If you have been told you are “too old,” “infertile,” or “a bad candidate” and quietly watched your hope shrink with every failed round, this story is for you. In this Stories of Hope, Stories of Healing episode, Dr. Stillman talks with board‑certified applied quantum biologist and health coach Sarah Kleiner about how she went from multiple miscarriages, failed IVF cycles, and pressure to use donor eggs at 42, to conceiving naturally and delivering a healthy son at 43 after changing her light environment, daily rhythms, and nutrition instead of just doing “more treatment.” This is a real‑world look at how circadian biology, metabolism, and environment intersect with fertility, and a preview of the framework Dr. Stillman lays out more fully in his upcoming book The End of Autoimmunity that comes out in September.
Here’s exactly what they cover
00:00 – Why Dr. Stillman is sharing Stories of Hope, Stories of Healing, and how Sarah’s story ties into his upcoming book on repair deficit and chronic illness
02:10 – Sarah’s background as a mom, coach, and “doing everything right” with diet and lifestyle, yet still facing miscarriages and unexplained infertility in her 40s
06:05 – The fertility journey: multiple losses, two failed IVF cycles, pressure to use donor eggs, and being told her chances with her own eggs were effectively zero
10:32 – How her environment and routines actually looked: late nights under bright artificial light, little morning sunlight, chronic stress, and constant “biohacking” experiments
14:48 – Going carnivore and heavy fasting: what improved at first (gut, weight) and what quietly worsened over time (thyroid, cycle health, energy, fertility markers)
19:15 – Discovering circadian biology and quantum health: what she learned about light, timing, and hormones that none of her fertility doctors had discussed
23:40 – The specific changes she made: morning sunlight, reducing blue light at night, shifting meal timing, changing sleep, and reintroducing seasonal carbohydrates
28:05 – Weight, labs, and symptoms: how her body composition, cycles, temperature, and labs responded once she stopped living in permanent “survival mode”
32:22 – The turning point: conceiving naturally after being told IVF with her own eggs was pointless, and how this pregnancy at 43 compared to her earlier pregnancies
37:10 – What this means for other women labeled “too old,” “infertile,” or “unexplained”: how Dr. Stillman thinks about fertility through the lens of repair deficit and environment
42:03 – Practical first steps for women and couples: light, sleep, food, labs, and questions to bring to your own clinician before doing “more treatment”
47:20 – How Sarah’s story fits into the larger pattern Dr. Stillman is seeing in clinic, and how it informs the framework he lays out in his upcoming book on repair deficit, hormones, and chronic illness
Learn more about Sarah and her work by visiting sarahkleinerwellness.com or follow her on Instagram or Facebook.
Additional Resources
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