Running On Empty: What Sleep Data Reveals About Autoimmune Fatigue, and How to Recover

Stop waking up exhausted and start decoding what your body is trying to tell you. For years, you’ve been told your labs are normal. Yet you’re trapped in a cycle of crushing fatigue, brain fog, and the dreaded wired-but-tired feeling. You’ve tried the supplements, the diets, and the sleep hygiene tips, and the exhaustion remains.

I wrote this book because I couldn’t find it. Seven years ago, mid-session with a client, I heard my own speech come out slurred. What followed was a Lupus diagnosis, Lyme coinfections, and an Epstein-Barr relapse. I was eating clean. I was exercising. I was still exhausted, still anxious, still awake at 3 am.

What finally changed things wasn’t another supplement. It was learning to read what my own nervous system had been reporting every single night.

A data-informed roadmap for autoimmune fatigue In Running on Empty , Dr. Tiffany Brown-Bush, a Traditional Naturopathic Doctor and Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor with 25 years in practice, blends a deeply personal account of her own Lupus journey with current sleep science. She shows you how to turn wearable technology, like the Oura Ring, into meaningful biological feedback.

This is not about getting eight hours. It’s about understanding how your Heart Rate Variability, your deep sleep architecture, and your readiness score reflect what’s happening with inflammation and immune function in your body. You’ll learn to read your data as information rather than a verdict, and to build a realistic, personalized plan from it.

Inside this book, you will discover:

The sleep-inflammation loop. Why fragmented sleep feeds autoimmune activity, and how to interrupt the cycle. Trauma and the nervous system. How Adverse Childhood Experiences and chronic people-pleasing create physiological stress that stalls healing. Tailored to your body. Working with your hormones, your gut, and your circadian rhythm rather than against them. Nervous system repair. Practical tools for vagus nerve support, temperature regulation, and boundary setting. From reactive to responsive. How to recognize the early signals of a flare in your own data, days before symptoms fully arrive. Whether you’re navigating Lupus, Hashimoto’s, MS, fibromyalgia, or unexplained chronic fatigue, Running on Empty offers a compassionate, science-backed companion to the care you’re already receiving. Dr. Brown-Bush bridges functional medicine and psychotherapy, making the case that emotional regulation is as physiologically real as any other intervention.

You were never broken. You’ve been running on empty.

Order your copy of Running on Empty today.