Insomnia Is Not a Sleep Problem (A Sleep Expert Explains What It Really Is)

The Real Reason 70% of Divorces Are Started by Women

Most women don't realize how many small compromises they made in their marriage. Not until the divorce is already happening. In this episode of the Health Pioneers Podcast, marriage and family therapist Priscila Podesta explains why this happens. She breaks down why so many women lose themselves in these small, unconscious compromises. And she shares how to rebuild a life that actually reflects who you are. Priscila has been a marriage and family therapist for 15 years. She is the owner of Venture Out Therapy, which she started in 2018. She combines traditional therapy methods with nature and astrology. Her work helps women going through divorce find clarity. It helps them release guilt. And it helps them step into a version of themselves that is aligned with their real values. In this conversation, Priscila covers the unconscious compromises women make in long marriages. She talks about the mistakes that delay healing after divorce. And she explains why guilt and stigma still follow women who choose to leave. She also introduces parts work, a method from Internal Family Systems. And she explains how astrology can help. Your moon sign and major planetary cycles, like the Saturn return and Uranus opposition, can reveal why your identity feels like it is shifting. 🕰️CHAPTERS 00:00 Why divorce is the second most stressful life event  00:48 Meet Priscila Podesta, divorce recovery therapist  01:38 How she helps women rebuild their life after divorce  05:26 The unconscious compromises hiding inside your marriage  07:11 The biggest mistake women make after divorce  08:35 Does it matter who filed for divorce  12:15 Dating after divorce: what to do and what to avoid  21:36 How astrology helps women rebuild after divorce  25:56 What is a Saturn return and why your late 20s feel like a crisis  37:07 What is parts work and why divorce fragments your identity ❓COMMON QUESTIONS:  What are the biggest mistakes women make after divorce?  Priscila explains that many women throw themselves entirely into work, kids, or other people to avoid sitting with their own identity. This can become a distraction that lets old patterns, like needing to be needed, take over again. She recommends building a life around your own values first, which makes it easier to find real companionship later. Does it matter who initiated the divorce?  Yes. Priscila notes that many women reach a breaking point long before they decide to leave, often after years of feeling disconnected. Whether the split was mutual or contested changes how the recovery process unfolds, especially when a spouse resists the separation or children are involved. What is a Saturn return and why does it matter?  A Saturn return happens around age 28 to 30, when the planet Saturn moves back to the position it held when you were born. Priscila says this period often brings up deep questions about life purpose and direction, which is why so many women reevaluate their marriage or career around this age. A second, related shift happens around 42 with what astrologers call the Uranus opposition, often felt as a sudden, urgent need to change something in life. Find Priscilla Podesta:  Website: https://priscilapodesta.com/  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepersonablecoach  #divorce #divorcerecovery #divorcecoach #astrology #midlifecrisis #datingafterdivorce #partswork #identityafterdivorce #healthpioneerspodcast

Why Burnout Has Nothing to Do With How Hard You Work

Burnout in high achieving professionals is not a workload problem. It is an ancestral wound. In this episode of the Health Pioneers Podcast, soul recovery specialist Dr. Oscar Perez explains why taking a vacation, changing jobs, or going to therapy will never fix the real source of burnout for certain people. Dr. Oscar is the award winning author of The Flowering War and a healer trained in the Toltec tradition. He helps successful professionals who feel empty despite their achievements recover from soul loss and reclaim their joy, vitality, and sense of purpose. He draws on thousands of years of indigenous wisdom alongside the modern science of epigenetics to help people understand that their exhaustion did not start with them. In this conversation Dr. Oscar introduces the concept of grief bearers. These are people born carrying the unprocessed emotional wounds of their ancestors. He explains why grief bearers often become the black sheep of their families, why they become overachievers, and why that drive only deepens the exhaustion. He also breaks down what soul recovery actually is and how reconnecting with land, ritual, and ancestry creates a relief that no amount of therapy or self help ever could. 🕰️CHAPTERS 00:00 Why burnout cannot be fixed with time off or better routines  00:52 What a grief bearer is and how to know if you are one  04:08 Why sensitive people become black sheep and then overachievers  08:17 How ancestral trauma is passed down through six generations  12:20 Why disconnection from the land is making modern people sick  19:11 What it means to reconnect with ritual and your relatives  26:14 What soul loss actually feels like in a high achieving person  36:17 The concept of the heart of the mountain and why it sends rumblings  43:58 How soul recovery works and what changes when you do it  59:49 Why your energy is siphoned by untended wounds and how to reclaim it ❓COMMON QUESTIONS:  Is burnout caused by working too hard? For most people burnout comes from overwork. But for grief bearers the exhaustion is older and deeper. It is the accumulation of unprocessed emotional wounding passed down through generations. That is why changing jobs, taking vacations, or building better routines never quite fixes it. The root is not in the schedule. It is in the lineage. What is a grief bearer? A grief bearer is a person born carrying an unequal amount of the unhealed emotional wounds of their family or ancestral line. They are often more sensitive than those around them, feel like outsiders, and either self-destruct or become high achievers. In many traditional cultures these people were recognized and trained as healers. In modern Western culture they are often labeled as broken, anxious, or burned out. What is soul recovery? Soul recovery is the process of calling back the parts of yourself that splintered off through trauma, abandonment, or unprocessed wounding. Dr. Oscar explains that these splits have a real and tangible effect on a person's energy and vitality. When those parts are called home people often experience new capacities, new ways of perceiving life, and a deep sense of wholeness they could never quite name before. 👉Find Dr. Oscar Perez: Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/@TheSoulRecoverySpecialist [https://www.youtube.com/@TheSoulRecoverySpecialist] Book: The Flowering War [https://www.amazon.ca/Flowering-War-Teachings-Overcoming-Fulfilling-ebook/dp/B0CPQ1PBJP?ref_=ast_author_mpb] Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/droscarcperez/ [https://www.instagram.com/droscarcperez/]  #burnout #ancestraltrauma #soulloss #soulrecovery #griefbearer #epigenetics #indigenouswisdom #highachievers #burnoutrecovery #toltec #healingtrauma #healthpioneerspodcast

She Lost 50 Pounds but Was Still 48% Body Fat (The Ozempic Problem No One Talks About)

Weight loss without muscle loss is the difference between getting healthy and getting weaker.  In this episode of the Health Pioneers Podcast, Dr. Barbara Hessel explains why the scale is the worst tool for measuring real progress and why most women who lose weight on diets or GLP-1 medications are destroying their metabolism in the process. Dr. Barbara Hessel is an MD board-certified in obesity medicine, gynecology, and nutrition coaching with 25 years of experience.  She specializes in helping women get back to their happy weight by managing hunger and appetite using her three-step Metabolic Momentum Method.  She has helped thousands of women regain control of their hunger hormones and weight without extreme diets or unsupervised medication. In this conversation, Dr. Hassell breaks down the four types of hunger that drive weight gain. She explains why someone can lose 50 pounds on Ozempic and still be 48% body fat with dangerous muscle loss.  She shares why keto and intermittent fasting fail after one year for most people, why insulin is the real driver of weight gain, and why ordering weight loss prescriptions online without medical supervision is one of the most dangerous trends in health right now. 🕰️ CHAPTERS 00:00 Why she was 50 pounds overweight while advising women on health 00:44 What really happens to your metabolism when you diet 02:33 Why yo yo dieting destroys your metabolism long term 05:29 What are GLP-1 medications and how do they work 07:15 The dangerous side of Ozempic no one is talking about 11:09 The 4 hunger codes that drive weight gain 12:42 Why emotional eating is harder to spot than you think 16:39 Why she became an obesity medicine doctor 21:16 How visceral fat causes diabetes and hypertension 26:44 Why keto and intermittent fasting fail after one year ❓COMMON QUESTIONS:  Can you lose weight on Ozempic and still be unhealthy?  Yes. Dr. Hessel explains that many women who lose weight on GLP-1 medications are not eating enough protein or nutrients. The body starts burning muscle to get what it needs. She has seen patients who lost significant weight but were still 48% body fat with sarcopenia, meaning dangerous muscle loss. The scale showed progress but their body composition told a completely different story. What is the hunger code?  The hunger code is a framework originally developed at the Mayo Clinic that identifies four types of hunger driving weight gain. Hungry brain means the fullness signal is not reaching your brain. Hungry gut means you feel full but get hungry again too soon. Emotional eating is eating driven by stress, boredom, or celebration rather than physical hunger. Slow burn is a slowed metabolism from previous dieting or muscle loss. Knowing your hunger code allows for personalized treatment instead of a one-size-fits-all diet. Why do most diets fail after one year?  Dr. Hessel explains that restrictive diets like keto and intermittent fasting work in the short term but studies show most people cannot maintain them past one year. The restriction is too severe to sustain. When people stop, they regain the weight because they never addressed the root cause of their hunger or learned sustainable nutrition habits. Their metabolism is also slower from the dieting, making regain even easier. 👉Find Dr. Barbara Hessel: Website: www.drhesselmd.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drbarbarahesselmd  #weightloss #ozempic #GLP1 #metabolism #obesitymedicine #hungercode #muscleloss #sarcopenia #visceral fat #emotionaleating #womenshealth #weightlossjourney #dietculture #healthpioneerspodcast

Insomnia Is Not a Sleep Problem (A Sleep Expert Explains What It Really Is)

Chronic insomnia is not a sleep problem… In this episode of the Health Pioneers Podcast, sleep and insomnia expert Anne-Marie Boylan explains why melatonin, sleep hygiene, CBT for insomnia, and sleeping pills will never fix chronic insomnia, and what actually will. Anne-Marie struggled with insomnia for two years while working in a high-stress corporate job. She tried everything. Magnesium, blackout blinds, cutting caffeine, sleep apps, and nothing worked.  When she finally ran functional lab tests on herself, she discovered a parasite she had picked up 15 years earlier, liver imbalance, and hormonal issues.  Once she addressed those root causes, her sleep came back.  In 2025, she was named one of the top sleep coaches in the country by The Sunday Times. In this conversation, Anne-Marie breaks down the five lab tests she runs that most doctors have never heard of.  She explains how the gut-brain connection drives insomnia, why parasites are most active during the full moon, and how one client's doctor-prescribed estrogen patch was actually making her insomnia worse.  She also shares why sleeping pills prevent deep sleep and why the "gold standard" CBT treatment for insomnia only works for behavioral issues, not the biological root causes her clients are dealing with. 🕰️ CHAPTERS:   00:00 Why insomnia is not a sleep problem  00:40 How chronic stress broke her body and caused 2 years of insomnia  03:08 Why sleep hygiene is insulting to people with chronic insomnia  05:01 The whole body approach to fixing insomnia with lab testing  08:57 The 5 lab tests your doctor has never run for sleep  15:49 How gut parasites keep you awake at night  21:44 How HRT made one woman's insomnia worse  27:45 Why CBT for insomnia does not work for chronic cases  31:03 Why sleeping pills destroy your deep sleep  34:12 How she gets people from 1 hour of sleep to 7 ❓ COMMON QUESTIONS Is insomnia a sleep problem?  No. Anne-Marie explains that insomnia is a whole body problem. Chronic stress over years can break down the gut, hormones, liver function, and neurotransmitter balance. All of these systems talk to the brain and tell it whether or not it is safe to sleep. Until those root causes are addressed, no amount of sleep hygiene, melatonin, or sleeping pills will fix the problem. Can gut health cause insomnia?  Yes. The gut talks to the brain 90% of the time through the gut brain axis. If you have parasites, bacterial overgrowth, leaky gut, or no good gut flora, your gut is constantly sending distress signals to the brain. Anne-Marie found that a parasite she picked up 15 years earlier was one of the main drivers of her own two-year insomnia. Parasites are especially active at night and during the full moon when serotonin levels are higher. Do sleeping pills actually work?  Sleeping pills will get you to sleep but they prevent you from reaching deep sleep, which is the recovery and healing stage. The brain's own cleaning system only activates during deep sleep. Without it, the brain never gets cleaned. Many people become psychologically dependent on sleeping pills without ever addressing why they cannot sleep in the first place. 👉Find Anne-Marie Boylan: Website: EasySleepMethod.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sleepandinsomniaqueen #insomnia #chronicinsomnia #sleepexpert #sleephelp #cantsl eep #guthealth #parasites #sleepingpills #melatonin #sleephygiene #functionalm edicine #hormoneimbalance #healthpioneerspodcast

The Subconscious Belief That Keeps Successful People Stuck

Self-sabotage in high performers is not a discipline problem. It is a subconscious protection system that was installed before you turned nine years old.  In this episode of the Health Pioneers Podcast, subconscious rewiring expert Kannary Keo explains why the most successful people on the outside are often the most stuck on the inside, and how hypnotherapy can fix it in months, not years. Kannary is the founder of Aloha Wellness and a former business operations analyst who spent 20 years trying to fix her own procrastination through seminars, coaches, talk therapy, and medication.  Nothing worked until she discovered hypnotherapy and traced her blocks back to a single conversation with her mother at age seven.  Her survival story shaped a belief that success was not available to her. In this conversation, Kannary breaks down why affirmations do not work, why talk therapy is like mowing the lawn and wondering why it grows back, and how she helps clients rewire their subconscious beliefs in just four months.  She shares real client stories of CEOs, lawyers, and founders who looked successful on the outside but were driven by fear, abandonment, and a deep belief of not being good enough. What we cover in this episode: 00:00 Why success feels dangerous to your subconscious mind 00:45 How childhood imprints before age 9 control your adult life 04:47 Why you know what to do but still can not follow through 07:10 What hypnotherapy actually looks like (it is not the watch) 12:08 Why affirmations do not work for most people 14:09 Born in a refugee camp: how her mother's survival shaped her beliefs 18:07 How generational trauma keeps high performers stuck 25:12 Signs you are sabotaging your success and relationships 32:10 How subconscious rewiring works in just 4 months 39:31 Life after rewiring: from scarcity to ease and abundance QUESTIONS COVERED: Why do high performers self-sabotage? Kannary explains that the subconscious mind's number one job is to keep you alive and protect you from pain. If it learned before age nine that success, visibility, or standing out leads to danger, it will sabotage you to keep you safe. This shows up as procrastination, anxiety, imposter syndrome, or picking the wrong partners. The person knows what to do but cannot make themselves do it because the subconscious is overriding the conscious mind. Do affirmations actually work? Kannary says affirmations are like throwing seeds on top of a garden that is already full of weeds. If the root belief is "I am not good enough" or "success is not available to me," the subconscious will reject the affirmation. The root belief must be removed first through subconscious work before new empowering beliefs can take hold. How long does subconscious rewiring take? Kannary's process typically takes four months with sessions every two weeks. She says most clients feel a shift after the first session. By comparison, she notes that cognitive behavioral therapy takes an average of 9 to 11 years to produce a breakthrough because it only works with the conscious mind, which is just 10% of the brain. FIND KANNARY KEO:  AlohaWellness.life 🔔 Hit Subscribe for more conversations with these incredible Health Experts #selfsabotage #hypnotherapy #subconscious #anxiety #highperformers #impostersyndrome #procrastination #successmindset #nervoussystem #innercritic #healingtrauma #healthpioneerspodcast