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

<p class="p1"><strong>Dr. Valerie Cacho</strong> 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 <a href= "https://thegoodlifecoach.com/244"><span class= "s1">https://thegoodlifecoach.com/244</span></a></p> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p3"><strong>WHAT YOU’LL HEAR:</strong></p> <ol class="ol1"> <li class="li4"><span class="s2">Dr. Val explains what integrative health is and how she uses it help her patients.</span></li> <li class="li4"><span class="s2">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. </span></li> <li class="li4"><span class="s2">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.</span></li> <li class="li4"><span class="s2">Snoring in midlife.</span></li> <li class="li4"><span class="s2">What happens during a sleep study and the health implications of sleep apnea.</span></li> <li class="li4"><span class="s2">The role of dreams.</span></li> <li class="li4"><span class="s2">Her opinion on naps and how long they should be and when to take them in order for them to be effective.</span></li> <li class="li4"><span class="s2">What happens to women and sleep in menopause. </span></li> <li class="li4"><span class="s2">The holistic ways she helps her patients with sleep.</span></li> </ol> <p class="p2"> </p> <p class="p3"><strong>RESOURCES MENTIONED</strong></p> <ul class="ul1"> <li class="li5"><span class= "s3"><strong>Webs