Why You Can't Sleep (And Why It's Making Everything Worse)
By Dr. Martin, Martin Clinic
Last reviewed March 2026, by Dr. Martin
Let me ask you something. When was the last time you slept really well?
I mean really well. You hit the pillow. You wake up eight hours later. You feel like a million bucks.
If you can't remember — you're not alone.
Here's a number that shocked me when I first started talking about this on my radio show.
70% of North Americans have trouble sleeping.
Seven out of ten people.
That's not a small problem. That's a crisis.
And it's gotten worse over the last 20 years. Way worse.
Most people never even get into deep REM sleep.
That's the good stuff — the stage where your body actually heals.
Where your brain resets. Where you wake up feeling human.
Instead, people toss and turn. They wake up at 3 a.m. staring at the ceiling. Their minds won't shut off.
Why? Anxiety. Stress. A body that just won't calm down.
And here's the part most people don't know.
There's a hormone behind all of this. It's called cortisol.
When your cortisol is high, you don't sleep.
When you don't sleep, your cortisol goes even higher.
Round and round it goes.
It's a vicious cycle. Your body stays stuck in "alarm mode" — even when there's nothing to be alarmed about.
The good news? You can break the cycle.
That starts with getting your cortisol under control.
That's exactly why I created Cortisol Control
It's designed to do one thing.
Help your body bring cortisol back down to where it belongs — especially at night, when it matters most.
When cortisol drops, sleep follows.
It's that simple.