The Science Behind Bad Sleep — & What You Can Actually Do About It

Let's say it: you are not imagining how tired you are, and "just go to bed earlier" was never going to fix it.

In this episode, Jillian sits down with Dr. Marguerite Weston, Courtney Gilbert, PA-C, and Colleen Bush, RDN, to pull apart why so many of us are running on empty. Cortisol spikes waking you up at 3 a.m. Gut imbalances quietly wrecking sleep quality. Hormones shifting everything from fertility to perimenopause.

There's a root cause, and they're going to find it!

This episode is for anyone who has been told their sleep is "fine" while feeling anything but.

Everything We're Covering:

• Why 45% of adults are sleeping less than six hours a night
• The real reason you keep waking up at 3 a.m. (hint — it's not your bladder)
• How gut bacteria imbalance shows up as poor sleep, even without GI symptoms
• The cortisol-melatonin relationship and what a DUTCH Hormone Testing panel can reveal
• Why "you can't out-supplement bad sleep"
• One week of bad sleep equals about one extra pound — & they show the math!
• REM sleep, deep sleep and why timing matters as much as total hours
• Do women actually need more sleep than men, or just better sleep
• What's really happening to sleep during perimenopause and menopause
• Melatonin: the dose most people are taking wrong
• Magnesium, L-theanine and what's worth trying
• Cognitive behavioral therapy and why it beats sleep medication in the research
• The five-hour mark your brain needs to start clearing waste overnight
• The vital importance of early morning light exposure

Meet Your Experts:

• Dr. Marguerite Weston, MD, IFMCP — Functional Medicine Director, dual board-certified in Family and Sports Medicine, bringing root-cause clarity to a topic most people have only gotten surface-level advice on.
• Courtney Gilbert, PA-C — Hormone health and fertility specialist who connects the dots between cortisol, melatonin and the overnight wake-ups so many women have just learned to live with.
• Colleen Bush, RDN, LDN, IFNCP — Functional dietitian who makes the case that gut health and sleep quality are far more connected than most people realize.
• Jillian Birkle — Host of Asking For a Friend, bringing the questions patients are already thinking but haven't had the chance to ask out loud.

What Your Provider Is Actually Thinking When You Walk Through The Door

You don't have to know exactly what you want to walk into a consultation. You just have to show up. In this episode, Jillian sits down with two of our most versatile providers for a genuinely honest conversation about what aesthetic medicine looks, feels and sounds like — from both sides of the treatment chair.

Paige Brudzinski, RN, and Andie Schroeder, LME, cover everything from cosmetic tattooing and scar camouflage to neurotoxin, laser treatments and skincare — while Dr. Marguerite Weston, MD, IFMCP, joins as a fellow curious patient with some pretty direct questions of her own.

This episode is for anyone who's aesthetically curious but not quite sure where to start — or who's been curious for a while but hasn't made the call yet.

Everything We're Covering:

• What Paige and Andie actually do all day (and why "punished by Paige" is the best reputation to have)
• How cosmetic tattooing (from nano brows to lip blushing) can genuinely simplify your morning routine
• Lip blushing vs. lip filler: the order of operations that most patients don't know about
• What scar camouflage is, what scars can be treated, and the emotional weight that comes with that work
• The lesser-known places you can get Botox — including some that go well beyond looking refreshed
• Dynamic vs. static wrinkles: when to start neurotoxin and how to start gradually
• How Paige and Andie collaborate on patient treatment plans — and why working somewhere with no commission policy changes everything
• What happens when patients get anxious in the chair (spoiler: there's a whole system, and it involves Jolly Ranchers)
• Sunscreen: medical-grade vs. drugstore, SPF numbers that actually matter, and why "find one you'll wear" is valid advice
• The art of reading a patient's face before you've even done anything
• Natural results defined: undetectable vs. just-had-a-great-night's-sleep
• The consultation: why Andie finds the idea of treating someone without one "unfathomable."

"Emotionally, a lot goes into a scar, especially a self-harm scar. It's like a new chapter — ending that identity that you had."

Meet Your Experts:

• ⚕️ Paige Brudzinski, RN, BSN — Aesthetic provider specializing in injectables, laser treatments and body contouring. Former NICU nurse. Known for precision, patience and a treatment philosophy that patients lovingly describe as "punished by Paige."
• ⚕️ Andie Schroeder, LME — Licensed cosmetic tattoo artist and medical aesthetician specializing in lip blushing, permanent brows, scar camouflage and paramedical tattooing. Obsessively committed to natural, undetectable results.
• ⚕️ Marguerite Weston, MD, IFMCP — Dual board-certified functional medicine physician and resident aesthetics patient with very reasonable sunscreen opinions.
• 🎙️ Jillian Birkle — Aesthetic medicine patient, endlessly busy woman & host of the Asking For a Friend podcast.

Gynecomastia affects far more men than we realize. And the worst part? You can’t always diet or lift your way out of it.

In this episode of Asking For A Friend, our experts sit down with a real patient to talk honestly about men’s health, confidence, hormones and the plastic surgery procedure that profoundly changed one firefighter’s life.

This episode is for any man who’s ever hidden behind 2 T-shirts, questioned his body or wondered what options actually exist — & for anyone supporting the men in their lives.

What We Cover in This Episode:

• Jarrad’s real-life gynecomastia journey, from childhood to adulthood
• How to tell the difference between body fat and true gynecomastia
• Why you cannot outlift gynecomastia — & why weight loss can sometimes worsen its appearance
• Gynecomastia surgery explained (including when it can be done under local anesthesia)
• The most common procedures men choose today at our practice
• Some of the more extreme surgical procedures that we don’t offer
• How men’s hormones shift over time — & how that change impacts energy, focus, body composition & signs of aging
• Preventative aesthetic treatments men are actually doing to enhance their appearance & their skin health

Meet The Cast:

• Carrie Esposito — Host, asking the questions men rarely hear asked out loud
• Jarrad Tracey — Firefighter and patient sharing his unfiltered experience
• Jeffrey Donaldson, MD — Board-certified plastic surgeon in Columbus, Ohio specializing in gynecomastia surgery
• Marguerite Weston, MD, IFMCP — Functional medicine physician focused on men’s hormones and health
• Stacie Isler, PA-C — Renowned aesthetics provider, with a unique eye for male facial balancing & other nonsurgical skin health enhancements