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Yesterday I shared the story of my 13-year-old son — a deep, solid sleeper his entire life — suddenly telling me he couldn’t fall asleep and was wide awake at 1 AM.   Check out Part One here This year, my son started a new school schedule, and it’s intense. He leaves the house at 6:30 AM and doesn’t return until 6 PM, only to go back out for learning until nearly 10 PM. It’s a huge shift for anyone — let alone a 13-year-old whose previous schedule was much lighter. I knew his

Every parent knows the feeling: that mix of pride, hope, and a tiny bit of terror when a child starts a new school year. New building, new boys, new schedule… and in this case, for my 13-year-old son, a schedule that would make a grown adult want a nap by 11 AM. This year he began a demanding new zman. He needs to be out of the house by 6:30 AM  and doesn’t walk back in until 6 PM . He gets one hour — one — to breathe, eat, reset, and pretend he has a normal life. Then he goe

Sleep is natural. Everyone is born knowing how to do it. And yet, so many of us struggle—night after night, year after year. One thing I see again and again is that adults with sleep anxiety often pass it, unintentionally, to their children. Parents tell me things like, “I’m afraid of not sleeping,” or “I can’t fall asleep without someone in the room.” Almost always, their children struggle too—sometimes needing someone nearby, sometimes resisting bedtime altogether. Kids are

Marrying off a child is a milestone full of joy, tears, and—let’s be honest— sleep deprivation . Between planning, traveling, family logistics, and the emotional rollercoaster of a wedding, it’s easy to forget the basics: eating, resting, and yes— hydrating . As someone who has helped countless clients regain control over their sleep, I can tell you that big life events like weddings, moving, or stressful work projects can completely derail your routines. And I realized first

Shannon swears she needs nine hours of sleep to function. Not eight and a half. Not seven. Nine. Like Goldilocks but with a clipboard, a color-coded calendar, and a hint of panic. The only problem? She hasn’t actually slept nine hours since she was sixteen. We’ve met seven times — in person, right here in my Montreal office. In-house sessions are always more intimate than Zoom. You see the tension in someone’s shoulders, the little habits that betray anxious inner monologues

If you struggle with insomnia, there’s a good chance you’re doing this one thing without even realizing it — and it’s making everything worse. You’re spending too much time in bed. Sounds strange, right? You’d think that the less you sleep, the more  time you should spend in bed. But that’s actually one of the biggest traps keeping insomnia alive and well. Sleep expert Sasha Stephens, author of The Effortless Sleep Method , says that “90 percent of sleep issues would be cured

I met with Esty last night for session number six. Things are getting real now — the kind of real where truth and emotion start to meet. At the beginning of our work together, Esty was exhausted, frustrated, and running out of hope. Like so many people who’ve battled long nights, she believed there were only two possible outcomes to this nightmare: 1) I’d have a magic potion or lightbulb moment that would finally “fix” her. 2)Or, she’d have to accept that she would never slee

Late Thursday night, I received a voice note from Jilly. Her voice trembled, and I could hear tears just beneath her words. We usually exchange a quick message or voice note once a month — just a simple check-in to see how she’s doing. But this time, her message was different. She had just woken up from a nightmare so vivid it left her shaking, but when she tried to move or call out, she realized she couldn’t. Her eyes were open, she was aware of the bedroom around her, yet h

A colleague of mine recently shared a story that really stuck with me. She’s working with a client — let’s call her Mira, 43, living in Israel — and I think her experience says a lot about what people get wrong about sleep. Mira is the type of person who, on the outside, looks like she has it all together. She works, cooks, keeps her home spotless, and volunteers in her community. Her life is extremely organized — everything has a plan, a schedule, a system. She controls what

Shannon, 46, had been my client a couple of years ago. Recently, she reached out again, exhausted and frustrated. Life hadn’t slowed down for a second: her son got engaged, then a few weeks later there was a bar mitzvah, complete with hosting a massive weekend at her house — self-catered, of course. A couple of months later, her daughter gave birth during the holidays and moved in with her toddler. Five weeks later, she was still there. And now, with her son’s wedding just we

We all know that sinking feeling—lying awake, tossing and turning, the air around you either too warm or too chilly to feel comfortable. You adjust the blanket, flip the pillow, stick one leg out, and still can’t quite get it right.  But could the temperature  of your room—or your body—actually be the reason you’re not sleeping well? Let’s explore this, through both science and a real story from my client, Adina. Adina’s Story Adina, 41, came to me completely burned out. She

The holidays are over. The menus have been cleared, the dishes stacked, and the guests have finally left — or maybe you left, traveling back home with souvenirs, sugar highs, and a suitcase full of laundry. Somehow, after weeks of late nights, irregular meals, endless socializing, and flights of fancy that rarely included actual sleep, we’re now staring at the calendar and thinking, “It’s time to get back to normal.” And yet… Most of us don’t. We want to get back into our rou

The other day I was walking past a gym, and a sign caught my eye:  “If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you.” At first, I...

What if I told you that some people are taking their vacation days — not to travel, not to see family, and definitely not to Instagram...

When a Neighbor’s Warning Brings Back Memories A few hours ago, my neighbor came to my door and said something that made my stomach drop:...

On the first night of Rosh Hashanah, as I lit the candles, my married daughter told me she had been having contractions on and off...

Raizy sat across from me, exhausted and hopeless. She’s 72 years old, and she hasn’t slept in three months. That’s not a typo — three...

She was crying on the phone. Not the kind of crying where someone is just tearing up — this was the cry of someone who had been holding...

If you’ve ever found yourself tossing and turning at night , even after following all the usual sleep advice—no caffeine late, early...

“Can’t you just give me something else to try?” That was the text Dina sent me just three days after our first session together. Dina, a...