Problems with sleep

newbies
(Christer Tveitsme) #1

Hi! I"ve been on carnivore for 3 months now and i’m really struggling with sleep. It’s not really a problem to fall asleep in the evening/night but i wake up every night and have to pee (i’m a young guy so this should not happen to me) and can’t fall asleep again. It’s getting to the point where i’m so exhausted that i’m not gonna be able to work anymore if the issue is not resolved. Any tips?

#2

Hello, thanks for sharing your struggle…I found that I need some type of carb added in the afternoon or evening meal to aid with a good night’s rest…but for me there could be many variables:
I’m a 50 mile/week runner and increasing
Sleep is a priority for me to recover so I will take in carbs if it’s what will help…
I’m a 47 year old female entering many hormone changes
Now I don’t go bonkers on carbs and I am in maintenance and this is just my experience… Others may add more helpful advice but this seams to work for me at this time:)… Hope the best!

#3

Hi Christer! Going without sleep is awful! I’m curious if you started right in with Carnivore or if you followed a Keto diet first and eased into Carnivore. I ask because I wonder if your electrolytes are a bit off and you need magnesium. Also, if you are still dumping excess water that might be waking you at night.

I hope some Carnivores on here will jump in soon with their experiences.

You might check out some YouTube Carnivore names, if you haven’t already, and see what they say. I have read that waking around 2 or 3 in the morning may be from low blood sugars which cause a cortisol spike and adrenaline spike that can keep people awake. I don’t think that eating carbs before bed is the solution, but then I’m not suffering from sleeplessness. Do what works for you. We are all individuals.

I’m not Carnivore, but am pretty close. I do wake up around 3 or 4 am some nights to go to the bathroom, but don’t have trouble sleeping again.

Most of what I read is that we should get out in the sun during the day, set a regular bed time for every night, wake up with the sun, get plenty of vitamin D and keep your bedroom dark.

I hope you find a solution that works!

(Christer Tveitsme) #4

I started a diet of fruit and meat a few months before carnivore, so i was getting around 50 grams a day of carbs. I do take magnesium and i find that it does help a little bit.

(Christer Tveitsme) #5

Adding carbs is not an option for me as i am trying to kill my candida by starving them of carbs, so i’m gonna have to wait a while before adding back some carbs, but thanks for the response!

#6

One thing that has helped me sleep all night has been the addition of a “yogurt” that I make at home with L. Reuteri bacteria. Its something trending in some low carb circles for gut health and may just be the latest fad. Not sure. :grin: I mention it just to throw it out there and because you mentioned wanting to kill off candida. Yes, I wouldn’t add carbs either.

(Allie) #7

What type are you taking? They’re not all equal, I’ve found magnesium L-threonate to be best for sleep.

(Edith) #8

I would try upping your electrolyte intake just before going to bed. According to Robb Wolf of the Healthy Rebellion Podcast, low sodium can be a problem with staying asleep, because if sodium levels drop too low during the night, it can cause a cortisol response.

Maybe toss down a 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of salt before bed and see if that helps.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #9

You mention bladder problems. What is your salt intake like? I’m wondering if you’re either overdoing or underdoing the salt.

The kidneys excrete sodium more readily in the absence of dietary carbohydrate, because elevated insulin promotes sodium (and water) retention, which stops once insulin drops to a healthier level. If your sodium intake is not in the range of 4-6 g/day (10-15 g/day of sodium chloride, table salt) from all sources, then either increase or decrease your intake to get it in that range. Also be sure you are drinking enough, but not too much. Ignore the recommendations to drink vast quantities of liquid; they come from sport drink manufacturers eager to sell their product. It is usually sufficient to drink to thirst.

A number of long-term carnivores eventually found themselves cutting out added salt; they find that what they get from their food is now sufficient for them. But this does not mean that everyone, and especially not newcomers to the carnivore diet, should emulate them. Some people just naturally need more salt, and we have at least one long-term carnivore on these forums who says she has to keep salting her food. If, a few year from now, you find yourself just naturally not wanting salt, that’s one thing, but forcing it is another.

So be sure you are getting salt in the right range and drinking to thirst. I am not carnivore (yet, anyway), but even on low-carb/keto I find that if I keep my carb intake sufficiently low, my bladder capacity is phenomenal, and I can sleep through the night. And this from someone who, in my younger years, had to get up at least once, and often several times, during the night.

P.S.—Don’t forget the soporific properties of a cup of warm milk. Works for me. Of course, whole milk has galactose and lactose, which might not help with trying to get your Candida to die off, so there is that. Also, Candida die-off symptoms used to be discussed quite frequently on these forums a few years ago, so rummage around here and see if you can find some useful tips.

(Christer Tveitsme) #10

Thanks for the response! Yeah i salt my food after taste. I don’t think i should use more as i am already pretty generous with the salting. I’ll just keep going for now and hope it improves and try to find some tips and tricks here on the forums.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #11

Paradoxically, perhaps, if I’m properly hydrated, I need to urinate less frequently. It might possibly have something to do with the proportion of minerals to water in the urine.

(Edith) #12

You may still need more. I not only have to generously salt my food, but toss down an extra teaspoon or more of salt throughout the day. It won’t hurt you to give it a try and see what happens.

#13

I drink most of my salt. Stick it in a pint glass with a glug of ACV and some lemon or lime slices and top with sparkling mineral water. It’s become my absolute favourite drink. Which is weird, but then so am I ; )

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #14

I seem to need more salt than most people, and normally I don’t notice the taste of it. When I start to notice the taste, I know it’s time to back off, and when it starts tasting bad, I know I’ve really overdone it. It hardly ever happens that I get too much salt, but when it does, it’s extremely clear that it’s happened.

Unfortunately, there’s no equivalent sensation when I underdo the salt intake. I have to find out by getting a migraine or becoming constipated.

#15

If I underdo salt, I just start to desire it more so I start to salt my food more :slight_smile: The opposite happens when I overdo it but it’s extremely hard to do. My body have this balancing act regarding many things, it is useful. Sometimes I even like salt alone (never eat it so as I don’t need it but I could), other times I may find unsalted meat tasty (a recent thing, I was so surprised as I never had this before)… Usually it’s in-between.
It’s nice to have a few things going okay automatically. Like my salt and water intake. No problem there.

(Kirk Wolak) #16

It took me wearing a CGM (Freestyle Libre) to see what was happening.
My glucose was dropping below 45 at night, then shooting up to 95. So, when I would test my glucose with the stick, it look okay, even a little high. TOO LATE.

So there are many things you can do. I recommend getting the CGM to help debug what works best. If it’s not Glucose related, just peeing. Stop all water about 4hrs before bedtime. And have a little salt. I know one fella who said this was a miracle for him. 90% reduction in getting up for the bathroom. It helped me a little.

Then there is the recommendation to have a small amount of fuel a little later. I wont touch carbs, and I will take some ketone supplement before I go to bed.

The reason why finding out if it is your glucose dropping that triggers it is SO IMPORTANT is that the result is a SURGE of cortisol to wake you up. That’s the real problem. I could not fall back to sleep, until it was about morning time. LOL.

Once I knew what it was. My body was running out of fuel, and my brain was panicking over it.
(I think the time frame MIGHT correspond to Chinese Medicines view of when the liver goes into repair mode. So it is not making energy… But this could be fantasy!)

Anyways, others have said just a little snack before bed has helped. Some suggest a little bit of exercise, to drive you glucose production up about 30 minutes before you go to bed. (Again, this is why the CGM would be useful).

(Kirk Wolak) #17

I have a salt shaker on my desk, and I will randomly throw some on my tongue.
If it is YUMMY, then I am salt deprived. So very similar.

The other day, I salted every piece of steak like it was a salted pretzel (all sides).

I catch myself SALTING the spaces on my plate, so I can touch the bottom of the food to it, and it hits my tongue first… (realizing we salt the top of our food normally when I started doing this) But this lets me adapt the salt quantity bite by bite…

(Nina ) #18

I was keto for 18 months and that’s what bumped me out of keto. No sleep. I take/took the usual supplements for keto like magnesium etc. Went to PCP and she said eat a big bowl of fruit before bed. So I went on the ideal protein diet instead and they started me on phase 3 since I’m not needing to lose weight. I eat about 80 to 100 total carbs a day and sleep like a baby. I notice if I do more than 3 to 4 days if net carbs around 35 I start waking at night. This is just my experience. Not everybody’s the same.