high protein intake and insomnia?

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lawkat
lawkat Posts: 538 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I have started the 17 Day Diet on Tuesday. The past two night, I have been having horrible sleep, waking up after every REM cycle from crazy dreams. I don't drink the green tea at night because I don't like to consume caffeine that late at night. I am fine cutting back on the carbs and eating a lot of protein in the evening, however, I am wondering if it is causing my horrible sleep. Has anyone else experienced this?

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  • Russellb97
    Russellb97 Posts: 1,057 Member
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    It could just be hunger, protein should not make sleep difficult.
    How many calories are you eating daily, and what is your daily deficit?
    Also how long before sleep is your last meal?
  • samb
    samb Posts: 464 Member
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    I have horrible sleep insomnia, but protein should not make it any different. The only thing I can think of is if you are hungry before bed/while sleeping it will cause issues so you may need to eat closer to bed time or intake more calories.
  • jgscott987
    jgscott987 Posts: 1
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    It's pretty widely known that low-carb diets can lead to crazy dreams and insomnia. Its not the high protien causing the problem, it is the lack of carbs. I first experienced this a few weeks ago. Everything I read about it suggested eating a little bit of good quality carbs in the evening. Some crackers or fruit after dinner have made all the difference- I sleep like a baby again.

    Do a google search for low-carb sleep. You'll find a bunch of folks with the same problem.
  • zeratul1080
    zeratul1080 Posts: 19 Member
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    I have horrible sleep insomnia, but protein should not make it any different. The only thing I can think of is if you are hungry before bed/while sleeping it will cause issues so you may need to eat closer to bed time or intake more calories.

    That's true for me too, being hungry makes it harder for me to sleep, or have good continuous sleep.
    I do get gas from eating too much protein though :( but that's about it
  • lawkat
    lawkat Posts: 538 Member
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    I am not hungry when I go to bed. I never go to bed hungry because I know I won't sleep. I did do a little research and some people have experienced insomnia with a low carb/high protein diet. I wanted to see if anyone else has experienced this.
  • peppycat
    peppycat Posts: 6
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    I've been low carb/high protein for the past 4 months and sleep well. I've slept far better than I used to when I was bloated up on lots of carbs and sugar. I also go to bed slightly hungry. Being full keeps me awake. I also think my improved sleep is heavily influenced by the amount of exercise rather than what I am eating.
  • Dive_Girl
    Dive_Girl Posts: 247 Member
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    I am SOOO happy to see this post! I have always or very often followed a somewhat low carb diet. But after reading Why We Get Fat and What To Do About it I decided to get serious about it. Yesterday was my first truly low carb day with only green veggies and meat to eat. I did not experience any hunger, but I could not get to sleep last night at all!!! What's even weirder is that today I feel perfectly fine, like I didn't miss any sleep at all yesterday. Normally if I do not get more than 6 hours of sleep I feel almost flu like for the following day, but not today. Its good to know that this is not uncommon.

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