Clarissa, Author at The Sleep Consultant

What Is Insomnia? Types, Causes, and What Most People Get Wrong

“What is insomnia?” gets typed into Google more than 35,000 times every month. The fact that this many people are searching the most basic question about a condition that affects roughly one-third of all adults says something important: the conventional definitions aren’t actually clarifying anything. Most articles tell you insomnia is “difficulty falling asleep or

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Why Can’t I Sleep? The Complete Root-Cause Guide to Chronic Insomnia

“Why can’t I sleep?” is the most-asked sleep question in 46 US states. It’s typed into Google millions of times every month, often at 2 a.m., often by people who have spent the last hour staring at the ceiling, wondering what is wrong with them. If that’s how you arrived at this article, you’re not

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Histamine Intolerance and Sleep: Why You Wake Up Congested, Itchy, or Wired

You’re lying in bed, exhausted, and your body does something strange. Your nose starts to stuff up. Your skin begins to itch — not everywhere, just in patches, or around the face and scalp. Your heart rate feels slightly elevated. You might feel warm without sweating. And your brain, despite your desperate exhaustion, is buzzing

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Cortisol and Sleep: What Happens When Your Stress Hormone Won’t Drop at Night

Cortisol gets blamed for everything. Stressed? Cortisol. Can’t sleep? Cortisol. Gaining weight? Cortisol. The wellness internet has turned it into a villain — something to be suppressed, detoxed, or hacked out of existence. But cortisol isn’t the enemy. You need it. Without it, you can’t wake up in the morning, respond to emergencies, regulate blood

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SIBO and Sleep: Can Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth Cause Insomnia?

You’re bloated after every meal. Your stomach distends like you’re six months pregnant after eating a salad. Gas is constant and embarrassing. You’ve cut out gluten, dairy, FODMAPs, and half the foods you used to enjoy — and the bloating persists. And somewhere alongside the digestive misery, your sleep fell apart. Not dramatically. Gradually. Lighter.

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Can Gut Health Affect Sleep? What the Science Actually Shows

If someone told you that the most important organ for sleep wasn’t your brain but your intestines, you’d probably think they were wrong. Sleep happens in the brain. Sleep is regulated by the brain. The brain makes melatonin. The brain drives the circadian clock. End of story. Except it’s not. Over the last decade, research

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Iron Deficiency and Sleep: The Most Missed Cause of Restless Legs and Insomnia

Your legs won’t stop moving. An irresistible urge to shift, flex, kick — worst right at bedtime when you desperately need to be still. Or maybe it’s not the legs specifically — maybe it’s a generalised restlessness, a sense that your body is simultaneously exhausted and unable to settle. You’ve tried magnesium. Tried melatonin. Tried

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Can Thyroid Problems Cause Insomnia? The Hypothyroid-Sleep Connection

You’re exhausted during the day. Crushing, leaden fatigue that coffee barely dents. But at night, you can’t sleep — or you sleep 9 hours and wake feeling like you got 4. Your brain is foggy. Your hair is thinning. Your hands and feet are always cold. You’ve gained weight without changing your diet. And every

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Night Sweats and Insomnia: What Your Body Is Trying to Tell You

You wake in the dark, sheets damp, heart pounding, skin clammy. Maybe it’s the third time this week. Maybe it’s every night. You strip the covers, flip the pillow, and try to fall back asleep — but the adrenaline has already kicked in and your body feels like it ran a sprint while you were

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Perimenopause and Insomnia: Why Sleep Falls Apart After 40 (and What to Do)

You used to sleep. Solidly, deeply, without thinking about it. Then somewhere in your late thirties or forties, something shifted. Maybe gradually — sleep getting lighter month by month, waking once a night, then twice, then lying awake at 3 a.m. wondering what happened to the person who slept through thunderstorms. Or maybe suddenly —

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Clarissa