Not sleeping

(Richard M) #1

There is lot information on sleeping on here, but I wanted specifics.
I am not sleeping a lot of hours at night. Most nights 3-4 hours. Very rarely 5-6 hours. I have watch videos on what to do to sleep longer, better. like lower cortisol, take D3, magnesium, B1. I am taking these with no help. I use to take OTC sleeping pills but quit when I started keto. I am getting desperate. I want to lose more weight but cannot because I can’t sleep. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

(Laurie) #2

Hi Richard. I have no answers. All I can say is that I sympathize.

I had insomnia from childhood until my early 60s, and none of the remedies ever worked. The best I could do was try to relax my body and my eyes, and stop worrying about how lack of sleep was affecting my life. This didn’t help me fall asleep, but at least my body got a bit of rest.

(Old people are supposed to have trouble sleeping, but now I have no problem.)

I hope you find a solution.

(Scott) #3

I do better when I wake up early and exercise (running) at 4:30 AM. It helps me fall asleep and stay asleep. I haven’t used an alarm clock in over a decade. Mostly due to weather I have slacked off a bit and started waking up at 3:00 AM. I also like to have a book on my tablet ready. I use a black page with amber print so it doesn’t get me more awake than I already am.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #4

You took OTC sleeping pills - for how long? You may have become dependent on them which could take time to overcome. Otherwise, do you feel tired and/or weak and/or anything else negative because of lack of sleep? If so, do you know for sure it’s due to lack of sleep? General sleep recommendations are just that: general. Not everyone needs 8 hours, not everyone drops dead with 5 hours. There’s a mile of variability. Since ketones burn more cleanly and efficiently, some folks experience increased ‘brain activity’ that sometimes keeps them awake for a few months after starting keto.

(Karen) #5

Hi Rchard i can totally empathize with you as I have had trouble with my sleep for years.
I went to a sleep clinic to get advce but to be honest iI couldn’t do what they advised . They suggested that iI went to bed at 11pm and set my alarm for 6am. Sounds fair except when you do shifts and have to get up at silly o’clock in the morning. The theory was to go to bed at 11pm and to give myself 20 minutes to drop off. If iI didn’t drop off then I was to get up and do something mindless for 20 mins then go back to bed and try again however, no matter what time I got to sleep I still had to get up at the same time in the morning… which as I said earlier was an impossibility as I got up according to my shifts.

So that didn’t work for me though I did think that when I eventually retired and if i was still struggling then I would certainly trial it.

One thing I did find that helped was when I tried 4head
Not sure you will know what that is but it is a roll up stick (like the glue sticks you can get) and I roll it over my head and under my nose. It is herbal and has eucalyptus in it which relaxes the forehead. I use it regularly when needed and I find it just relaxes my mind and gets rid of the busy busy things in my head and clears my nose so I dont feel stuffy and it seems to work at helping me drift off. It is designed as a relief for headaches which I rarely have. When I wake in the night I pop to the loo and when I get back into bed I use the stick again and it helps me drop off to sleep again. If I have one of those nights when I can’t get back to sleep then I pop downstairs and watch something boring on the tv for 20 mins and usually I can drop back off to sleep when I get back into bed.

Some nights I can wake anywhere between 3 and 7 times, last night I actualy only got up twice, hallelujah! I always give myself the oppprtunity to sleep at least 8 hours even if I don’t manage to actually sleep 8 hours. So I will go to bed at 8pm if I am up at 4.45am for work. It is no good thinking I will go to bed late because then I might sleep through cos I am going to be tired. Apart from the fact I find it hard to stay up that late, when I do sometimes watch a programme that is on late I still dont sleep the hours.

I read a book on the science behind sleep which was briliant and made everything so clear. It was called ‘Why we sleep’ excellent read.

I started Keto last May and went Carnivore in November and my sleep is definitely improving, though I still have more trouble sleeping when the moon is waxing and approaching full moon.

I am looking forward to seeing how much my sleep improves when I retire in a couple of years time and of course the longer I am doing this woe.

Wishing you all the best with finding out what works for you x

(Allie) #6

Biggest help to me has been setting myself a pre-sleep routine that’s the same every night with regular sleep / wake times. Now it’s very rare I have any trouble getting to sleep, normally I’m asleep as soon as I turn my light off.

Evening routine for me is always gym (which always includes yoga and meditation, and can include weights when I have time, or cardio if I feel the need to be more active) then bath with Epsom salts, into bed to write Waffle’s Village diary, reading for a while, then lights off and sleep. I always take ZMA capsules an hour before bed too. Lights out by 2220 (would prefer earlier but life just won’t allow), alarm 540am. Ear plugs too, to keep the environmental noise out.

It’s so set in stone now that my body seems trained and just goes along with it, almost sleeping on command.

Avoiding food for at least four hours before bed is a biggie too, and I wear blue blocking glasses with a red lux lamp in the bedroom for reading / writing.

Sleep quality influences so much in life / health so I make it a priority.

Read this too -

#7

Magnesium, 5-HTP, PharmaGABA, Melatonin before bed. That cocktail is a cheap ripoff of Doc Parsleys Sleep remember which is like $60, so I just do that. It’s missing some stuff but those are the big players.

When I gotta step it up I also use a red vein Kratom which does the trick great if you can get it where you live.