Ms Mitchell’s first childhood experience of cataplexy — a sudden muscular weakness while awake that is triggered by strong emotions and is a form of narcolepsy — was brought on by laughter.
Collapsing to the ground while talking with a friend, she was perplexed.
Adulthood brought a developing interest in sleep and the impacts of disrupted rest, culminating in a training programme through United States-based non-profit Project Sleep.
Ms Mitchell now offers sleep coaching through The Sleep Lab, working with clients to understand their sleep at night and improve their energy during the day.
Podcast The Sleep Lab Stories would provide a platform to "bring everyday thoughts about sleep out into the open".
"For example, someone might think that they are the only one who wakes up at three in the morning and wonder, how weird am I? But there’s probably a 3am club out there.
"Until you hear other people talk about it, you might think you’re the only one."
The Sleep Lab Stories is broadcast on Sundays at 10.30am and again on Mondays at 10pm on 105.4FM and 1575AM.
Podcasts are available from oar.org.nz and other major platforms.
A full schedule of OAR FM programmes can be found at oar.org.nz245
