,
and this is what we're doing.

It's gone.

Like, and people are always like,
they sometimes tell me like at the end

of working together, they were like,
Oh, I actually had this condition.

That they never mentioned,

right.

they're like, this is actually now gone.

I'm like, and I'm telling
you, if that's you, do not put

gluten in your system ever.

Like, ideally, if you can, never again.

And then they try it, and they get
the flare up, and they're like,

oh yeah, okay, let's not do it.

And that's great.

If that's your trigger, and that's in the
end, all, like, brings you such relief.

Great.

And sometimes it's funny like,
talking about food sensitivities.

I don't so much run them on clients
anymore, just sometimes, because I

had a guy, super healthy, can't sleep,
tried everything, gluten free, gluten

comes back elevated on the test, right?

So we're like, I'm like, no,
we're digging, like, and even

as doctors, GI doctors, I guess,
I'm like, no, we're digging.

And so he's Mr.

Super healthy.

The only food he eats, like
grainy, carby type stuff is rice.

I'm like, no, we're testing, like, come
on my seat, we're taking this out for now.

You're not healing because you keep...

Putting the same food into your body every
day, that is one of your main offenders.

Right.

Well, and that's, I used to do that was,
you know, we would do the protocol and

then if we weren't getting the results we
wanted, we would, I would then do the, the

sensitivity panel, but for the most part,
by the time people are coming to me, you

know, specifically for autoimmunity, they,
they don't want to, you know, wait and I

No, you want the information

yeah.

And I don't like That elimination
phase to be longer than it needs to

either, you know, and so, um, the,
the toughest are the people that

don't feel the flare from the gluten.

And the reason why I say never,
ever, ever, you do all this work

to heal your gut back up and,
and restore that gut barrier.

And we know it's not a theory anymore.

We know it's science
gluten causes leaky gut.

It's not the only cause, but
so why would you mess with it?

If you put all that work in,
it just doesn't make sense.

So, you were talking about
neurotransmitters before, I

see so many people and all of a
sudden anxiety is gone, right?

So, um, it's, it's lots of fun and yeah,
we are complex humans and, the gut is

really important for sleep, inflammation,
pain, fatigue, all the things is

you have to address the gut health.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

I love it.

I love it.

So what is one, I know you gave
us some tips, but this is your

opportunity to either add or highlight.

What is one step that listeners can take
starting today to improve their sleep?

Well, we talked about, and I'm going to
reiterate and then maybe give one more.

The one that you talked about with what
you do with all your clients, get sunlight

within the first, I always say 30 minutes
after waking up and what does sunlight

mean, natural light, either open your
window all the way so you can see the

sky, not through the glass, but you're
actually looking outside, sit there

with a cup of warm water or something
and look at the sky for 10 minutes, Or

step on your porch, or if you have a
dog, go and walk the dog early, and that

sets your cortisol and your melatonin
for the day, and it is game changer.

If you do that, that is game changer.

And, if you can get a few more touch
points throughout the day, where

you have, even if it's five minutes,
go outside and give your body that,

without sunglasses that moment.

That light that comes into your eyes and
we don't need to stare at the sun for that

because we don't want to hurt our eyes.

But you just need that light
exposure outside and that gives the

brain more input on what time it is
because the sun changes its angle

at which it hits your eye and with
that the body knows what time it is.

That's the only way you know when you if
you ever work in an office that has no

windows you have no clue what time it is.

And that is basically why, because
you don't see how the light changes.

Um, so that's a big one.

Um, the other one is for people either
when you have trouble falling asleep

or when you wake up and like your
monkey brain kind of goes on, um, do

a brain dump at the end of the day.

Yeah.

So, so helpful.

And so easy to do so you can do it
either like directly at the end of

your workday or maybe after dinner.

I wouldn't do it too close to bedtime
necessarily so not like half an hour

before bed, but before that is fine
and you can just take a piece of

paper, and you write down everything
that's on your mind and it doesn't

have to, it's not a to do list.

That's not the intention.

You can turn that into a to do list
the next day, but the, so you can write

down, oh, still have to call mom, have
to pick up the kids from soccer tomorrow,

need to book the dentist appointment.

If those are things that are
on your mind at that moment.

Just let it all flow on the paper.

But you can also write things like,
if that's still in it, person cut

me off today, really annoyed me,
somebody took my parking spot.

that client of mine didn't do like
that protocol as much, like makes me

a bit sad or frustrated or, um, I need
to talk to them about that, or I still

need to go to the grocery store, like
anything that comes to mind on the paper,

because your brain sees, Oh, it's safe.

Somebody's taking care of it.

It's actually written down.

So I don't need to keep that in here,
which a gives you more capacity, but B

just helps people to not have this anxiety
build up from, Oh, I forgot something.

I need to still do this.

I need to still do that.

And if that is something that happens at
night to you, when you wake up, also have

a piece of paper and a pen next to you.

Write it down, and then you should
be able to turn around and somewhat

quickly fall back asleep, rather
than ruminating over these things.

Yeah.

So, so helpful.

I've seen it be so impactful.

It's a great exercise.

It really is.

It's a good release.

Thanks.

Especially to break cycles, you
know, somebody's in that deep

cycle of it's been, you know, or
they have put on that identity.

I'm just a bad sleeper.

No, you're not.

You can, you can address that.

And yes, the longer we, we've
done it, the longer it might take.

sure.

But you can address that.

If you're somebody who has the
motivation to do it, I think that's

the most important thing, right?

I love it.

Anika, for people listening on the go,
where's the best place to find you?

The best place to find me is...

I would say either sleeplikeaboss.com,
the website where we have tons of blog

posts and tons of information or YouTube.

I have a podcast, it's the Sleep Like
a Boss podcast, but you can listen to

it also on video on YouTube or you do
the, those are probably the biggest

ones I am on Instagram, but I'm not
the most active person on Instagram.

I get it.

We're busy and with our real life.

It's okay.

I'm giving you permission.

Thank you.

I love it.

Thank you so, so much.

This has been amazing.

And I know listeners are going to
get just a ton of value out of this.

Um, because sleep is essential.

We, we all need to, and we can all up
level and so whether you're somebody who

is stuck in that cycle or not, there's
just amazing gold in this episode.

For everyone listening, remember
you can get the transcripts and

show notes at inspiredliving.show.

Hope you enjoyed this
episode as much as I did.

I'll see you next week.