It makes me anxious to write this....

Hi there,

This week’s a bit different—more from the heart than the head (off-brand I know). I wanted to share a little about my personal battle with anxiety and insomnia because I know so many people suffer from these symptoms silently.

About 3 years ago, I was really happy 'living my best life'. I was getting married, my mother had just recovered from cancer, I was the CEO of a funded award-winning tech company I'd started, and I was healthy—or so I thought.

Then, one day, out of nowhere, I couldn't sleep. I woke up at 2am, wide awake, and full of energy. So I decided to use this energy, and start work. That was fine, for one or two nights—but this continued for 5 months.

At first, I told myself the story that fit my agenda. I was productive, I didn't need as much sleep as other mere mortals, I was quite possibly the next Elon Musk (apparently he only slept 2 hours a night). Spoiler alert—there are no electric cars on the way.

A month in, my wide-awake pattern at 2am was causing me panic attacks in the day and chronic anxiety that felt uncontrollable. I would be in meetings totally fine one moment, the next breaking out in hot and cold sweats panicking about... well, I'm not really sure what, but something.

I was desperate to solve it. I tried:

• Sleep therapy
• Calm/Sleepio
• More meditating
• More exercise
• Cutting out coffee
• Cutting out alcohol
• Having more alcohol

In the end, I went to a doctor, but he just gave me sleeping pills. Deep down I knew this would work for one night but wouldn't help me solve anything in the long term.

In the end, I was resigned to the idea that this was my new reality. I was too tired to even imagine that it wasn't.

One day, I went for dinner with a friend who asked if I’d heard of brain nutrition. I thought she was a bit of a weirdo but she bought me a book on the topic, and suggested I go see a dietitian—essentially a medically-trained nutritionist that deals with 'sick people'.

So I did. She asked me some pretty basic questions and then prescribed me DHA omega 3 supplements, B vitamin complex, and blueberry extract (an antioxidant). I was highly sceptical and explained I'd heard supplements didn't work. She groaned, was quite irritated (don't say that line to medically-qualified nutritionists/dietitians by the way,) and told me the media made her job doubly hard but they do work, so to just try them and report back.

10 days later, I was sleeping like a baby. My anxiety had massively decreased. I couldn’t believe it. I called her in excitement to tell her but she told me in a very matter of fact way, "Yes I know, I told you they would". Lol.

Something between her total nonchalance to my surprise, and my newfound passion on a topic I'd previously never cared about sparked a thought in me—that if nutrition (and supplements) are so 'obviously' going to work from a medical professional’s perspective—but well-informed regular people like me had no idea… there was a great job to be done for a brand to communicate the science behind how and why we can take care of our brains.

And so, along with my best friend and Co-Founder Joel, I started to write our first ever newsletter—called Dawn, which eventually became Heights.

The rest... is history. 116 newsletters later, a record-breaking crowdfund and a growing mission around braincare—it's our job to help educate and inspire thousands of people to care for their brains. We help people take control of their mental health and performance, by making the right nutrition a daily habit so they can do what matters most. Reach their Heights.

If you want to know how Heights 'Smart Supplement' can specifically help you with anxiety - here's what you need to know!

See you next week.

Dan