Dr. Valerie Cacho: Sleep Expert on What Women Need to Understand About Sleep + Health in Midlife

Dr. Valerie Cacho is an integrative sleep medicine specialist (MD), wellness consultant, and writer. Her interests and expertise include: diagnosing and treating medical sleep disorders during perimenopause and menopause, women’s sleep concerns, mind-body approaches to insomnia, self-compassion training, clinical hypnotherapy, and promoting sleep health and wellness. This is a fascinating conversation. The show notes can be found at https://thegoodlifecoach.com/244-2/

* This is a podcast interview and not intended to be medical advice. Please consult with your trusted healthcare professional for your health-related questions.

WHAT YOU’LL HEAR:

1. Dr. Val explains what integrative health is and how she uses it help her patients.
2. She walks us through the sleep cycles.  Each lasts about 90 minutes and happens 4-6 times per night. She shares her opinion on sleep trackers. Ideal sleep in each stage in midlife. 
3. She discusses HRV and what matters for sleep – having a higher score is better.  Lower scores can mean more stress.  She says don’t let the score impact her actual experience – sleep loss due to a positive event doesn’t have the same concern.
4. Snoring in midlife.
5. What happens during a sleep study and the health implications of sleep apnea.
6. The role of dreams.
7. Her opinion on naps and how long they should be and when to take them in order for them to be effective.
8. What happens to women and sleep in menopause. 
9. The holistic ways she helps her patients with sleep.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Website: sleeplifemed.com 
• Freebie: www.sleephoria.health/f/exhaustion-checklist
• IG: https://www.instagram.com/drvalsleepgal/
• Michele on Instagram

GUEST BIO:

Dr. Valerie Cacho is an integrative sleep medicine specialist (MD), wellness consultant, and writer. Her interests and expertise include: diagnosing and treating medical sleep disorders during perimenopause and menopause, women’s sleep concerns, mind-body approaches to insomnia, self-compassion training, clinical hypnotherapy, and promoting sleep health and wellness. She is the president and founder of Sleep Life Med, a tele-sleep practice in Hawaii and California. Additionally, Dr. Cacho is the CEO of Sleephoria, an online educational and sleep wellness company for women.

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