Extended fasting and sleep

(Splotchy) #1

I’ve done a few fasts varying from 1-3 days, approx every fortnight. My weight and fat% have gone down and (astoundingly) I’m not hungry.

However my sleep is very interrupted. Normally I sleep like the dead. However if I am fasting I wake several times in the night. This makes me a little tired in the day and I go to bed 1-2 hours early. (Although I can’t be sure it isn’t another effect of fasting making me tired in the day).

I am sure I am not waking with hunger, thirst, cramp, tummy rumbling or anything else I can think of. I was rather hoping I would experience the buzz of energy/clarity some people have gotten with fasting - but haven’t!

Has anyone else experienced sleep disruption? Or am I just weird!

#2

Fasting can pump up some of the fight or flight hormones and this can make sleeping more difficult. The more you are fat burning the less this disruption should occur, but we are all different.

(Beth) #3

Yes, I have the same problem even though I’m 100% fat adapted. It’s hit and miss. Sometimes I sleep, other times, fitful. Last time I fasted for 3 days I ended up supplementing some fat before bed. But it’s my understanding the jury is still out about autophagy if nutrients are consumed. It would be interesting to hear what Megan Ramos has to say about it.

(Bob M) #4

I have had the same issue, too. Sometimes, I sleep great. Other times, I’ll wake up at say 4am and get up. Oddly, for some of those times, I’m not tired during the day, which I assume is due to hormonal changes. I find the longer I fast, the more interruptions I can get, but even that is variable at times.

(Alex ) #5

6 hours is good for me, pretty much regardless of what time I go to bed, and what I’ve been doing prior to going to bed.

At the minute, when I am being strict with calories and not eating until 12 (doing the 16/8), I seem to have a habit of waking at 3-4am - but feeling pretty good with it. If I make the mistake of going back to sleep, even if it’s just for an hour, then I feel CRAP !

My diet foods have a massive impact on quality of sleep, any whiff of dairy products - let alone chocolate/sugar - my dreams are really crazy and my sleep is broken.

(Robert C) #6

It is almost 5 AM where I live - and I have been up for about an hour after a 5.5 hour twice interrupted sleep.
At hour 80 of a 90 hour fast so - yes - similar disruption. (Up-and-at-it-early wide awake and ready for the hunt!)

Actually a bit odd for me, this issue usually strikes around day 7 of a fast for me.
The only difference with this fast is that I also gave up coffee for the fast.
Maybe less cortisol all day means no evening “crash” so sleep is actually not as deep - kind of feels that way.

(Cjl Lansing) #7

Just finished a 64 hour fast. Slept pretty good the first night ~6 hours but the 2nd night maybe 2 and last night 3 - until I got up, ate a few veggies and drank some pickle juice… went back to back to bed and slept another 3 hours!

Yesterday was very intense (worked with 8 election precincts… with high voter turnout!) but I was alert and focused without hunger - on 2 hours of sleep! That’s the upside of ketones.

By the morning when I woke after just 3 hours I was headachy with muscle twitches in my legs and my heart was racing. Had been planning to fast for another few hours but discretion is the better part of valor, so I ate!

All of which is to say, YES fasting can mess with your sleep! I’m not sure if more frequent extended fasts will change this or not. I’ll keep trying, but maybe not on Election Day. LOL!

(Nicole Sawchuk) #8

It does interrupt my sleep occasionally too. The other day I was in the middle of a 42 hr fast and I was up at 3:30 am. Wide awake! I got up and went about my day but by 6 pm I was dying I was so tired. Pisses me off when my body does that. I have also had experiences where I wake up early and am wired all day right up to bedtime. Other times during fasting (and even during longer fasts), I sleep like a baby. As long as you don’t feel exhausted during the day, I think it is fine.

(Lynn) #9

I have this problem too! Maybe it’s our bodies way of being prepared and light sleeping to hear the sounds of food that we must jump up and run after!! :joy:

(Diane) #10

42:17 Cortisol and Fasting: Cortisol does rise with fasting. It is part of the counter regulatory hormones. Fasting is a stress to the body. Exercise is also a stress to the body and the body responds by getting stronger.

43:14 Noradrenaline : As this hormone rises, you get more energy and you don’t get the basal metabolic rate decrease that you get with caloric restriction. This is the key to weight loss. It can cause sleep disturbances because you are so full of energy. You can lose weight on nearly every diet for 6 months. After that, weight rises again. On diets you lose weight, but your basal metabolic rate goes down so you are burning fewer calories. Your weight plateaus and goes back up.

These quotes are from the summary of information from the following presentation by Dr. Fung:

https://highintensityhealth.com/jason-fung-md-the-complete-guide-to-fasting-for-fat-loss/

(Allie) #11

I never feel full of energy when I’m fasting, just tired, and sleep is always normal too.

Now I’m wondering if this is related to me living with chronic PTSD for most of my life as I’ve learnt to block the physical signs of stress.

(Diane) #12

I wonder if you’re dealing with exhausted adrenal function? This might be a possibility since the adrenal glands produce both cortisol (the “wake up” and get ready for the day hormone) and norepinephrine.

I’ve been investigating what foods or supplements might help support the adrenals. I find this a confusing topic. Since I have a limited budget, I guess I’ll keep looking until I find convincing evidence for any specific “therapy”.

(Allie) #13

It’s certainly a possibility @DiMo although not something I’ve ever actually explored. I never have trouble getting up in the morning though, actually prefer getting up early and can never sleep in - if I’m still in bed at 6am it’s late :joy:

#14

Could we look at this another way, from an evolutionary, historical perspective?

Imagine it’s 20,000 years ago and we’re living by hunting and gathering and we’re forced to fast because we’ve not killed anything for three days, and the freezer’s empty.

I think it might be sensible that our bodies wouldn’t sleep so much. And it would be even more useful if we woke in the early hours and got to the watering hole to nab the deer as it’s having it’s first drink of the day.

Samuel Pepys wrote of his night life, the first sleep and the second sleep, the small meals and the socialising.

In non-electrical societies seven uninterupted hours isn’t normal!

(Mike W.) #15

I’ve definitely noticed a slowing of heart rate, but increase of anxiety while fasting. It’s usually the opposite. I was hoping it would help. My sleep is also usually interrupted and CRAZY dreams when I’m fasting. Unfortunately I feel that this subconsciously makes me avoid fasting even though I feel it’s the only way I lose weight.

(Beth) #16

Have you tried OMAD with the meal being in the evening. That seems to help me sleep like a baby.

(Mike W.) #17

I IF 20:4 whenever I am not ADF which is my current fasting protocol. I have no problem sleeping on days I am eating.

(Allie) #18

This is the total opposite to me, meals in the evening disrupt my sleep. OMAD works really well for me as a morning meal.

#19

Boy, we all have our sleep woe stories.

I still have PTSD from Vietnam but its improving. My problem is going to sleep and I still need 5mg of Ambien to “fall asleep” to get past some anxious memories, etc. But I normally sleep most of the night once I get to sleep. Keep in mind I don’t get to bed until about midnight and it takes 30-60 minutes for me to fall asleep.

But not since fasting. No, no, no. No matter what I do, when I’m extended fasting I wake up about 3 a.m. and stare at the ceiling or listen to music on my headphones for two hours. So why don’t I just get up? Easy, I almost always fall back asleep at least by 6 a.m. and then sleep nicely until 10 a.m. (It’s good to be retired.) And I am pretty good about taking afternoon naps of 30+ minutes.

So I am getting some good sleep but totally disjointed and frustrating when my wife is snoring peacefully beside me. And then she gets up at 6:30 and awakens me if I have fallen asleep. Can’t wait for her to retire in a few months.

(Kelly) #20

I have experienced the same. I have been keto 9 weeks now. I normally sleep soundly on days I eat even one meal day. But when I fast for more than 36 hours I find I can’t sleep through the night. I wake up not from hunger or any other apparent reason. I now get up and do something to make myself sleepy. Usually I go sit in livingroom chair with a good book for about 1/2 hour then I’m sleepy and go back to bed. The first time I fasted I had to do this twice in one night. Strangely enough I wasn’t tired the next day. But I did go to bed a bit earlier than normally. I’m currently 24 hours into a 96 hour fast. I’m hoping I can make it through the nights without losing much sleep…we will see.