You Don’t Need Another Supplement. You Probably Need Sleep.
Let me tell you about a pattern I see all the time.
A woman comes to me frustrated. She’s eating clean, strength training three times a week, taking magnesium, maybe even tracking macros or wearing an Oura ring. On paper, she’s doing everything right. But she’s exhausted. She wakes up tired, hits a 3pm crash, feels wired at night, and sometimes stares at the ceiling at 2:47am wondering what she’s doing wrong.
Usually, she thinks she needs more discipline. Or a better routine. Or a stronger supplement.
But here’s the truth… you cannot out-supplement chronic sleep deprivation.
If I could give every client in Salt Lake City, Park City, Utah County, Boise, or anywhere I work virtually one free upgrade to their health, it wouldn’t be a detox, a new protocol, or another bottle of adaptogens. It would be deep, consistent, restorative sleep.
Not just more hours in bed. Real sleep.
Because sleep isn’t optional. It’s foundational.
What Sleep Actually Is (And Why It’s Not Just Rest)
Sleep is not your body shutting down. It’s one of the most metabolically active, hormonally coordinated processes you experience every 24 hours.
While you’re asleep, your brain clears metabolic waste through the glymphatic system. Growth hormone is released to repair tissue. Blood sugar regulation resets. Cortisol recalibrates. Your immune system strengthens. Inflammation is regulated. Memories consolidate.
There are different stages of sleep, and each one has a job. Deep sleep supports physical repair and hormone balance. REM sleep supports cognition, mood, and emotional processing. If either stage is consistently disrupted, you will feel it.
From a functional medicine perspective, sleep is not a luxury. It’s biological maintenance.
And most women I work with are not getting enough deep sleep… not because they aren’t trying, but because their nervous systems are stuck in survival mode.
Why Sleep Is the Missing Piece in Hormone and Gut Healing
In root cause medicine, we don’t ask, “How do we knock you out at night?”
We ask, “Why doesn’t your body feel safe enough to sleep?”
Fatigue is not a root cause. Insomnia is not a root cause. Waking at 3am is not a root cause.
They’re signals.
Poor sleep is often connected to:
• Cortisol dysregulation
• Blood sugar instability
• Estrogen and progesterone imbalance
• Gut dysfunction
• Chronic inflammation
• Nervous system hypervigilance
When cortisol stays elevated at night, melatonin can’t rise properly. When blood sugar crashes at 2am, your body releases stress hormones to bring it back up… which wakes you up. When progesterone is low, you lose one of your natural calming hormones. When the gut is inflamed, histamine and inflammatory cytokines can disrupt sleep architecture.
This is why “just take melatonin” rarely fixes the issue long term.
As a holistic health coach and functional health practitioner, I don’t isolate sleep from the rest of your physiology. I look at patterns. I look at labs. I look at the full story.
Sometimes that means foundational functional lab testing through Labcorp testing Utah to evaluate ferritin, thyroid markers, fasting insulin, or inflammation. Sometimes it means specialty lab kits like the DUTCH test to assess cortisol rhythm and sex hormones. Other times we run a GI-MAP test to evaluate microbiome balance, pathogens, and gut-driven inflammation.
Because root cause healing requires clarity.
A Quick Case Study: The 3am Wake-Up Call
One client from Park City came to me exhausted. She exercised daily, ate well, and had already tried magnesium, melatonin, CBD… you name it. She woke up between 2–3am every single night.
We ran a DUTCH test and found a flattened cortisol curve with elevated nighttime cortisol. We also discovered through functional lab testing that her blood sugar was dipping overnight.
Instead of adding more random supplements, we:
• Adjusted her evening protein and fat intake
• Stabilized blood sugar throughout the day
• Supported adrenal rhythm
• Reduced late-night blue light exposure
• Focused on nervous system regulation
Within six weeks, she was sleeping through the night consistently.
No extreme protocols. No biohacking gimmicks. Just strategic, individualized support.
This is the difference between symptom chasing and true alternative healthcare rooted in physiology.
The Hidden Cost of Poor Sleep
Sleep deprivation affects far more than your energy.
Even one night of restricted sleep can reduce insulin sensitivity. Chronic sleep disruption elevates cortisol and inflammatory markers. Over time, this impacts thyroid conversion, estrogen metabolism, immune resilience, and metabolic flexibility.
If you’re dealing with:
• Stubborn weight
• PMS or irregular cycles
• Brain fog
• Anxiety
• Frequent illness
• Autoimmune flares
• Burnout
Sleep is not secondary. It’s central.
And here’s what I gently remind my clients across Utah and Idaho… if your body doesn’t feel safe enough to sleep deeply, it will not prioritize fat loss, hormone balance, or optimal digestion.
Safety first. Always.
How to Start Supporting Better Sleep
Before you invest in advanced testing, start with foundations.
Stabilize blood sugar. Eat balanced meals with protein, fat, and fiber. Avoid skipping dinner. If you’re waking overnight, a small protein-forward snack before bed can help.
Regulate light exposure. Get morning sunlight within 30 minutes of waking to anchor cortisol rhythm. At night, dim overhead lights and reduce blue light at least an hour before bed.
Create a wind-down routine. Ten minutes of breathwork, stretching, journaling, or reading can signal safety to your nervous system.
Limit late caffeine. Many women metabolize caffeine more slowly than they think.
Consistency matters more than perfection.
If you’ve implemented these consistently and you’re still struggling, that’s when deeper investigation makes sense.
When to Consider Testing
If you’re in Salt Lake City, Park City, Utah County, Boise, or working with me virtually and you’ve been exhausted for months… not just a stressful week… it may be time to look deeper.
Testing isn’t about collecting data. It’s about getting answers.
You might consider functional lab testing if you have:
• Persistent 2–4am wakeups
• Severe PMS or irregular cycles
• Burnout with anxiety but wired energy at night
• Digestive symptoms alongside insomnia
• A history of thyroid dysfunction
• Blood sugar crashes or intense afternoon fatigue
A DUTCH test can map cortisol rhythm and hormone patterns. A GI-MAP test can uncover gut infections and inflammation. Foundational panels through Labcorp testing Utah can reveal iron deficiency, insulin resistance, thyroid imbalance, or elevated inflammatory markers.
Not everyone needs every test.
But the right test, at the right time, can change everything.
That’s what functional medicine does differently.
What to Do Next
If you’re reading this and thinking, “This is me”… start simple.
Protect your sleep. Stabilize blood sugar. Create a consistent wind-down routine. Get morning light. Give your body signals of safety.
And if you’re ready for deeper clarity, here are your next steps: Download the Sleep Fix Guide
You don’t need another random solution.
You need a strategy that supports your physiology.
Sleep is not a bonus feature of health. It’s the foundation. And when we approach it through functional medicine, holistic health coaching, and root cause healing, everything else becomes easier.
If you’re ready to finally feel rested again… let’s start there.
