Trouble Sleeping

dawlfin318

Why is my sleep affected?. My sister is having the same issue. We want to stay on this diet. Plz help us solve this .
TIA, -dawlfin

melyndavaz

Have you tried taking a magnesium supplement about an hour before you go to bed? It's good for keeping muscle cramps at bay in addition to helping you feel over all relaxed.

kmdigan

I'm having the same issue. Tried 3 different sleeping pills and melatonin. I will try that magnesium supplement suggested because I am so tired!

shadesofidaho

I love to listen to Jason Stephenson on youtube. I use headphones. I started wit this video but listen to many of his now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYhuJ5yqaTo

shadesofidaho

WOW I did not know that would happen. IT is the correct video though.

strawmama

When I first started, I didn't sleep hardly at all. Now I sleep really good except for pesky night sweats. Hang in there, it gets better

dawlfin318

IWe both take magnesium every night for years.

saraphim41

The reason they used to drink hot milk before bed--calcium somehow helps you get to sleep. If you don't have enough room in your daily for milk, try calcium tablet? We need calcium anyway (especially women), so it wouldn't be a total loss.

sljohnson1207

strawmama wrote: »

When I first started, I didn't sleep hardly at all. Now I sleep really good except for pesky night sweats. Hang in there, it gets better

Yep, same here. I sleep like a log now. But, when I first became keto-adapted, the energy level was so high, I couldn't sleep. I added evening exercise to wear myself out.

Dragonwolf

Without seeing your diary, it's hard telling, but I'm willing to bet you're not getting enough sodium. Sleep disturbances are the most obvious sign of sodium deficiency (been there, done that, since my son is sodium deficient).

Make sure you're getting at least 3,500mg of sodium per day. This will also help you retain your magnesium, potassium, and calcium stores, as your body doesn't need to try to balance your electrolytes back out to make up for the lack of sodium. So by all means, don't be afraid of the salt shaker (use sea salt or other naturally sourced salt, to get other trace minerals, too)!

dawlfin318

I salt everything but there is not much showing up in my food diary. Guess I need to do boullion cubes every day. Not just when I feel the orthostatic hypotension. I use Himalayan sea salt . need a good source of potassium. Supplements have very little. Any ideas?
Thx Dragon. I will take any and all advice you have to share.:-)

dawlfin318

Dragonwolf wrote: »

Without seeing your diary, it's hard telling, but I'm willing to bet you're not getting enough sodium. Sleep disturbances are the most obvious sign of sodium deficiency (been there, done that, since my son is sodium deficient).

Make sure you're getting at least 3,500mg of sodium per day. This will also help you retain your magnesium, potassium, and calcium stores, as your body doesn't need to try to balance your electrolytes back out to make up for the lack of sodium. So by all means, don't be afraid of the salt shaker (use sea salt or other naturally sourced salt, to get other trace minerals, too)!

Dragon, I slept great last night!! Took bouillon cube (full daily sodium amount), 1200mg of potassium (I bet I was very deficient looking at my nutrition), and my nightly magnesium. I also made myself a warm glass of plain unsweetened almond milk with a TBL of coconut oil and butter, plus a stevia packet. I bet it was the sodium! I can't seem to salt my food enough- believe me, my coworkers are astonished about how much salt I put on my food.

I guess I need to force the bouillon daily- just seems crazy that I can't get what I need from eating whole foods. What did the neanderthals do to get their minerals- eat lots of salty dirt?

I will make my diary public.

Thanks for all your help.
-Dawl

dawlfin318

shadesofidaho wrote: »

I love to listen to Jason Stephenson on youtube. I use headphones. I started wit this video but listen to many of his now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYhuJ5yqaTo

Sounds nice but I probably need a shorter one (not 45 min).

Tks!

petr8888

My sleep is also messed up.

I have been taking potassium and magnesim to avoid muscel cramping as I have seen many people post on that issue.

Is the sleep disturbance a temporary thing that goes away once your body is used to getting fewer calories or does it remain as long as you are loosing weight?

Peter

dawlfin318

petr8888 wrote: »

My sleep is also messed up.

I have been taking potassium and magnesim to avoid muscel cramping as I have seen many people post on that issue.

Is the sleep disturbance a temporary thing that goes away once your body is used to getting fewer calories or does it remain as long as you are loosing weight?

Peter

Good question Peter. I spoke to my doctor and she said many find this diet over stimulates the brain. I have had depression and anxiety (and insomnia) before the diet- take meds for it. Doc took me off one of the antidepressants to counteract the increased stimulation (heard coconut oil can be very stimulating to some). Has only been one week so not sure that is enough time to know.

I seem to go through episodic insomnia. Three good nights, then 2 bad ones. But, when I feel good- I feel really good. I wont give up this diet, just need to find the right balance of oils, salts, and the happy brain chemicals I guess.

-Dawl

shadesofidaho

I just let myself fall asleep listening with headphones. When I wake up I take them off and turn off my kindle or just close it. I doubt I last 10 minutes.

tq33702

dawlfin318 wrote: »

Why is my sleep affected?. My sister is having the same issue. We want to stay on this diet. Plz help us solve this .
TIA, -dawlfin

I've had sleep issues for years,
long before I found LC or Keto.

Magnesium and other Electrolytes
are a great help, yet haven't ended
my sometimes insomnia.

Since starting Keto about a month
now, my carbs are mostly less than
12g/d.

Now that I'm staying in the
0-12g/Carbs/day my sleep is improving
in length and restfulness, so far...

I used to rely on HighCarbs before
LightsOut to put me to sleep...
yet it was a different quality of
ZombieSleep...not refreshing, like
when I was young, or now on
VLCHF Keto.

I haven't slept so peacefully in years,
and I hope it stays that way.

radiii

I fall asleep listening to a playlist of relaxing things that I have on youtube. I use sleepphones and find them quite comfortable: http://www.amazon.com/AcousticSheep-SleepPhones-Classic-Headphones-Medium/dp/B0046H8ZHS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423460578&sr=8-1&keywords=sleepphones. I also use my laptop (since I don't own a smartphone or any other device like that) and have a "turn off LCD" program that keeps the laptop running but turns off the LCD monitor so its dark. That has worked great for me for the last year or so.

No advice from me on the actual sleep itself. I *really* need to work on my "sleep hygeine", but its just not at the top of the list of things to do right now. It'll come down the road.

GaleHawkins

I have always been one that was fast asleep often in minutes and do not remember any issue but there may have been a few days when I first went into Ketosis. My pain level dropped so much very early and that would have been one reason did not remember any issue.

Dragonwolf

dawlfin318 wrote: »

Dragonwolf wrote: »

Without seeing your diary, it's hard telling, but I'm willing to bet you're not getting enough sodium. Sleep disturbances are the most obvious sign of sodium deficiency (been there, done that, since my son is sodium deficient).

Make sure you're getting at least 3,500mg of sodium per day. This will also help you retain your magnesium, potassium, and calcium stores, as your body doesn't need to try to balance your electrolytes back out to make up for the lack of sodium. So by all means, don't be afraid of the salt shaker (use sea salt or other naturally sourced salt, to get other trace minerals, too)!

Dragon, I slept great last night!! Took bouillon cube (full daily sodium amount), 1200mg of potassium (I bet I was very deficient looking at my nutrition), and my nightly magnesium. I also made myself a warm glass of plain unsweetened almond milk with a TBL of coconut oil and butter, plus a stevia packet. I bet it was the sodium! I can't seem to salt my food enough- believe me, my coworkers are astonished about how much salt I put on my food.

I guess I need to force the bouillon daily- just seems crazy that I can't get what I need from eating whole foods. What did the neanderthals do to get their minerals- eat lots of salty dirt?

I will make my diary public.

Thanks for all your help.
-Dawl

It largely depends on what groups you're looking at. People who lived closer to the sea likely got more sodium and other minerals from the seafood they at. Same probably for those living near exposed salt deposits (or they harvested the salt directly).

Keep in mind, too, that their lives were quite a bit different from ours. They lived their entire lives eating a particular way, so their bodies were always well-adapted to it and had all the "machinery." For us, a lot of that has atrophied and needs built back up. In many aspects, we'll never be as efficient at some things, as some physiological changes are permanent (things like jaw formation and whatnot; check out Weston Price's work for comparisons between "civilized" and "non-civilized" people and their jaw formation, it's astounding). Additionally, our food isn't generally as nutritious as what our distance ancestors had access to, thanks to things like monoculture and industrial farming. We also don't eat the kinds of things our ancestors ate routinely (or we don't eat them as often) -- the "weird" cuts of meats (marrow, organs, etc), fermented/pickled vegetables, "weird" creatures (snails, insects, etc), and yes, we even eat less dirt -- this changes not only the nutrients we have access to, but also our gut flora, which alters how well we can process and absorb certain nutrients.

bonz1481

Re: the night sweats. I'm 'enjoying' that side effect lately. It's worse if I haven't been so diligent with my carb consumption that day or the day before....like my body is trying to expel the bad stuff

dawlfin318

The night sweats are gone. I think it was related to salt and water loss during initial ketosis.

Thanks for the interesting info Dragon. I read some of that in the book by Phinney and Volek, lots of great info there too.