In the second part of this episode with Kate Lazzarotti (National Board-Certified Health & Wellness Coach, integrative nutritionist, and founder of KCL Wellness), they discuss how to unpack how sleep impacts PCOS symptoms—and how to stop treating sleep like an “optional extra.” They explore the Traditional Chinese Medicine Horary Body Clock as a tool for understanding why you wake up at the same time every night and what your body may be working on during specific nighttime windows. Kate explains the emotional connections tied to organ systems—especially the lungs (3–5 a.m.), which can hold grief and sadness—and how stress, shallow breathing, and nervous system dysregulation can interfere with detoxification and deep rest. You’ll also hear practical strategies for common sleep disruptors like waking to go to the bathroom, including keeping the room dark, avoiding phone/light exposure, and adjusting fluid timing. The conversation wraps with what’s happening 5–7 a.m. (large intestine + elimination), simple morning routines to support detoxification (water first, anti-inflammatory add-ins, morning sunlight), and realistic guidance for shift workers—how to create a “sleep cave,” support liver detox, and reduce the metabolic fallout of inconsistent circadian rhythm. The heart of the episode is this: the most powerful “resolution” is learning your body’s language—because once you know, you know, and that kind of health education can’t be taken away.
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(0:00 - 3:16) The one thing that I hope most people will do for themselves this year is learn about their health. Take an active interest in your health, because that resolution can't be broken. Once you know, you know. It's like having an education that nobody can take away from you, and where you go with that is up to you, but it's always with you. It doesn't require a doctor's appointment. It doesn't require a prescription. It's you knowing what your body is asking for, and that is the biggest gift that you can give yourself going into 2026. Hey friends, welcome back to PCOS Unfiltered, Nourish, Heal, Thrive. I'm your host, Lindsie, and today we're talking about something that everyone knows matters, but most of us still treat like it's optional, sleep, because when sleep is off, everything feels off, cravings, mood, stress, energy, digestion, blood sugar, even your cycle, and for women with PCOS, poor sleep can quietly crank up insulin resistance and cortisol, making it hard to lose weight, regulate hormones, and feel like yourself again. That's why I'm excited about today's guest, Kate Lazzarotti. Kate is a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach, an integrated nutritionist, and the founder of KCL Wellness, where she helps women take charge of their health through strategic lifestyle change. Her work is rooted in a simple but powerful belief. Your body wants to be well. It's your job to give her the conditions to thrive. In this episode, we're diving into a traditional Chinese medicine tool called the Harari body clock, basically a map of what your organs are doing at different hours of the night and how it can help you understand why you might be waking at the same time every night, why digestion feels worse when sleep is inconsistent, and how your body's detox and hormone regeneration are tied to your bedtime routine. We also talk about practical real-life strategies, from what to do between 9 and 11 p.m. to simple wind-down rituals, temperature changes in the body, nighttime bathroom trips, and even how shift workers can make this work without feeling helpless. So, if you've ever said, I'm exhausted but I can't sleep, or I wake up at 2 30 every night, or I'm doing all the things and my body still feels stuck, this one's for you. Just a reminder, the content shared on PCOS Unfiltered is for informational and educational purposes only. The views and opinions expressed by the hosts and guests are not intended to serve as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or treatment plan. The information shared is based on personal experience and expert interviews and is not a substitute for professional medical guidance. As always, take what resonates, leave what doesn't, and use this episode as an invitation to get curious about what your body has been trying to tell you all along. And be sure to listen to the end for a special offer on something we have coming up in just a few days. All right, now let's jump into this episode on sleep.
(3:22 - 4:50) Okay, 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. The lungs. As I was even kind of prepping for this recording, like there was something that kind of stuck out to me, especially talking about the emotional roots during this time too. So yeah, can you explain a little bit more what's happening during those hours? So emotionally, our lungs hold on to grief and sadness. And if we recently lost a loved one or if we're not happy, it's going to show up here. And it might show up in the form of respiratory issues. It might show up in the form of waking between the hours of 3 and 5. But again, knowledge is power here. And dealing with those issues that you have can truly help with your sleep patterns. And, you know, let alone your stress patterns, your stress management, but really understanding what it is that you're feeling. Mental health is tremendous. And of course, our emotions affect our mental health. And if we try to go to sleep and we are awakened because our mind is racing or if we're holding on to certain things, it definitely affects our sleep patterns. And as we've talked about here, our sleep patterns are crucial to our health.
(4:50 - 5:26) And your lung health is right there as high as everything else is. Yeah. So, and even kind of tying in from the liver, but, you know, lungs, obviously they're working all day long. So kind of what makes it different from what they do during the day to what's specifically happening in those organs at night? Yeah. So during the day when we're on the go and we're moving and just like every other organ, our lungs are constantly going without any thought from us. Again, our body is amazing.
(5:27 - 6:47) Without any thought from us, we're breathing, we're doing all of these things. But what we don't realize is that our breath expels the toxins. So when we're stressed, our breath is shortened. And when our breath is shortened, we're not really expelling. Um, so when we're sleeping during these hours and we're breathing, hopefully regularly, that breath is helping to detoxify and get rid of all of those toxins that have built up in our lungs during the day to expel themselves through the, um, through the bloodstream, through the liver, through the gut, everything is connected again. So, um, you know, based, it's all connected through our immunity. And that's a whole other thing too. I can go off on a tangent. I'm trying very hard. We can make this like a three hour episode. But yes, our lungs are very important and, um, you know, we don't realize the significance of the connection between our gut health and the rest of our body, including our lungs. Um, and again, here's where the vagus nerve comes into effect here because it connects them directly.
(6:48 - 7:30) So deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerve. Um, and that's part of a protocol that I will do with my clients as well. When we get on our phone call together and I can see that, you know, someone's a little stressed, let's take a minute, let's do some deep breathing and to relax yourself. Well, this does a lot more than just calm the brain. It calms the whole digestive system. It calms, you know, the, the lungs and it just brings you to a level where you're, you're able to, to manage a little bit better. So yeah. Yeah. Before we kind of get into the last, uh, window, I do want to ask about like, uh, peeing in the middle of the night.
(7:30 - 11:24) Yeah. And where, like kind of what that could mean that, you know, how that could disrupt some of these things. Can you maybe talk about that? Uh, of course. So that is definitely something that occurs more and more as we get older. Um, our bladders do tend to take the fact more of our age, um, in the middle of the night. So we do get up and have to go to the bathroom. Hopefully when you get back to bed, you're able to get right back to bed. So here's a key it's going to happen. Um, when you do wake up, try not to turn any lights on. Um, that might be a little bit challenging, but what you're doing is if you turn the lights on, you're telling your body, okay, it's bedtime. Your cortisol may spike. Your melatonin is going to, is going to drop and you're going to be in, okay, the awake mode. Um, so definitely if you do wake up during the night, try to keep it as dark as possible. Try not to, you know, put your body into a different phase of waking. Um, the other thing is not to drink too close to bedtime. So it's really crucial for us to get enough water during the day, but to drink so close to bedtime is a sure way for you to wake up to have to go to the bathroom. So maybe cutting that off when you cut off eating. So three hours before you go to bed, no drinking prior, um, can help with that as well. So it's, you know, and doing the Kegels exercises is definitely something that can help strengthen the bladder so that we don't feel like we have to, um, go all the time. But if you have to go during the night, don't not go because holding it is worse. So just, you know, do what you can go to, go to the bathroom right before you go to bed. And then if you do have to wake up in the middle of the night, don't turn the lights on. Don't, you know, put yourself in, don't let your body know, okay, it's time to wake up because that will throw you off. Yeah. Don't touch your phone. Well, yeah, exactly. I mean, and isn't that the hardest thing? I mean, you know, so many of us, we feel like we can't miss out. We're going to miss something, but you know, what we're doing when we touch our phone is really putting a hindrance on our sleep. And it's just ask yourself, is this worth it? Is what I'm doing falling in alignment with the health that I want for myself? Yeah. Well, and, you know, going back to what we were saying in the beginning, you know, your body's very smart, um, or, you know, you've been saying it throughout the episode, but, but naturally your body should be shutting off that process anyways, because it's, it should know it's time for, you know, repair and rest. Um, so you also might have to start asking yourself, like why, you know, if you, if you've cut off the water and, you know, done some other things, like, why am I having to get up to go to the bathroom? And also, is it during that certain, certain time, you know, is it during that a certain window there, it kind of going back to what we're saying, is it three o'clock, you know, where you feel like you have to go to the bathroom all the time, because that could also maybe mean something deeper there. That's right. And, and it is important to understand that. And if you do cut it off and you're still getting up and it's still disruptive, then it's time definitely to seek medical advice. Um, all of what we talk about is great for lifestyle changes. None of this is to replace your doctor or the medical advice that they can give you.
(11:24 - 16:17) Yeah. It's all about knowing your body best. So when you do go into the doctor, you are armed with the questions that are necessary for you to get the answers that you want to get that you deserve to get. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um, so kind of the last, you know, two hour window, 5am to 7am, you got the large intestine, um, kicking in. So explain what's happening there. So during this time, our liver finishes our, our, it's detox, it all empties out into the large intestine. And then we hope that by the time we wake up at seven is the time where you can have that bowel movement. Does everybody know what it does? That means something, you know, in some schools of thought, yes. If you don't have a bowel movement, right. When you wake up in the morning that in some schools of thought, it means that, you know, maybe something isn't detoxifying. Right. However, I will say here that everybody in this particular category can alter a little bit. Um, some people go right in the morning, some people go, you know, two hours later, some people go in the middle of the day. It's consistency that's key here. If you're not going at all, that of course is a red flag. But, and some people say, you know, a bowel movement every single day is what should happen. Every, in this case, I would say everybody is different here. Some people go every other day, and that's what works great for them. Some people go three times a day. So it all depends on how your body is processing. As long as you're going, um, and you're not bloated, you're not constipated, you don't have diarrhea. I would say that, you know, you're okay. If the, the warning signs to look for is if you go a couple of days without having anything, if you're feeling bloated, if you're either constipated, have diarrhea or both. Um, if you're feeling nauseous, all of those things, that's when I would say that something is wrong. But, um, generally our large intestine is where all of the night's detox ends up. So during this period, it's, it's bringing all that sludge down to where it needs to go in order to be expelled from your body. We just kind of talked about nighttime practices. What are some simple morning practices that could help support this process? That's a great question. Um, the thing that I love to recommend is a lot of anti-inflammatory drinking. As I see you there with your green shake, and I'd love to know what's in that. I can probably guess, but, um, so definitely when you wake up in the morning, it's so important to start your day with a room temperature glass of water. Why? Because that's what our, uh, ancestors did. Their water was not ice cold. Um, you know, it was just plain water and that's what our body responds to best. So, but I will say adding things like lemon, lemon juice, um, apple cider vinegar, some ginger, some turmeric, uh, that can really help too, to finish the detox process in the morning if you're not completely there already. Um, and it's, it can really help to detox the liver, keep the bile flowing, regenerate the gut lining, all of those things. It's so important to have that glass of water before you have anything else in the morning. So that's what I would say is a morning routine. Um, but also back to the electronics, when we wake up in the morning, our first light should be the outside light. It shouldn't be a phone. It shouldn't be the incandescent fake light of our bedroom. We should wake up with the morning sun. We should get that first 15 minutes of that, um, and nothing else. And we need to wake slowly. Otherwise our cortisol is going to spike. We want everything to naturally come back up. If we, uh, you know, grab our phones right away, our melatonin is going to shut off. Our cortisol is going to spike. And that's how we're going to start our day. Instead of gradually coming there, allowing our body to put herself in the place where she needs to be in the morning. That's where that's what we need to do. So those would be my suggestions.
(16:17 - 20:54) Yeah. And unfortunately, I feel like a lot of people grab the coffee first thing in the morning too, which is probably not the best thing to do. We should, we should generally wait 45 minutes to an hour. Otherwise, like I said, our cortisol is going to spike. So that's why it's so important for us to just have that glass of water first and allow our bodies to be where they need to be. Don't rush. Don't rush in the morning. And if, if you have a busy morning schedule, like so many people do, then, um, you know, wake up a half hour early, wake up 45 minutes earlier, just to allow yourself that time to get to where you need to be. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there could also be like, I know I, I worked with a doctor and this was conventional medicine, but I feel like he was probably onto something, but you know, he talked a lot about like bowel training, you know, in the morning to just take an extra time, even to sit on the toilet in the morning to kind of train your body to realize like, okay, it's time to empty out everything that, you know, just happened overnight. And I've heard of doctors doing that too. And I love that. I think that's a great thing that you can, you know, it's just like training for anything else. You're telling your body what it is that she needs to do. And, um, it can really be beneficial in that regard. And it's just the same thing. Like when you go to bed and you're doing all of those nighttime rituals, you're telling her it's time to calm down. It's time to wind down. So yes, it's, that definitely can help. Yeah. So I do want to talk about shift workers because I mean, I myself, oh my gosh, because, you know, as a nurse, I worked just about anything. I worked noon to midnight. I did the 7pm to 7am. I did 3pm to 3am. I mean, I did like just about everyone you could probably think of. So how, you know, how can shift workers maybe make the best out of this? Because the reality is there are going to be people that work overnight. So how can they kind of make the best of this kind of fighting against the natural rhythm? You know, any advice for them? Yes. So it's not a hopeless scenario for them. But it does need to be focused on. So it does need some intention behind it. One of the most important things I would say is that they need to, when they do sleep, they need to set the temperature in the room to cool. 62 degrees is ideal. Eye masks are imperative, and just a dark room, and zero tolerance for interruptions when you do sleep. So the process of regeneration, while it does happen at night, when you mimic that sleep pattern over and over again, consistently, your body is going to pick up on that. And then when you do have that time to sleep overnight, the way people who are not shift workers do, you need to take advantage of that. And you need to make sure that you are in bed when your body starts to get ready, you know, internally, and make the most out of that time that you do have. The other thing that I would say is extremely important is to pay extra attention to supporting the liver. So supporting the liver, because our liver is our main detox organ. So supporting that while you're awake during your wake hours is crucial to helping everything else fall into place in terms of detoxification. So like I mentioned before, eating those cruciferous vegetables, beets are excellent for your liver. The apple cider vinegar and the lemon water, things like that, the castor oil packs, the lymphatic drainage, all of those things are crucial to supporting the liver, to supporting the detox. And if you are a shift worker, this can help you as well. Eating right is imperative because your metabolism, your metabolic state is affected when you're a shift worker, because you don't get that regenerative sleep. So doing those things can really be a precursor to helping you be healthier.
(20:55 - 22:28) Just curious, would you recommend, like, for example, I was, you know, when I worked as a shift worker, I had two or three night shifts, and I have two or three off, would you recommend still trying to stay somewhat on like that night shift schedule, you know, like, you know, against your normal clock on your days off? Again, so you can kind of tell your body, I would imagine flipping back and forth wouldn't, wouldn't be good, right? So that really is a tough one. Yeah. And there are two different schools of thoughts on that more. But in my opinion, I would say that if you're able to sleep on through the regular circadian rhythm nighttime hours, I would say do that. I know that, you know, it may seem inconsistent. But given your body that time, no matter how infrequent it might be to regenerate during the time that your body is supposed to regenerate, I would say is probably more important than trying to stay consistent with the hours of sleep. Because shift work is not going to be forever either, right? You hope. And when you do come off of that, your body needs to be able to recognize the regular circadian rhythm, body clock timing. If you totally go off of that, it's going to be harder for you to get back in when you do come off shift work.
(22:29 - 23:00) So I would just say, for me, in my mind of logic, it would be more important to allow your body this the natural circadian circadian rhythm, body clock timing when you are not doing shift work. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and I would always try to group, you know, my nights together so that I have like a good handful of days off too, which I think is a great, you know, one off one on like, forget it.
(23:00 - 24:20) And that's really smart. That's really smart. Because when you give your body that few, those few days where it is getting that nurturing that it needs, you're able to regenerate what you need and then go back to that shift work. So maybe it's not affecting you as much because you are getting that really great intentional sleep that you need, that your body needs. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and I think too, again, from personal experience, I think, you know, this is where, yes, you talked about kind of what to eat and supporting the liver during that time, but also just being really mindful of how often, because I know there were some days where I would almost feel like I was eating 24 hours, you know, because like, especially if I was like flipping between, you know, I had a couple of days off or something, but I think that would be super important in this case too, right? Oh, for sure. And so part of my protocol, I've developed a synergistic eating protocol from my women and it's synergy, strategery, and intentional eating, and it can apply here very well. So when we eat certain foods together, when we pair certain foods, we're able to absorb the nutrients that much more. (24:21 - 28:20) So for instance, if we eat turmeric, we should also eat it with black pepper and paired with healthy fat. And why is that? Because the curcumin that's in turmeric is increased by the pepper by 2000%. The absorption rate is increased by about 2000%. And then when we eat it with a healthy fat, it just really helps that absorption. So that's one example of strategic or synergistic eating. Another example of that would be if we eat spinach to pair it with lemon, because lemon helps to increase or vitamin C helps to increase the absorbability of the iron. So things like that. So I've developed that protocol and then strategic eating is the timing that we're eating. So fasting, fasting is so important. A lot of people feel that they can't do it or it doesn't work for them. But if you know how to do it, and you know when to do it with your body's rhythm, that can really help with your metabolism. It helps women lose weight even during menopause. So understanding the times to eat is crucial. And then intentional eating, eating with purpose. Are you eating because you're hungry? Are you eating because you're bored? Are you eating because you're grieving? Why are you eating? What are you looking to eat? Are you having cravings? Well, if you're having cravings, why are you having cravings? Are you getting enough protein? So all of these things really need to be looked at in conjunction with each other. You cannot look at them in singularity. And that's the beauty of being a holistic practitioner is that I look at my women as a whole in all aspects. You're never just looking at one thing. Yeah. Love it. Love it. Love it. So much good stuff. I know. We could go on forever. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Any last closing thoughts around any of this? So the thing that I like to leave behind in a message is, like I touched on before, we're coming into 2026 and our resolutions are probably being listed out. But the one thing that I hope most people will do for themselves this year is learn about their health. Take an active interest in your health because that resolution can't be broken. Once you know, you know. Um, it's like having an education that nobody can take away from you and where you go with that is up to you, but it's always with you. It doesn't require a doctor's appointment. It doesn't require a prescription. It's you knowing what your body is asking for. And that is the biggest gift that you can give yourself going into 2026. Love that. Love that. Well, last question is how can somebody connect with you or find you? Yeah. Yeah. So I am on Facebook at KCL Wellness. LLC is the Instagram as well. And my email KCL Wellness LLC at Gmail. I have a couple Kate at KCL Wellness. You'll find me there. So just remembering KCL Wellness or Kate at KCL Wellness will get you to where you want to be KCL Wellness.com. So yeah, that's me. Awesome. Awesome. I'll of course link all those in the show notes as well. But thank you so much for this conversation. I think this could really open some eyes and help a lot of people.
(28:20 - 28:29) Um, so I really, really appreciate it. Yeah, no, thank you very much. I appreciate it. And thank you for all your great work. I know you do great work too. So thank you.
(28:31 - 29:44) I can't thank Kate enough for this conversation. I love how she explained the horary body clock in a way that feels both empowering and practical, not like another thing to obsess over, but a way to listen to what your body might be asking for. If you're listening and you're thinking, okay, this explains a lot. Here are a few simple takeaways to start with. Try a 9 p.m. wind down window, dim lights, reduce screens, stop eating and help your nervous system shift. Keep your sleep environment cool and dark to support deeper rest. If you wake up at the same time every night, get curious. What time is it and what might your body be processing then? And most importantly, treat sleep like a non-negotiable foundation, not a reward you earn after you get everything else done. If you want to connect with Kate, you can find her at KCL wellness. She's on Facebook and Instagram, and you can also visit KCL wellness.com. I'll link everything in the show notes. So it's easy for you. And as always, if this episode helped you, would you take 10 seconds to share it with a friend or leave a quick review? It generally helps more women find the show, especially women with PCOS who are tired of feeling dismissed and are ready to heal from the inside out.
(29:45 - 30:27) Lastly, how are your resolutions going? If you're tired of setting New Year's resolutions that don't last, if you've ever felt like you are the problem because motivation fades or life gets in the way, no matter what time of year it is, the Anti-Resolution Revolution event is for you. From January 26th through the 31st, you'll receive free daily recordings from each of our amazing speakers delivered straight to your inbox so you can watch on your own schedule. And the goal isn't to give you another plan to follow. It's to help you finally understand why resolutions fail every year in a fun gamified way and what actually needs to change for sustainable progress to happen. You can register for free. I'll have everything waiting for you in the show notes.
(30:27 - 30:35) Alright, I'm sending you so much love and I'll see you in the next episode of PCOS unfiltered: Nourish, heal, thrive.