Member since October 2021
Shawna Robins is an international best-selling author of 2 books - Powerful Sleep – Rest Deeply, Repair Your Brain and Restore Your Life, and Irresistibly Healthy – Simple Strategies to Feel Vibrant, Alive, Healthy and Full of Energy Again.
Her signature program, Irresistibly Healthy, an online wellness program for women who want to reset their habits and change their lives.
Shawna is a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach, a graduate of the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, and a certified Miracle-Minded coach with Marianne Williamson.
Shawna has been featured on several podcasts and in Authority Magazine, Thrive Global, and The Huffington Post.
Cooking, sleeping, writing, walking on the beach at sunset, teaching, traveling to fun places, meeting new people and learning new things
Currently there are almost six million Americans diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and two- thirds of them are women. And...more women will die of Alzheimer's and dementia than breast cancer.
Let that sink in a minute. I'll wait.
Alzheimer's disease and dementia doesn’t care if you run a Fortune 500 company, created a $100 million-dollar business from scratch, or sit on the boards of some of the most influential companies in the world. This is a woman’s disease. And if you are a woman who doesn’t make time for herself, then you are at risk.
Why? Because Alzheimer’s disease is a lifestyle disease. So is heart disease, diabetes, obesity and almost every autoimmune disease. All these chronic diseases affect many more women than men.
This is an avoidable tragedy that I want to help end now. I want to start a global conversation about this.
So, why are women so sick? Why don’t we get the proper sleep, nutrition, exercise, or time to lower our stress levels? We all know why. Because we are expected to live like we don’t have a demanding career, a family, or kids to raise. It’s either an unattainable goal destroying us all, or worse, destroying our well-being.
So, my top goal today and with my book to educate and inspire successful women like you to take better care of yourself.
Your body is a unique blueprint that only you understand. So, you hold all the cards to heal yourself. I am just merely the messenger. You must learn to listen to and honor yourself and your needs. Today I will teach you which small steps you can take that will shift the outcome of your life in a huge way. Nothing too complicated or overwhelming. Just seven easy steps. You’ve got this!
Thank you for allowing me to take you on this journey to self-discovery and healing. I hope that you will be pushed outside your comfort zone and learn flexibility just like I did in writing my books. Because what awaits you on the other side is a roadmap to true wellness, health, and happiness that can never be taken away from you.
My sixty-three-year-old dad asked me this question one day while I was sitting with him in his third-floor office: “How many hours a night do you sleep?”
“Eight hours,” I said. “Why? What about you?”
He looked at me perplexed, like he was trying to solve a math calculation. Maybe he is counting his sleep hours, I thought. He looked down at the email on his laptop.
“Help me write this, please. I can’t do it.”
“Sure,” I said, a bit concerned.
We had been working together at his mortgage technology start-up for almost four years
when he started needing my help drafting emails. He couldn’t remember how things were spelled or if words looked “right” once he wrote them.
My dad is a big man. Not in stature – although he stands about six feet two – but in his presence and demeanor. His “CEO-ism,” as my mother likes to call it, means he is always a leader, always delegating tasks, and always in charge. He is also a very intense Type A personality. Plus, he has a great love of telling stories and laughing this raucous, deep belly laugh like no one else I have ever met. In fact, when he wandered down the long cubical halls at his second successful start-up company, it was not uncommon to hear employees stand up and very loudly chant, “Story, story, story.” Then he would make a wave motion with his hand and people would bounce up out of their seats and circle around him to hear some tale he would weave. He was like Santa Claus. Everyone adored him – his friends, his family, his employees.
So, after we finished drafting his email, my instinct told me to press him on his sleep question. I didn’t know if he was evading me or had just forgotten I had asked.
“So how many hours do you sleep, Dad?” I pressed again.
“Not many,” he said.
For the first time, I could see how weary he was, and I saw a glint of worry in his eyes.
“I fall asleep with no problem, but then I wake up, and I just think about stuff. For hours.” “So, how many hours do you think you sleep at night?” A bit of concern edged my voice. “Probably three, some nights two hours,” he said. He seemed instantly angry and frustrated with himself. “I try so hard to sleep. I hate it. But I just can’t stop my brain from being awake at 2 a.m. I lay in bed with all my worries and finally get up at 5 a.m. to do my emails. But then I can’t remember words or how to spell them,” he said exasperated. My heart began to ache. I knew there was something wrong deep in my soul. But I didn’t know what.
Flash forward to 2021, eleven years later, and my father has Alzheimer’s disease. It was a devastating diagnosis for him, for my mother, and for all of us. He is my rock, my hero, and my North Star. He still has so many adoring fans, but his language skills are mostly impaired, and some days he can barely speak. He can no longer write or read, but he still tries to stumble through his stories to all who will listen.
Why is hindsight always twenty-twenty? It seems to be a cruel and torturous joke played on mortal beings by some higher power. I can clearly weave together like a tapestry all the little things that led him to his disease. The lack of sleep for several years, the high stress of running his companies, his diet of processed food and sugar (my nickname for him was the Cookie Monster because he always had a box of cookies in his desk drawer), his eighteen-year use of statins for high cholesterol, his dislike of any gym and exercising in general (unless it was a weekend bike ride, golf with his buddies, or a hike in nature), and the unfortunate APOE-4 gene that he genetically carries which is linked to Alzheimer’s disease. All these unfortunate pieces make up the perfect storm for Alzheimer’s disease. His lack of sleep coupled with a poor diet and stress was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“Alzheimer’s disease begins about twenty years before the first symptom,” his neurologist at USC Keck Medical Center told me. The shock and sadness of his diagnosis rocked me to my core. He was a leader in his field, a mentor to so many, a funny, immensely successful person who drove himself so hard. He embodies all that I respect in a person – loyalty, integrity, persistence, relentlessly high expectations, perfectionism, leadership skills, humor, kindness, and a deep love for his employees, his family, and his friends. The list can go on and on. I demanded answers from his doctors. Why did this happen? How could this happen? He’s so young, and smart, and active. Their answers were ambivalent at best. Genetic markers, neuroinflammation, poor diet, lack of sleep, etc. Each doctor said something different, proving to me that no one really knew why. So, I embarked on a quest to find out. I decided to pursue my health coaching degree and my health and wellness board certification. I really needed to fully understand why this happened, and how I could help my father and prevent it from occurring in myself and other people.
As I researched Alzheimer’s, the same topics came up time and time again – eating the SAD (Standard American Diet), lack of exercise, poor sleep habits, anxiety, chronic stress levels, and genetics. All likely causes of Alzheimer’s disease and all factors in my dad’s life that contributed to his health decline. Since there is no cure for Alzheimer’s and no decent medicine to stop the progression of this debilitating disease, I refused to accept that we all just needed to sit back and watch him fade away. “You are going to fight this,” I told him strongly. “Yes,” he answered, “like a lion.” And then he roared and laughed.
All chronic diseases – heart disease, obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease – are lifestyle diseases. They are brought on by a poor diet, lack of exercise, chronic stress, high blood pressure, and lack of sleep, which all lead to high inflammation. And high inflammation levels create chronic diseases. So, it is my goal to help as many people as I can focus the power of their lifestyles to extend their lives by lowering their inflammation levels. The effects of eating the right foods, exercising daily, managing stress, allowing your body to restore and repair itself, and making time for self-care and connections with friends can be life-altering, even lifesaving. Consider yourself the best investment of your time, energy, and money.
My father was a very smart and successful chairman of the board, a philanthropist, and a pillar in his community. But he didn’t invest wisely in himself. I know that if he had met a doctor, or nutritionist, or health coach to show him through the looking glass at what his final years would be like, he would have made the changes to his lifestyle that would have prolonged his life. And that is my hope for you – to understand clearly why you must sleep, eat well, exercise daily, manage your stress, and connect with family and friends. This is the recipe for a long, happy life. And this recipe is here for all to see and share. Let my father’s legacy be one of power, hope, and inspiration. Let his light and his strength inspire you to fully invest in yourself and make the small changes today that will create big, massive changes in your health and well-being over time. His exit from this world in March of 2021 will not define his life nor his journey but will show the world how to live life with dignity and how to course correct when things go astray. Progress, not perfection, is the goal. Your lifestyle is the single most important factor in determining your health and longevity, not your genes. The choices that you make today, tomorrow, and going forward will either create the healthy life you want or cut it short. You alone can decide your fate. You alone can choose what goes in your mouth, how much stress you carry, and how much time you carve out to sweat daily and see your friends.
You are a superwoman who is contributing great things to this world, and I want you to be sharing your greatness for as long as possible. This world needs you. It needs all the superwomen it can get now. Women are powerful influencers, and you are instrumental in a very important time of change on our planet. So, keep your light burning bright in any way that you can.
Currently there are almost six million Americans diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and two- thirds of them are women. And...more women will die of Alzheimer's and dementia than breast cancer.
Let that sink in a minute. I'll wait.
Alzheimer's disease and dementia doesn’t care if you run a Fortune 500 company, created a $100 million-dollar business from scratch, or sit on the boards of some of the most influential companies in the world. This is a woman’s disease. And if you are a woman who doesn’t make time for herself, then you are at risk.
Why? Because Alzheimer’s disease is a lifestyle disease. So is heart disease, diabetes, obesity and almost every autoimmune disease. All these chronic diseases affect many more women than men.
This is an avoidable tragedy that I want to help end now. I want to start a global conversation about this.
So, why are women so sick? Why don’t we get the proper sleep, nutrition, exercise, or time to lower our stress levels? We all know why. Because we are expected to live like we don’t have a demanding career, a family, or kids to raise. It’s either an unattainable goal destroying us all, or worse, destroying our well-being.
So, my top goal today and with my book to educate and inspire successful women like you to take better care of yourself.
Your body is a unique blueprint that only you understand. So, you hold all the cards to heal yourself. I am just merely the messenger. You must learn to listen to and honor yourself and your needs. Today I will teach you which small steps you can take that will shift the outcome of your life in a huge way. Nothing too complicated or overwhelming. Just seven easy steps. You’ve got this!
Thank you for allowing me to take you on this journey to self-discovery and healing. I hope that you will be pushed outside your comfort zone and learn flexibility just like I did in writing my books. Because what awaits you on the other side is a roadmap to true wellness, health, and happiness that can never be taken away from you.
My sixty-three-year-old dad asked me this question one day while I was sitting with him in his third-floor office: “How many hours a night do you sleep?”
“Eight hours,” I said. “Why? What about you?”
He looked at me perplexed, like he was trying to solve a math calculation. Maybe he is counting his sleep hours, I thought. He looked down at the email on his laptop.
“Help me write this, please. I can’t do it.”
“Sure,” I said, a bit concerned.
We had been working together at his mortgage technology start-up for almost four years
when he started needing my help drafting emails. He couldn’t remember how things were spelled or if words looked “right” once he wrote them.
My dad is a big man. Not in stature – although he stands about six feet two – but in his presence and demeanor. His “CEO-ism,” as my mother likes to call it, means he is always a leader, always delegating tasks, and always in charge. He is also a very intense Type A personality. Plus, he has a great love of telling stories and laughing this raucous, deep belly laugh like no one else I have ever met. In fact, when he wandered down the long cubical halls at his second successful start-up company, it was not uncommon to hear employees stand up and very loudly chant, “Story, story, story.” Then he would make a wave motion with his hand and people would bounce up out of their seats and circle around him to hear some tale he would weave. He was like Santa Claus. Everyone adored him – his friends, his family, his employees.
So, after we finished drafting his email, my instinct told me to press him on his sleep question. I didn’t know if he was evading me or had just forgotten I had asked.
“So how many hours do you sleep, Dad?” I pressed again.
“Not many,” he said.
For the first time, I could see how weary he was, and I saw a glint of worry in his eyes.
“I fall asleep with no problem, but then I wake up, and I just think about stuff. For hours.” “So, how many hours do you think you sleep at night?” A bit of concern edged my voice. “Probably three, some nights two hours,” he said. He seemed instantly angry and frustrated with himself. “I try so hard to sleep. I hate it. But I just can’t stop my brain from being awake at 2 a.m. I lay in bed with all my worries and finally get up at 5 a.m. to do my emails. But then I can’t remember words or how to spell them,” he said exasperated. My heart began to ache. I knew there was something wrong deep in my soul. But I didn’t know what.
Flash forward to 2021, eleven years later, and my father has Alzheimer’s disease. It was a devastating diagnosis for him, for my mother, and for all of us. He is my rock, my hero, and my North Star. He still has so many adoring fans, but his language skills are mostly impaired, and some days he can barely speak. He can no longer write or read, but he still tries to stumble through his stories to all who will listen.
Why is hindsight always twenty-twenty? It seems to be a cruel and torturous joke played on mortal beings by some higher power. I can clearly weave together like a tapestry all the little things that led him to his disease. The lack of sleep for several years, the high stress of running his companies, his diet of processed food and sugar (my nickname for him was the Cookie Monster because he always had a box of cookies in his desk drawer), his eighteen-year use of statins for high cholesterol, his dislike of any gym and exercising in general (unless it was a weekend bike ride, golf with his buddies, or a hike in nature), and the unfortunate APOE-4 gene that he genetically carries which is linked to Alzheimer’s disease. All these unfortunate pieces make up the perfect storm for Alzheimer’s disease. His lack of sleep coupled with a poor diet and stress was the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“Alzheimer’s disease begins about twenty years before the first symptom,” his neurologist at USC Keck Medical Center told me. The shock and sadness of his diagnosis rocked me to my core. He was a leader in his field, a mentor to so many, a funny, immensely successful person who drove himself so hard. He embodies all that I respect in a person – loyalty, integrity, persistence, relentlessly high expectations, perfectionism, leadership skills, humor, kindness, and a deep love for his employees, his family, and his friends. The list can go on and on. I demanded answers from his doctors. Why did this happen? How could this happen? He’s so young, and smart, and active. Their answers were ambivalent at best. Genetic markers, neuroinflammation, poor diet, lack of sleep, etc. Each doctor said something different, proving to me that no one really knew why. So, I embarked on a quest to find out. I decided to pursue my health coaching degree and my health and wellness board certification. I really needed to fully understand why this happened, and how I could help my father and prevent it from occurring in myself and other people.
As I researched Alzheimer’s, the same topics came up time and time again – eating the SAD (Standard American Diet), lack of exercise, poor sleep habits, anxiety, chronic stress levels, and genetics. All likely causes of Alzheimer’s disease and all factors in my dad’s life that contributed to his health decline. Since there is no cure for Alzheimer’s and no decent medicine to stop the progression of this debilitating disease, I refused to accept that we all just needed to sit back and watch him fade away. “You are going to fight this,” I told him strongly. “Yes,” he answered, “like a lion.” And then he roared and laughed.
All chronic diseases – heart disease, obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s disease – are lifestyle diseases. They are brought on by a poor diet, lack of exercise, chronic stress, high blood pressure, and lack of sleep, which all lead to high inflammation. And high inflammation levels create chronic diseases. So, it is my goal to help as many people as I can focus the power of their lifestyles to extend their lives by lowering their inflammation levels. The effects of eating the right foods, exercising daily, managing stress, allowing your body to restore and repair itself, and making time for self-care and connections with friends can be life-altering, even lifesaving. Consider yourself the best investment of your time, energy, and money.
My father was a very smart and successful chairman of the board, a philanthropist, and a pillar in his community. But he didn’t invest wisely in himself. I know that if he had met a doctor, or nutritionist, or health coach to show him through the looking glass at what his final years would be like, he would have made the changes to his lifestyle that would have prolonged his life. And that is my hope for you – to understand clearly why you must sleep, eat well, exercise daily, manage your stress, and connect with family and friends. This is the recipe for a long, happy life. And this recipe is here for all to see and share. Let my father’s legacy be one of power, hope, and inspiration. Let his light and his strength inspire you to fully invest in yourself and make the small changes today that will create big, massive changes in your health and well-being over time. His exit from this world in March of 2021 will not define his life nor his journey but will show the world how to live life with dignity and how to course correct when things go astray. Progress, not perfection, is the goal. Your lifestyle is the single most important factor in determining your health and longevity, not your genes. The choices that you make today, tomorrow, and going forward will either create the healthy life you want or cut it short. You alone can decide your fate. You alone can choose what goes in your mouth, how much stress you carry, and how much time you carve out to sweat daily and see your friends.
You are a superwoman who is contributing great things to this world, and I want you to be sharing your greatness for as long as possible. This world needs you. It needs all the superwomen it can get now. Women are powerful influencers, and you are instrumental in a very important time of change on our planet. So, keep your light burning bright in any way that you can.