Insomnia

amioc

Hi everyone I’m just after some advice please. I started on phase 1 of the south beach diet 4 days ago and the past 2 nights I’ve had dreadful insomnia even when I take my sleeping pills 😢 I just wondered if anyone else has experienced this and how long did it last?

amioc

Hi everyone I’m just after some advice please. I started on phase 1 of the south beach diet 4 days ago and the past 2 nights I’ve had dreadful insomnia even when I take my sleeping pills 😢 I just wondered if anyone else has experienced this and how long did it last?

Hannahwalksfar

What is the south beach diet? Like sand? Salt water? Kale?

BarbaraHelen2013

I have no idea what the South Beach Diet entails, and whilst I know I could look it up, I wouldn’t be sure the details would be relevant in terms of sleep, specifically.

Are you aware of hunger whilst trying to drop off? What is the calorie content of the diet?

I know some people simply cannot sleep if their stomach is empty. Personally, I’m the opposite...I actively prefer to feel slightly hungry when I go to bed, I’m positive I sleep better and with fewer overly vivid dreams if my body is not engaged in digestion.

Edit to add: I have just looked it up and it would appear that the South Beach Diet is basically a form of low carb Keto style plan. It seems that low levels of serotonin and melanin caused by low intake of carbs can cause problems with sleep. Who knew! From what I’ve just read though, once your body adjusts it may well improve.

lgfrie

I've never been a good sleeper, but my poor sleep got worse when I started dieting. Then I went to 16:8 intermittent fasting - no more food after 7 pm - and it got tremendously worse, both in the amount of time it takes to fall asleep, and also waking up after 4 or 5 hours everyday and having a hard time going back to sleep. It's gotten so bad that this week, I introduced having a carb (e.g. banana) an hour before bedtime, and that has improved things somewhat. This is quite unfortunate, because 16:8 intermittent fasting worked fantastically well for me for months and I hate to give it up, but I do feel it has been detrimental for my sleep patterns and that a carb close to bedtime helps. I don't know why that is. You may want to give it a try, especially since you're not on a fasting diet - nothing to lose.

amioc

It’s basically like keto very low carbs

RelCanonical

Perhaps try adding some carbohydrates back in to see if it helps. Also, I can't stand sleeping on an empty stomach so it'll keep me up if I finish eating too early. It's also possible that it's not related to your diet.

kshama2001

amioc wrote: »

Hi everyone I’m just after some advice please. I started on phase 1 of the south beach diet 4 days ago and the past 2 nights I’ve had dreadful insomnia even when I take my sleeping pills 😢 I just wondered if anyone else has experienced this and how long did it last?

Under-eating can cause insomnia. How many pounds do you want to lose total, what weekly weight loss goal did you choose, and how many calories per day are you eating? Are you using a food scale to measure your food?

amioc

I’d like to loose 10lbs. I’ve been sticking to low calories for a while now but my insomnia only started when I cut out carbs. Last night I had some brown rice with my meal and I slept much better. I’ve been eating around 1280. Yeh I’ve been using a food scale

whitpauly

That's super low calories to be eating for a 10 pound loss

Luke_rabbit

whitpauly wrote: »

That's super low calories to be eating for a 10 pound loss

Wouldn't that depend on her size and age? MFP gives me 1220 for .5 lb/week loss. I would guess that I had been eating 1500 -1600 calories before I decided to lose.