The Case:  Valerie is 39 and she manages her stress with meditation and a bedtime routine. She falls asleep with ease but she wakes up every night and struggles to get back to sleep She tried to further reduce her stress, added supplements and medication to help her sleep issues but nothing worked. Waking up frequently throughout the night is a form of insomnia - the most common sleep disorder in America. Insomnia in the short-term can be dangerous because it increases your chance of falling asleep unexpectedly including at work, while watching children, or when driving. When insomnia becomes chronic, it can lead to sleep deprivation which, in turn, may lead to serious health concerns including metabolic disorders, hypoxemia, and pain conditions.  Valerie knew that she didn’t just want to learn to live with it (as so many women do). She wanted to get to the root cause of the problem so that she could sleep better, and function better during the day.    The Investigation My immediate suspicion was that Valerie’s diet might be a contributing factor in her sleep issue. I noticed that she ate a lot of processed foods, so it made sense to make this the first stop in our investigation. I ran some tests which confirmed my suspicions - Valerie had a higher amount of certain toxins in her body. I also noted that she carried a few genes that slowed down her ability to get rid of toxins. It was a double whammy and we were officially on the case.  Valerie’s liver was struggling to rid her body of the toxins so this was the first thing we needed to address. It was time for a detox.  Wendy Myers is one of the countries leading authorities in detoxification. She’s a functional diagnostic nutritionist,  NES Bioenergetix Practitioner, and is the creator of the Myers Detox Protocol. She’s also the #1 bestselling author of Limitless Energy: How to Detox Toxic Metals to End Exhaustion and Chronic Fatigue.  She joins me on the show to talk about Valerie’s case and how a low-functioning liver can contribute to waking up multiple times in the night.    Your Liver’s Role in Sleep Wendy says, “the liver is the seed of sleep… When your liver is not functioning optimally because it's overloaded with having to break down and export so many toxins that we have in our environment, it can affect sleep.” In her experience, waking up in the middle of the night, usually around 2 - 3 am, is a telltale sign of the liver struggling.    Why the Liver Struggles The liver has a really important job to do in the body. First it has to break down what we eat and drink (which is an even bigger job if we are eating too much sugar, refined grains, processed foods, or saturated fats). Then, it has to deal with the toxins that enter the body in various forms. It’s estimated that our environment contains 80,000 - 100,000 chemicals and dozens of heavy metals. If we combine an unhealthy diet with exposure to chemicals and heavy metals, the liver is going to struggle to process the toxins and get them out of the body.    How We’re Exposed to Toxins Daily It’s almost impossible to avoid being exposed to toxins in our modern world. Here are some of the most common ways we’re exposed to toxins daily:  Water: Water is a common source of toxins for many of us (even filtered water can still contain some trace metals, chemicals, medications, parasites, radiation and other contaminants). Even when drinking highly filtered water, you can still be exposed by bathing in the unfiltered water.  Air: Our indoor air (at home and our place of work) may contain chemicals from the cleaning products and air fresheners. Outside, the air has toxins from pollution (both car exhaust and manufacturing). Food: Not only do we have to worry about the pesticides used on our foods but also the fertilizers that were in the soil the food was grown in. Cadmium is commonly used in fertilizer. Soil may also be tainted with leaded gas and other toxins.  Beauty Products: Many of the things we use everyday (sha