A Neurologist’s View on Sleep with Dr. Stasha Gominak

A Neurologist’s View on Sleep with Dr. Stasha Gominak

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Okay, welcome back everyone. Welcome to another podcast. I'm Dr. Michael Bennett. I'm here with Dr. Stasha Mak. Welcome.

Thank you for inviting me, Mike.

Thank you. I'm so glad you took some time out of your busy schedule to talk with us today. Before the podcast, we spoke a little bit about our backgrounds, and I told you about the title of this podcast. And after listening to you teach on one of your videos on YouTube, I just felt like we were kindred spirits—heading down this road of trying to get the body’s healing properties of sleep into the hands of everybody so they can benefit from that.

It sounds like you've been inspired as well.

I have been. I'm thrilled with the name of your podcast. It's wonderful.

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From Neurologist to Global Sleep Coach

That's great. Could you share with the listeners a little bit about yourself?

I grew up in California, then did my training in Houston and Boston. After that, I ended up back in California for several years. My husband and I moved to Tyler, Texas—a small town in East Texas—because we wanted to live in a small town that had a large medical center.

We've now been in Tyler for 15 years. Around 2004–2005, I started to get interested in sleep science, and in 2016 I retired from neurology. I really wanted to change what I was doing to bring the things that worked best for my patients directly to the public. So now, I'm a sleep coach—I no longer practice neurology—and I work with people all over the world.

Wow, that’s fascinating. So as a sleep coach… obviously you saw a lot of patients as a neurologist. But what changed in your paradigm? Why do you now call yourself a sleep coach?

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The Emotional Divide Between MDs and Dentists

What I discovered as I left medicine and started connecting with sleep dentists was surprising. These dentists picked up on the information I’d started posting online in 2016, and they invited me to lecture. I noticed some distinct differences between physicians and dentists that I had never fully appreciated before.

For example, many dentists had fathers—or now mothers—who were dentists. And the weird thing is, doctors who had fathers who were doctors usually hated them. They weren't available, they were emotionally distant, and not involved in their kids’ lives.

It’s rare to hear someone say, “My dad was a doctor, and I wanted to follow in his footsteps.” But every dentist I meet says, “My dad was the coolest dude.” That’s a totally different dynamic than what you typically find in medicine.

Interesting.

It got me thinking about why that is. Dentists and MDs start on nearly identical paths—we study the same sciences, we learn about the same body—but something shifts after that.

And what do you think causes that shift?

Here’s my theory: if you walk toward a person holding a big needle and you’re going to stick it in their mouth—and you can’t make a real human connection with them—you’re not going to stay in business. In dentistry, you're essentially in the business of hurting people. If you can't build a trusting rapport, patients won't come back.

Also, a lot of dentists started their careers literally standing next to their parents while they worked with patients. That’s not the case for MDs.

In medical education, we split off after the foundational sciences. When we go to the bedside, we learn in groups, with residents and an attending physician. The patient becomes incidental to the education process. We’re taught that our job is to impress the attending—not connect with the patient.

That’s so true.

So what I saw was that these sleep dentists have a completely different feel in how they relate to their patients. They're caregivers first. It’s a relationship. That model of dentistry really shook me—in a good way.

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Reclaiming Human-to-Human Healing

A lot has happened in medicine over the last 10 years that makes it hard to sit and make a true connection with the people we treat. A big part of that is the insurance system—but also our training.

So where I am now is: I’m a human being helping another human being. That’s all I ever wanted to be—and I think it’s what all of us want.

Mm-hmm.

We’re all in this together. I’m not above you because I’m wearing a white coat. I’m not separate from you. I’m living on the same planet, dealing with the same struggles. I just want to help.

That’s a beautiful way to think of the caregiver-patient connection. Do you feel like making that kind of connection helps patients follow your recommendations more effectively?

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Healing Through Intention and Energy

That's a beautiful way to think of the caregiver-patient connection. Do you feel like making that kind of connection helps patients follow your recommendations more effectively?

Absolutely. And there’s another piece to that: if I feel the love you’re sending me—and I actually believe that’s possible, even if we’re on a Zoom call—I’m going to follow through.

Because now I have this real sense of support, which allows me to start to believe that I’m going to get better. That belief is central.

One of the most important things I teach my clients is how to talk to their body. The body is not this thing that’s separate from you. It’s your spirit’s partner.

That may sound like spiritual weirdness, but it’s absolutely real. You have a body that’s designed to heal. You just need to trust it and guide it.

And when you do that—when a person starts believing in that healing process—does the shift in health happen more easily?

Yes. If I say to you, “You’re broken. I’ll fix you,” that’s a hierarchy. It’s also a lie.

But if I say, “Hey, your body knows what to do. Let’s work together to support that process,” that’s true healing. That’s empowering.

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Why Modern Medicine Trains Disconnection

Another point I want to bring up here is that physicians are literally trained to keep emotional distance. We're told not to get too close, not to touch unless it's clinical, not to show too much emotion. That training creates a barrier between the patient and the provider.

In contrast, dentists, especially airway dentists, have no choice but to interact in a vulnerable zone—the mouth! That demands trust and empathy. It's an entirely different clinical culture.

And you know what? The public knows this. They feel the coldness in the traditional medical experience. They leave offices feeling dismissed, unheard, and unhealed. They go home with a prescription, but no hope.

Right. And so then the real opportunity for change isn’t just the treatment—it’s the philosophy behind it.

Exactly. And here's where I think dentists can lead. They are more naturally poised to say, “Let’s look at your airway, your sleep, your tongue posture.” They're not just waiting for a drug—they're watching the whole-body interplay.

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Rethinking Hierarchy in Healthcare

So much of medicine has been built around the idea that the doctor is the authority. But the best healing I've seen happens when that hierarchy disappears.

When the patient steps in with equal presence and says, “I want to participate in this,” that's when they get better.

I’ve had to train myself to stop talking so much. Let the patient speak. Let them guide me. I might know science, but they know themselves.

That’s huge. And as someone who works closely with patients in dentistry, I can see how different that dynamic is when patients feel like you’re both part of the solution.

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The Microbiome–Sleep Connection

That’s huge. And as someone who works closely with patients in dentistry, I can see how different that dynamic is when patients feel like you’re both part of the solution.

Right—and there’s another layer to this that most physicians don’t talk about. In 2012, I had an experience that changed everything. I realized my patients were not healing because of a deficiency—not of discipline, not of drugs, but of vitamin D.

Vitamin D?

Yes. I had been using CPAP machines and oral appliances, and I had done sleep studies on all my patients. But I kept running into the same problem: even with those tools, many of them still didn’t get better.

I started reading more research and stumbled on data showing that vitamin D receptors are in the brainstem—specifically, the areas that control REM sleep and muscle paralysis during REM.

Wow.

So I began testing my patients’ vitamin D levels, and 85–90% of them were deficient. I started supplementing them to optimal levels—not just “normal”—and within six to eight weeks, their dreams came back. Their sleep became restorative.

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Gut Health, B Vitamins, and REM Sleep

Here’s where it gets even more interesting: I had patients whose dreams would return, but six months later, the dreams were gone again—even though their vitamin D levels were still normal.

That’s strange. What did you discover?

It took me a few years, but I eventually realized that the vitamin D had “woken up” the sleeping bacteria in the gut microbiome. Those bacteria make B vitamins—like B5, B6, B12—which are required for the brain to stay in REM.

When people have taken antibiotics repeatedly, or eaten poor diets, those microbes are damaged. They can't make the necessary cofactors anymore.

So vitamin D starts the healing—but if the gut isn’t healthy, that healing gets stalled. This is why I now recommend not just vitamin D supplementation, but also targeted B vitamin therapy and gut health support.

That’s incredibly holistic. And it really ties in with what dentists can see in the mouth. If the oral microbiome is off, it’s often a sign that the gut microbiome is off, too.

Exactly! And that’s why I believe dentists are uniquely positioned to detect early signs of systemic imbalance. They’re seeing the surfaces and structures that tell a much deeper story.

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A New Model of Interdisciplinary Healing

So, when I began working more with dentists, I realized they had a level of insight that I, as a neurologist, never had. I wasn’t looking in the mouth, so I missed half the problem.

And now you’re seeing how airway, posture, breathing, sleep, and nutrition all interconnect.

Absolutely. It’s all part of the same web. And if you think about it, the person who spends the most time looking at the airway—before any disease sets in—is the general dentist.

So why wouldn’t we empower them to screen for airway disorders, mouth breathing, tongue posture, and refer patients appropriately?

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Childhood Sleep as the Blueprint for Adult Health

So why wouldn’t we empower them to screen for airway disorders, mouth breathing, tongue posture, and refer patients appropriately?

Exactly—and that’s where we get into something that I’m extremely passionate about: pediatric sleep. What happens in childhood lays the neurological blueprint for adult health.

When I started asking adult patients about their sleep habits, I would often find out that the dysfunction didn’t start last year—it started when they were 5 or 6 years old.

They snored. They had dark circles under their eyes. They wet the bed. They were diagnosed with ADHD, but no one ever asked how they were sleeping.

We see that all the time in our practice. So many kids come in with sleep issues that are dismissed as behavioral. But when you look at their mouths, their posture, their breathing—you realize it's all connected.

It is. And the tragedy is that these same kids grow up to be adults with anxiety, depression, autoimmune disorders, and chronic fatigue—and no one ever connects the dots.

But if we can start to intervene early, we can prevent those chronic diseases before they begin.

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Bedwetting, Behavior, and Airway Dysfunction

Let’s talk about something like bedwetting, which many people assume is purely behavioral. What I’ve discovered is that it often points to a deeper neurological dysregulation—usually caused by disrupted REM sleep.

REM sleep is when the brain consolidates memory, controls muscle tone, and regulates autonomic function. If kids aren’t spending enough time in REM, their nervous system doesn’t mature properly.

Which is why you’ll see kids who can’t sit still, can’t regulate emotion, or struggle academically—and we just throw meds at them.

Right. But if you treat their sleep-disordered breathing, everything changes. Their behavior improves. Their energy stabilizes. They become more emotionally resilient.

I’ve seen it firsthand. And this is why I’m so passionate about getting this message into the hands of dentists, pediatricians, and even teachers.

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Changing the Paradigm in Pediatrics

The medical model has trained us to wait until there’s a diagnosis. But by the time a kid is labeled with ADD, OCD, or insomnia, the brain is already struggling.

We need to get better at spotting the early signs—things like:

• Mouth breathing at night
• Snoring in toddlers
• Dark circles under the eyes
• Tonsil inflammation
• Narrow palates and crowded teeth

Dentists see these signs every day. They just need the confidence and the tools to speak up and say, “This may be an airway issue.”

It’s incredible how even simple interventions—like nasal sprays, dietary changes, or myofunctional therapy—can change a child’s life.

Absolutely. We’re not talking about complex, high-risk procedures here. We’re talking about early prevention, better screening, and restoring trust in the body’s natural ability to heal.

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A Roadmap to Restoring REM Sleep

It’s incredible how even simple interventions—like nasal sprays, dietary changes, or myofunctional therapy—can change a child’s life.

Absolutely. And that brings us to something I’ve spent over a decade refining: the REM repair roadmap.

This is a protocol I developed based on years of seeing what actually works in the real world—not just theories from research papers, but real patient outcomes.

So how does it work? What’s the core idea behind the roadmap?

The foundation is optimizing vitamin D levels. But I found that just raising D wasn't enough. The next phase is about restoring the gut microbiome so that patients can properly produce B vitamins—especially B5, B6, and B12.

These are the vitamins that allow the brainstem nuclei to paralyze the body during REM and keep breathing regulated. When they're missing, sleep stays shallow. Dreams are absent. The brain can't do its nightly repair.

So I created a step-by-step protocol:

1. Test and normalize vitamin D to the optimal zone (60–80 ng/mL—not just the low “normal” range).
2. Supplement with a balanced B-complex—but carefully and in correct ratios.
3. Time the dosing to match circadian cues, often in the morning to avoid overstimulation at night.
4. Support gut health with prebiotics and lifestyle changes to allow microbes to regrow.

That’s incredibly comprehensive. And it’s something that empowers patients to take control of their sleep without jumping straight to pharmaceuticals.

Exactly. In fact, many of my patients were stuck on sleep aids or cycling through providers because no one could explain why they never felt rested—even with CPAP or dental devices.

But once we addressed the underlying neurochemical deficit, their sleep improved in measurable, meaningful ways.

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Real Results: Reclaiming Restorative Sleep

What’s most encouraging is that the results show up not just in the sleep, but in the mood, the immune system, the digestive tract, and the teeth.

We’ve had dentists report that their patients have fewer cavities, healthier gums, and better compliance with oral appliances after doing this protocol. They’re less anxious in the chair. They heal better post-surgery.

That’s such a key connection. We often focus on one metric—like snoring—but the real victory is seeing the whole person get better.

Yes. And that’s where I think dentistry has an incredible opportunity—not just to treat disease, but to lead a new paradigm of preventative care.

When you understand the role of sleep in every system—from inflammation to memory to oral health—you realize how vital this conversation is.

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Empowering Dentists as Wellness Leaders

Yes. And that’s where I think dentistry has an incredible opportunity—not just to treat disease, but to lead a new paradigm of preventative care.

Absolutely. And I believe the key is giving dentists permission to trust what they already know. They’re seeing the signs. They just need the language and the confidence to say, “This may be an airway issue. Let’s explore it.”

When a dentist starts viewing their practice as a gateway to total-body health, they transform lives. This is not outside their scope—this is their superpower.

So let’s talk practically. If a dentist is listening to this and says, “Okay, I want to get started,” what should be their first steps?

Start with education. Learn about the STOP-BANG questionnaire, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and how to observe oral-facial signs like a scalloped tongue, high-vaulted palate, or mouth breathing.

From there, build partnerships with local sleep physicians, functional medicine doctors, or other airway-focused providers. That collaboration helps you feel confident when referring.

And finally, involve your whole team. Your hygienists, assistants, and front desk need to understand why airway screening matters and how it connects to the care you provide.

Right. Because when the entire dental team sees their role as advocates for sleep and wellness, it becomes part of the culture.

Exactly. And culture is what shifts behavior—not just in the office, but in the patient’s life.

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Final Thoughts: Start With a Question

If you’re a dentist—or even a hygienist or assistant—just start with this:

“How are you sleeping?”

That simple question opens the door to a deeper, more meaningful relationship with your patient. And from there, you can begin to screen, educate, and refer—playing a pivotal role in their overall health journey.

That’s why we’re doing this podcast. Because it’s more than teeth. It’s about quality of life, longevity, and empowering people to live their healthiest lives.

Yes. It’s a new era of dentistry. And it starts with awareness, conversation, and the courage to step into the role of a wellness leader.

Let’s keep leading. Let’s keep healing. Let’s keep asking the right questions.

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