In this episode of The Wellness Circle, host Camille sits down with Dr. Lena Faure, a wellness nutritionist who helps people build healthier sleep and evening habits. The conversation starts from a place most of us know well: falling into bed exhausted, only to have your brain replay the entire day the moment your head hits the pillow. Rather than jumping straight to CBD, Lena walks through what actually happens, or doesn’t happen, in the hour before bedtime, and where CBD realistically fits into that picture.
Episode in 60 Seconds
- Camille talks with Dr. Lena Faure, a wellness nutritionist, about how to actually build better sleep habits.
- Lena starts with the hour before bed, not the night itself, since the body needs a wind-down window rather than an off switch.
- Her first question to anyone who says ‘I can’t sleep’ is never about what they take, it’s about what they do between dinner and bedtime.
- CBD is described as a wind-down aid, one more cue in the evening transition, not a sleep aid in the traditional sense.
- Three simple habits make up the routine: dim the lights, write down what’s on your mind, and repeat one consistent gesture every night.
- Consistency is what creates the signal. After a couple of weeks, the body starts preparing for sleep before you even lie down.
- Gesture of the day: dim your lights thirty minutes before bed, nothing else.
It Starts Before You Even Get to Bed
Lena’s approach begins in an unexpected place: not the night itself, but the hour right before it. As she explains on the show, the body doesn’t have an off switch. It needs what she calls a wind-down window, a stretch of time where things gradually slow down instead of stopping all at once. The problem, she says, is that most people go straight from bright screens and notification pings to their pillow, expecting everything to shut off on its own.
That’s why her first question to someone who says ‘I just can’t sleep’ is never ‘what are you taking.’ It’s ‘what are you actually doing between dinner and bedtime.’ The honest answer, she notes, is almost always ‘nothing’ or ‘scrolling my phone.’ Lena is quick to say this isn’t a criticism. Nobody ever taught most of us how to slow down. We know how to accelerate all day long, then we ask our body to slam on the brakes the second we lie down. It just doesn’t work that way.
So Where Does CBD Actually Fit In?
Camille pushes for a straight answer here, no overselling. Lena’s response is grounded: for a lot of people, CBD works as a wind-down aid, one more cue inside that evening transition. She’s careful to draw a line, though. It’s not a sleep aid in the traditional sense, and going in expecting that kind of effect sets people up for disappointment.
What people tend to describe instead, according to Lena, is something more subtle: feeling a little less wired, with the mental noise dropping down a notch. From there, it becomes easier to actually drift off, simply because you stop fighting it. Camille sums it up in a line Lena fully agrees with: it’s not the CBD that puts you to sleep, it’s you finally getting out of your own way.
The bigger point Lena makes is that CBD supports a routine, it doesn’t replace one. If it’s layered on top of a night full of screens and coffee, she’s clear that nobody should expect miracles. It works alongside good habits, not instead of them.
Building a Routine You Will Actually Stick To
When Camille asks what a realistic evening routine looks like for someone without two hours to spare, Lena keeps it simple: three habits, nothing more.
Dim the Lights Thirty Minutes Before Bed
The first habit is dimming the lights about thirty minutes before bed. This doesn’t mean pitch black, just warmer, softer light, a lamp instead of the overhead fixture. Lena explains that the body reads light almost like a clock, responding to it in ways that shape how ready it feels for sleep.
Get the Day Out of Your Head
The second habit is writing things down, just two lines in a notebook: what’s still on your mind, and what needs to happen tomorrow. The goal, Lena says, is to hand the day off to the paper instead of replaying it at midnight.
Repeat One Gesture Every Night
The third habit is choosing one consistent gesture, something that happens every single night to signal it’s time. That could be a cup of herbal tea, a few deep breaths, or CBD if that’s part of the routine. Lena is emphatic that what matters most isn’t which gesture you pick, it’s the repetition.
That’s because the body loves patterns. It anticipates. Once the same small sequence has been repeated for a couple of weeks, the body starts preparing for sleep before you even reach the pillow. As Lena puts it, you’re working with your body instead of asking it for a last-minute miracle.
The Trap to Avoid: Turning Bedtime Into a Test
Camille also asks about the flip side, the habits worth stopping. Lena calls out one big trap in particular: turning bedtime into a test. That means checking the clock, calculating how many hours of sleep are left, telling yourself you have to fall asleep right now. That pressure, she says, is exactly what keeps people awake.
Her advice for those nights when sleep just isn’t coming: get up, keep the lights low, do something quiet and calm, and go back to bed only when the urge to sleep actually shows up. The point, as Lena frames it, is that the bed should stay the place for sleep, not the place for the battle to fall asleep.
The episode wraps with a single gesture of the day: dim the lights thirty minutes before bed, nothing else, and pay attention to how differently the body starts to settle in.
Key Takeaways
- Sleep starts well before you get into bed, in the habits of the hour beforehand.
- CBD can support an evening routine as a wind-down aid, but it does not replace healthy habits, and it is not a traditional sleep aid.
- Three simple habits, dimmer lights, writing down the day, and one repeated gesture, build a realistic routine anyone can keep.
- Consistency is what creates the signal the body responds to, more than any single product or habit on its own.
- Turning bedtime into a test by watching the clock is one of the most common traps, and it tends to backfire.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CBD a sleep aid?
According to Dr. Lena Faure on the podcast, CBD is best understood as a wind-down aid rather than a sleep aid in the traditional sense. Many people describe feeling less wired and noticing the mental noise drop down a notch, which can make it easier to drift off, but it works alongside a routine rather than replacing one.
Where should I start if I have trouble sleeping?
The episode suggests starting with the hour before bed rather than the night itself. Lena’s first question is always about what happens between dinner and bedtime, since that window shapes how ready the body is to wind down.
What should I do if I can’t fall asleep?
Lena recommends getting up if sleep isn’t coming, keeping the lights low, doing something quiet and calm, and returning to bed only when the urge to sleep shows up again. The idea is to keep the bed associated with sleep, not with the struggle to fall asleep.
Why does repeating the same routine every night matter?
Because the body responds to patterns. Once a simple nightly sequence, like dimming the lights or writing down the day, has been repeated consistently for a couple of weeks, the body starts preparing for sleep before you even lie down.
The full conversation between Camille and Dr. Lena Faure covers all of this in more depth, including how to build a routine that fits a busy schedule. It’s available now on The Wellness Circle podcast.
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