shelley417 Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 I have posted this before but need more advice. I have no trouble falling asleep-- I take 2 theanine serene (300 mg magnesium, 200 mg. theanine, 150 mg Relora and 500 mg. gABA) . And 6 mg timed release melatonin and a cup of tea with Calm and a sleep tape and I fall asleep around 10. Then I am up at sometime between 2 and 4 every night. Any ideas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PamH Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Augh! I can relate. Can I ask how old you are? I had sleep problems in my college years and 30s (taking up to 2 hours to fall asleep but could stay asleep). Now, at 48, it has started again. The past 2 months have left me bleary eyed. Mostly due to new hot flashes, but the Whole30 has reduced them from about 6 a night to 1-2 a night which is great. Melatonin is better for those who have trouble falling asleep vs those who cannot stay asleep for some reason. Do these supplements help you fall asleep or has that never really been an issue? Sorry, I'm new and don't know what you have posted before. I bought tart cherry juice but have not tried it yet. Take a look at that! At some point, you might be taking too many natural sleep aides. Have you considered stopping all of them and taking a supplement holiday? Then, add them back one by one? I would definitely take out the melatonin as an experiment. Google Cortisol. I had my cortisol tested through http://www.canaryclub.org/ and it was messed up. Then, google again on how to normalize that hormone rhythm. Whole30 sure is a good start. I hope others have suggestions that work for you! I can imagine you have tried quite a bit already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted May 16, 2013 Moderators Share Posted May 16, 2013 Like you, I get to sleep easily and then wake up between 2 and 4. I frequently need to urinate at night and when that is the only thing going on, I get back to sleep easily. However, other times, I awaken feeling hot and sometimes sweaty and find it difficult to get back to sleep. I ruminate about issues that are bothering me when I wake up in the night. The newer and more intense the issue, the more likely I am to awaken "prematurely." I am trying to resolve stress/deal with my issues better during the day so I might sleep better at night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXN11 Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 I've been having the same problem. I can fall asleep quite easily, with or without Natural Calm. But I have been waking up at 3-4 am, and its harder to fall back asleep. I don't always need to urinate when I wake up in the middle of the night. I don't have any ideas what to do about it, just can relate. Is this a symptom of adrenal fatigue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiser179 Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 I've been having similar struggles during my W30 - previously I fell asleep right away and generally slept all night unless something (cats, toddler) woke me up. However on W30 my mind was too restless to fall asleep and I was waking up a lot during the night. I recently found that my increasing my fat at dinner, I have much deeper and restful sleep. Maybe try changing up your ratio of fats/proteins and see if that has an impact? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinkse21 Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Same here but I attribute my restlessness to stress and too many things going on in the brain... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
befabdaily Posted May 16, 2013 Share Posted May 16, 2013 Like you, I get to sleep easily and then wake up between 2 and 4. I frequently need to urinate at night and when that is the only thing going on, I get back to sleep easily. However, other times, I awaken feeling hot and sometimes sweaty and find it difficult to get back to sleep. I ruminate about issues that are bothering me when I wake up in the night. The newer and more intense the issue, the more likely I am to awaken "prematurely." I am trying to resolve stress/deal with my issues better during the day so I might sleep better at night. Tom is my twin separated at birth, sleep-wise. I have been struggling with this the last month because I am organizing a conference that takes place in 3 days. It does help, if I wake up at 3, to drink another dose of Natural Calm. So I have been doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelley417 Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 Thanks all for your empathy and sharing. I am 61 (oy-eye roll--what? How did that happen?). I took that "holiday" last night and slept through the night. I think I am another conjoined twin. Maybe it's stress that is walking me up. I am not a worrier so it's not l That I wake up and worry. But there is a lot on my mind. I never had a problem falling asleep--just staying asleep. I am going to try to drink the calm again in the middle of the night. And increase my fat intake at dinner --that's a great idea. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelley417 Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 Re: adrenal fatigue-- I have never been tested for it but I take a supplement from WomentoWomen called Adaptisol. I have a hard time taking my supplements regularly so I am going to see if when I take that at night if I sleep better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiser179 Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 So I previously mentioned increasing fat/protein at dinner because that had helped me ... maybe it was a fluke because I am back to tossing and turning (and there really is no stress issue to blame it on). Last couple of nights I increased my starchy carbs at dinner and that seemed to help. Who knows! I also had a small handful of walnuts the other day since I read that they are a good source of magnesium. I'll just keep playing around with ratios of carb/fat/protein and eventually figure out what works for my body ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennycash Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 i've never struggled with sleeping through the night until recently. i will awaken with seemingly no cause and stay awake for 1-2 hours. it's awful. however, i am becoming increasingly convinced that it is influenced by a messy hormonal situation i've got going on (estrogen dominance seems to fit all over the map for me). i'm working with an integrative doctor this week to try and sort it out. maybe hormones are playing a role for you as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXN11 Posted May 20, 2013 Share Posted May 20, 2013 Interesting article about waking up in the middle of the night... and apparently the liver, adrenals, and sugar (glycogen) all play a role. 3 am is when the liver regenerates using glycogen, and if you don't have enough glycogen (due to stress), your adrenals will release adrenaline to compensate for that. And we all know what adrenaline does. http://www.rejuvinstitute.com/why-do-i-always-wake-up-at-3am#.UZpIpLU3tvA Problem with the suggested fix? Orange juice isn't W30 compliant... so maybe eat an orange or banana instead, along with a glass of water with sea salt mixed in? Might not be very helpful to those who have sugar dragons to slay. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelley417 Posted May 22, 2013 Author Share Posted May 22, 2013 Wow TXN!! Can you repost that article in the forum and maybe one of the mods will have a W 30 work around. Thanks so much for that article. I am posting at 4:14 am having been up for an hour reading Pinterest boards! Now to listen to a meditation tape and hopefully fall back to sleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee Lee Posted May 22, 2013 Share Posted May 22, 2013 Shelley, this is a really big one of those "what's your context?" things. For some people, the carbs at bed time will help. (w30 workaround? eat a sweet potato with dinner) For others with blood sugar issues, a big dose of carbs at bedtime will actually disrupt their sleep. Try both, see what works for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXN11 Posted May 23, 2013 Share Posted May 23, 2013 Tried both. Last night I had nothing to eat for at least two hours before bed, and while I did wake up in the night, it was at 5:30 instead of 3. Went back to sleep and got up at 7. Feel better rested. Hmm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bicky145 Posted May 24, 2013 Share Posted May 24, 2013 I've been struggling with sleep issues, too. Falling asleep is sometimes a problem, but staying asleep is impossible. Before W30 I would go through spells of waking up in the middle of the night. I usually would eat carbs to put myself back to sleep. Now I wake up almost every night but don't eat anything. Sometimes I endup pacing for a whie until I can lay back down without feeling so restless. I still wake up before the alarm clock, but I hardly ever feel like I got a decent night's sleep. It is definitely wearing on me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelley417 Posted May 25, 2013 Author Share Posted May 25, 2013 When I get up in the middle of the night I listen to these ( from iTunes): Benjamin Bonetti Complete Hypnosis. Get the ones for sleep and deep relaxation. Also I listen to Meditation Oasis Rest and Relax. They more often an not put me back to sleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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