Talia Shapero Adult Sleep Coaching Services, 822 Richmond Street West suite 102, Toronto, ON (2026)

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822 Richmond Street West Suite 102

06/05/2026

I am definitely in the camp of 5 minutes of something is better than no minutes of nothing.

I hate working out. I have never enjoyed it. If I’m in a class or at the gym, I am counting down the minutes and seconds until it’s over. BUT - I recognize the importance of moving my body each day (for my stress levels, cognition, and of course the physical benefits) and I feel so much better after I engage in any sort of exercise.

I always talk to my clients about the importance of movement for sleep.

In a nutshell:
The more you move your body during the day, the higher your sleep pressure will be at night (which is one of the factors that controls when you get sleepy)
When you work your muscles during the day, they will be tired and less likely to tense up at night
Exercise may reduce the time it takes to fall asleep and may contribute positively to sleep quality
A workout during the day is going to release some feel good chemicals in your brain and may also give you a boost of energy
If your mood is better regulated in the daytime, that may also contribute positively to your night time sleep (as we ideally want/need to feel relaxed and in a positive mindset for sleep)

But I get it, it can be hard to drag yourself to the gym, especially if you’ve been out of the game for a while. So start small. Go for a 5-10 min walk in the AM or after lunch. Start with once a week. Then maybe make it a habit to go 3x weekly. Can you add a few squats before or after that walk? See where I’m going with this? Depending on what you want to achieve from your workouts, your plan is obviously going to differ. But my main message is that something IS better than nothing and the more you can manageably move your body during the day, the better you’re likely to feel and the more motivated you may be to sustain that movement to get some better rest.

06/01/2026

Been collecting a few great comics that perfectly illustrate some issues that I see come up with my clients.

One is the drawn out bedtime routine.

Don’t get me wrong. I am a fan of bedtime routines BUT - only if they truly serve you, you enjoy it and it’s not increasing your bedtime stress (eg. “If I don’t turn on my white noise machine at 10:07, spray 3 spritzes of lavender on my pillow and do 10 rounds of box breathing I can’t sleep” OR “I’ve turned down the temp in my room, meditated and cleaned my room and it’s not working, I’m awake!!”).

Bedtime routines are meant to be enjoyable and relaxing. If you practice your routine on a consistent basis before bed, it is a helpful signal to your body that it is night time and you can relax and prepare for sleep. BUT - sometimes people become over-reliant on their routines and/or they are putting them in place because they think it’s “the thing” that is going to fix their sleep. Perhaps it is an important factor but sleep issues can be complex and there may be other factors that are contributing to sleep difficulties apart from the bedtime routine.

When I set up bedtime routines with my clients, I like to make it really personalized for them. If no routine is in place, start with a shorter 20 min wind down. That may be sufficient. Choose activities that are relaxing, enjoyable but not overstimulating. Now for some that might be deep breathing but for others it may be watching an old rerun of your favourite TV show. There are SO many different things to choose from. I have a friend who truly derives pleasure from cleaning her kitchen before bedtime. You could not pay me to do any sort of house cleaning in the hour before bed. We’re all different. If you find parts of your routine are truly a chore to do or increase stress levels, I say scrap it. Whatever you choose, try to do the same activities in the same order each night and see how you feel in a week or two. If it’s working for you, keep it. If not, try something else. In the long term, your routine should be a helpful tool and not a crutch.

05/27/2026

Today is my anniversary and it marks 13 years of being married and 20 years since we met (!)

I love my husband dearly but it hasn’t always been easy. We’ve been on a journey dealing with long distance, a break up, moving to other countries together and setting up a new life, navigating parenthood and everything in between.

What we have learned over the years is that fighting before bed or when one of us is tired is a no go zone. Obviously there are times when we can’t control this but that is a general rule of thumb for us.

Why do we follow this rule?

Well, sleep plays an important role in regulating hormones, including your stress hormones. Sleep balances mood and your capacity to handle big emotions. When you don’t sleep well, you can become less empathetic so you may not be as sensitive and understand the needs, emotions and intentions of your partner. You generally have a more negative outlook and perception of the world. The amygdala, which is the part of your brain that detects threats (whether real or perceived), becomes overactive when you are under slept, so you’re more likely to be up for a fight and less likely to tolerate frustration. My baseline is already a bit feisty and I know when I’ve had a poor night of sleep, I am WAY less patient and understanding and far more argumentative with my husband and I’m also less resilient to any criticism. Things that might usually be a small disagreement can end up becoming a larger fight. But…I. JUST. CAN’T. HELP. IT!

So the next time you’re sleep deprived and your loved one is coming at you for something small that you’re ready to go to war for, try and stop for a minute. Take a breath. And say “listen - I hear what you’re saying but I can’t receive it right now because I’m exhausted and don’t want to turn this into something bigger than it is. Can we take a rain check and talk about it tomorrow?” If you can both agree to park it for the night, chances are good that it will be resolved in a more constructive manner tomorrow.

05/19/2026

I’ve already headed out of town but some of you may be starting your spring holidays or planning summer trips and travelling abroad. Whenever we travel across multiple time zones, we run the risk of getting jet-lagged.

Jet lag is a temporary sleep problem that is caused by a disconnect between the time of day at your travel destination and your body’s internal clock ie circadian rhythm. This mismatch occurs when quickly traveling across multiple time zones, especially with long-distance flights. Your circadian rhythm signals to your body when to stay awake and when to sleep and it is influenced by cues like light and dark, eating and sleeping schedules.

Rapidly travelling to a new time zone can throw off your circadian rhythm, which includes the timing of sleep and jet lag can cause daytime fatigue, an unwell feeling, trouble staying alert and stomach problems. Although symptoms are temporary, you can take steps to help prevent or lessen the effects of jet lag.

Top tips for beating jet lag:
✈Get bright light in the AM
✈Get on a regular eating and sleeping schedule in your new locale
✈Keep hydrated
✈Take a 10-30 min nap if you need to
✈Consider taking melatonin supplements

05/16/2026

I’m about to embark on a European vacation with my husband and son to visit some family and friends.

We do this every couple of years to catch up with family and friends. This journey will be long and we’re crossing multiple time zones in a short period of time, resulting in some inevitable jet lag.

So what am I doing to help minimize the effects of circadian disruption?

First thing - I downloaded the Timeshifter App, where I input my flight details and regular sleep patterns and then it generated a pre-departure plan for me. A couple of days before I fly, I’m going to start going to bed earlier and wake up earlier because I'm flying west to east and I'll continue this pattern when I’m on the plane so it helps me slowly adjust to the new time zone that I’m in.

I will make sure to keep hydrated on the plane and eat lighter meals. Eating heavy meals at the wrong time for your body can cause indigestion and alertness at the wrong times.

As soon as I get to Portugal (our first stop!), I’m going to shift to the local time zone - so that means getting bright light first thing in the AM and throughout the day, eating meals at regular times and going to bed and waking at the same time as I would at home.

Yes, this is a commitment and ideally I can get my family on board so we’re following the same schedule (unlikely from previous experiences!) BUT - I know that following a plan in advance will help me hit the ground running and maximize my time when I’m there.

If you’re off somewhere distant or if you’re someone who travels for work frequently and you sleep decently to begin with, there are things you can do to maximize alertness and a regulated sleep schedule and minimize the detrimental effects of jet lag.

05/10/2026

While there are many approaches to deal with a monkey mind, the overarching theme is that you’ve got to carve out some time during the day or in the evening to address them.

A simple brain dump before bed may be effective for you.

Maybe it’s a simple to-do list, maybe it’s a list of questions you want to come back to tomorrow, maybe it’s a free flow journal activity where you’re jotting down whatever comes to mind.

Or chatting to a friend can be a great way to park some of those thoughts.

Everyone is going to be drawn to a different approach. For some a simple act of distraction can push those thoughts away - play geography in your head, count backwards from 1000 in 7s, listen to some guided imagery so that your brain is focused on something positive before bed.

To learn more about why your mind races at night and what you can do about it, Check out my latest blog post titled “How to Deal with Racing Thoughts at Night”
*link in bio

05/06/2026

Do you find at the end of your evening, you’re physically exhausted, maybe mentally worn out but as soon as your head hits the pillow and you turn off the lights, there’s this backlash of thinking, ruminating, planning and/or worrying?

One of the theories as to why we tend to think or worry at night time is that we haven’t taken time to process our thoughts or worries from the day and then they appear at night. So many of us tend to race through our days, ticking off the boxes of responsibility and life - wake up, eat, get kids ready (if you have them), work, maybe gym, dinner, maybe socialize, do chores, zone out on something and then get into bed. And then you turn off the lights. And it’s truly the only time from the moment you woke up where it’s quiet, it’s dark, free of distractions and THIS is the time where the busy brain floodgates open. Your brain has finally been given time and space to roam free and over time, your brain has also been conditioned to think about these things during the night. Brains are very clever and pick up on patterns fairly quickly. If you’re overthinking things before bed or during the night and this has happened on a few occasions, your brain learns - Hey! My bed is a place for sleep, but my bed in the night time is also the place where I can fret and problem-solve. And your brain will be looking to repeat that pattern.

So what can you do about it? Check out my latest blog post titled “How to Deal with Racing Thoughts at Night”
*link in bio

05/02/2026

Are you someone who crashes out quickly at the beginning of the night but in the middle of the night you wake (and it’s at exactly the same time!) and your brain goes from 0 to 100 in about 3.7 seconds and wants you to solve all the world’s problems at this ungodly hour?

You’re not alone. About 90% of people I work with all have these racing thoughts that either prevent them from initially falling asleep or prevent them from going back to sleep. Or both. When I was deep in my insomnia, at exactly 3:13am every night, I would wake and be jolted into ruminating over family arguments, planning my lessons (I used to be a teacher), researching/fantasizing about future holidays, worrying about my health, and getting frustrated with all the earworms that were popping into my head.

Why does this happen?

I always explain to my clients sleep issues need to be viewed as a 24 hour problem. So much of what you do or don’t do during the night can impact your daytime energy levels and night time sleep. And if you’re not taking time to process your thoughts or feelings and wind down before sleep, they can absolutely creep up in the night when you really just want to be sleeping. And sleep and stress have this incredibly important bi-direction relationship. Sleep can help balance stress hormones and help you become more resilient in the face of stressors but stress and anxiety can make it hard to sleep.

That’s why it’s super important to try and manage stress levels on a day-to-day basis and in those minutes and hour before bed. Whether it’s talking to a friend, journaling, doing some deep breathing, a mindfulness activity, walking outside, engaging in exercise, designing a purposeful wind down activity or seeking professional help, there are ways to deal with worry during the day so they don’t intrude on your nights.

To learn more about what to do about racing thoughts, Check out my latest blog post titled “How to Deal with Racing Thoughts at Night”
*link in bio

04/30/2026

Hormones can impact sleep but did you know that sleep affects hormone production?

In lieu of National Fertility Awareness Month, I thought I would highlight testosterone. Reproductive hormones such as estrogen and progesterone get talked about a lot when it comes to women's fertility and sleep challenges but fewer know about the role of testosterone and how its levels are impacted as a result of sleep deprivation.

A study was done several years back that took healthy young men, deprived them of sleep for a week, and then measured their testosterone levels.

What did they find?

Researchers discovered that sleeping about 5 hours a night for one week temporarily lowered testosterone levels in men by an equivalent of 11 years of aging. 11 years!!

Apart from its reproductive function, testosterone is a foundational hormone that impacts:
◾Speed
◾Strength
◾Muscle mass
◾Mood

So if you’re a man on your fertility journey and getting chronic insufficient sleep and feel bad about it - you may want to have a chat with your doctor about getting your levels checked out as well as having a talk with a sleep specialist about how to get more sleep so you can optimize your health and potentially your fertility outcomes.

04/26/2026

April is National Fertility Awareness Month.

In general, whenever we chronically disrupt sleep in quantity and quality, we disturb hormonal balance. For women who are trying to conceive, it’s especially important for estrogen and progesterone levels to be balanced. Disrupted estrogen levels, for example, can cause fluctuations in body temperature, melatonin secretions, cortisol release and the quantity of REM sleep, all which can impact sleep. Short sleep duration is associated with irregular menstrual cycles, which may impact ovulation and reproductive health.

Poor sleep can also affect melatonin levels, which may influence reproductive health for both men and women as this hormone helps protect your eggs. Hormonal imbalance can lead to a decrease in libido for both men and women. Over time, this could disrupt your relationship with your partner and lead to fewer opportunities for pregnancy to occur.

But fertility is complex and the human body is complicated so it’s difficult (and irresponsible!) to make any direct correlations between poor sleep and infertility. That said, it’s an understudied and undervalued part of the fertility process and my goal is to make those going through the process more aware (but not more stressed!) about getting better sleep.

Improving your sleep habits and behaviours is truly a low cost, low time intervention that has the ability to make a huge difference to all areas of your wellness.

For more info on the connection between sleep and fertility, read my blog: https://www.taliashapero.com/blog/sleep-and-fertility.
*link in bio

Talia Shapero Adult Sleep Coaching Services

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