Insomnia worse with reduced carbs
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@Phrick - Good luck getting through the video without.... er... zzzzzzzz.
Well, you do have some control over the types of light you're exposed to (sun's great, but you can add and filter out types of light in your environment).
I've always gravitated toward split-shift sleeping. But for all I know, it's not good for reducing insulin resistance or improving memory & cognition. Definitely something to try to get a better handle on!
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All interesting stuff. I'll have to watch that again when I'm more awake.
I do believe that at least part of my issue is electrolyte balance. I've been having a teaspoon of pink salt in water before bed, and my foot cramps are gone -- and I don't have to get up to pee as often in the night.2 -
I finally discovered something that works amazingly well for the keto insomnia for me. Saving 69 calories and taking a shot of Jameson 30 minutes before bed.
I'm not much of a drinker anyway. So pair that with keto's known alcohol amplifying effects, and I was knocked the hell out in very short order.
I also felt fantastic the next morning, which is the exact opposite of what I was expecting.7 -
I'm not a drinker, though a shot of booze at night sounds appealing.
I did sleep better on the night I ate a few bites of my partner's cheesecake when we were out for dinner. Since I'm only restricting my carbs to about 50 I might buy some fruit and eat half an apple or peach an hour before bed, and see how that goes. 0 -
O, wise mods, @baconslave @dragonwolf -
Some good tips here - an item for the LCD Launch Pad?
Thanks.1 -
Lauracoth:
Grains and potatoes and sugar put me practically in a coma all my life. I'm 60 now - doing keto, and have not eaten grains or potatoes, or sugar in 1 1/2 years and have more energy now than I did 50 years ago...and I've lost 110 pounds. For me those foods are life sappers. I can play around a little with dairy and veggies and still lose and have energy, but the three I mentioned ...instant deadzone.
Keep trying things out til you find what works for you.2 -
I think I'm over the worst of the insomnia from diet, now. I make sure to have a glass of salt water before bed, and that stops the constant getting up in the night and the foot cramps.
I long for more energy, but for now this will have to do. I'm also dealing with thyroid issues, so until those are resolved I'll be a bit on the slow side.0 -
A few sleep/wake hacks I've started using that are helping me lately. I'm hypothyroid, though, as you know, not Hashi's, @LauraCoth...
Using a sleep cycle app to wake me. It uses a 30 minute window prior to your "hard and fast" timer set to be woken. You keep the phone on the bed, and based on movements through the mattress, it determines when you're in deep sleep or light sleep or awake/tossing/turning. It will only wake you during light sleep or at the end of the timer. I generally dread the idea of getting up with up to 30 minutes less sleep, but when you get woken in light sleep, it's far easier to be alert and functional than groggy. I use the "Sleep Cycle" app for Android. I forget what the one for iPhone is called (@Sunny_Bunny_ might recall).
I also use a single meditation track to help me fall asleep. I don't use it for meditation, and I only use it for this. It's a free app that has a timer on it, so I pair it with the sleep cycle app above. It also helps me get back to sleep quick after having to get up to use the bathroom or waking from either a bad or restless dream.
After listening to the diabetes and thyroid summits lately, I've incorporated a daylight lamp for 30 minutes as soon as I can in the morning, and at 3 pm for 30 minutes. Doing this allows the body to naturally increase cortisol at those times to comply with naturally circadian rhythms. This ties in with cortisol naturally tapering and melatonin naturally rising to put you in the proper timing for good sleep. Since we've both got thyroid issues, we should NEVER stay up past that first point of getting drowsy (emergencies excepting). That is melatonin kicking in and telling us to go to bed. If we get a "second wind," that's another dose of cortisol, and it's generally 5 hours give or take before it starts to wear off, so even if you can get to sleep at that point, it won't be good sleep!!!
Taking high doses of D3 with K2 and magnesium, alternated 12 hours with A (preferably with E to balance). The D3/K2 helps energize the body (along with B-Complex in the am)...and the A interferes with D, so taking it about 12 hours offset really helps...
Carbing up slightly (as mentioned above) at dinner. I feel best at keto levels in the am, near keto levels at lunch, and basic low carb levels at dinner. I found out that going hard keto really had a bad effect on my thyroid function, and I'm still recovering from it, 12-18 months later. I LOVE LOVE LOVE keto, so keeping keto for breakfast and mostly at lunch is helpful, and getting a bit more carbs at night really helps balance this all out.
Blue light filters trigger daylight/cortisol responses, so putting filters on anything you use up to 3-4 hours before bed really helps.
That's all I can think of offhand, but I know I'm missing at least one thing...so I'll add back in later.
Oh, and this is worth a read as far as the l-tryptophan, etc.
http://carbsyndrome.com/is-your-brain-two-quarts-low/
Started with a similar protocol (the 5-htp and tyrosine together triggered carb cravings that seem to be muted with the l-glutamine)...and only a couple days in...will advise down the road.2 -
So - adjusting my thyroid medication to two doses daily instead of one, plus adding in the extra T3 every other day has got me sleeping pretty well. The only thing waking me up too early now is foot cramps, so I'll adjust my salt intake a bit more.1
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@KnitOrMiss - Thanks for those tips!
Phinney recommends spreading smaller doses of magnesium over the course of the day, with the last one shortly before bedtime, in order to avoid nocturnal leg cramps. Any thoughts?
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Magnesium has never helped me with foot cramps. Perhaps that's because I have always been very deficient, but it's tough to know. It might just be an indication of overall electrolyte imbalance and not just one mineral.0
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@RalfLott - I take magnesium glycinate twice a day. You need to take it with your D3/K2 as it works synergistically, if you can. Some forms make folks more tired that others. I then take it with my nighttime meds too (usually 12 hours apart, as it has a half-life). I wouldn't want to take it more than that, though, as I need to digestive enzymes of my meals to properly absorb it. But taking it twice a day has kept cramps fully at bay. On days I'm going to be out and about in this heat, I take sodium pills and an extra dose of magnesium. For whatever reason, I seem to get enough potassium in my food. Adding it in as a supplement (other than really small portions of lite salt) tends to make me mega-dump magnesium...1
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@KnitOrMiss -
Yep, that sounds familiar...
Have you been tuned into Rhonda Patrick's YouTube channel? Some great vids on nutrition there, and it comes fast and furious. Not a lot on timing, though.
Any thoughts about how to time probiotics?1 -
@RalfLott - For me, probiotics and thyroid meds have about the same kind of timing. Without food. Extra enzymes/acids will kill most of them before they get where they are going...
I typically do my thyroid meds at 5 am when I get up.
At 6 am, allergy meds, etc.
Breakfast 7-9 am - and all am supplements, including ACV pills and digestive enzymes.
11 am probiotic
1-2:30 pm, lunch with digestive stuffs
3 pm - second dose T3 thyroid med
6-7 pm diatomaceous earth
8-9 pm dinner & pm meds
10-11 pm - late night/bed time/empty stomach meds (5-htp, l-tyrosine, l-glutamine)
I've gotten it down to a schedule, but it's not overly flexible, except a few things. Like yesterday, I got my probiotics in the mail, so I took them at 6 pm, skipped the DE for the day...1 -
Bumping for anyone looking for sleep hacking info!0
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The only thing I notice sleep-wise since going keto is that I have REALLY vivid dreams. It's like watching the weirdest movies in my mind all night long, and I wake up wondering WTF???1
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I started taking magnesium a few weeks ago and wish I had discovered it years ago. I've had muscle cramps for years, especially noticeable back when I was trying to do yoga and hold poses - ouch. Those have disappeared this week and I've slept all night 3 times this week too! I have fibro, so sleeping all night is a huge deal. For the last 25 or so years, I've considered only getting up once a great nights sleep. Thank you to everyone that suggested it!2
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@Riche120 Check out the fourth post down for the latest studies on magnesium & FM:
Fibromyalgia Linked to Deficiencies in RBC Magnesium, IGF-1
community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10104325/medscape-updates-on-clinical-studies-medical-professionals-continuing-ed-site-re-fm#latest
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You don't need to cut carbs to lose weight if you don't want to0
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Bump0
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12Sarah2015 wrote: »You don't need to cut carbs to lose weight if you don't want to
True @12Sarah2015 but we would not be on a low carb thread if we were not interested in cutting our carb intake.
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12Sarah2015 wrote: »You don't need to cut carbs to lose weight if you don't want to
I will have to argue that some people actually do need to cut carbs to lose weight. Metabolic disfunction makes it quite necessary for many people.
With 1 in 3 people being insulin resistant, that's 1/3 of the American population that reduced carbs would make all the difference in the world for. That's 1/3 of the people on forums desperate to know why they can't seem to lose weight even though their calorie intake suggests they should be. That's 1/3 of people that are having to push through hours of hunger every day in order to achieve even small calorie deficits.
And 1/3 of those people being told they aren't counting right or measuring right or trying hard enough. Truth is they're just doing the wrong thing, the right way. Not the right thing the wrong way.5 -
Much farther in, now, and the insomnia is gone.
I also notice far less joint pain, as a bonus. My hip has been horribly painful for the last year, almost incapacitating at times, but now it only hurts later in the day. My chronic elbow and shoulder pain -- once bad enough that I couldn't sleep on that side -- is gone, just gone.4 -
I sleep like an especially good baby since going keto. Perhaps taking my magnesium glycinate before bedtime helps with that also. Just 100 mg daily total and no cramping.3
