Kristina Poduch Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 The past 4 or 5 days I haven't been able to sleep at all. I woke up last week feeling alert and wonderful then all if a sudden I just couldn't sleep. I have tried everything. Last night I even took a melatonin and yet I laid there half the night awake. I have a 14 month old and work full time I just can't afford to be exhausted and it's not like I can take a nap! Anyone else have this problem?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyroq Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I have a similar situation. I normally sleep a lot and am tired all the time, and I'm surprised to NOT be able to sleep now. Last week, I kept waking up progressively earlier to the point where I was getting 6 hours of sleep (usually I get 8-9 and am not rested). I felt great and had plenty of energy. Last night I couldn't fall asleep, which is completely strange for me. I was not tired at all. Maybe part of the problem was that I slept in yesterday morning, but usually that does not affect me at all. So yeah, I hear you. Have you been really exhausted during the day? My thing is that when I sleep less I'm not really tired (or I will be yawning but not feel exhausted like I usually feel). Either way, it must be hard with a young child and working full time...good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyroq Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 P.S. I'm on Day 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B1121 Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 I came here to post about that! I am in the same boat. I always used to be able to fall asleep within minutes of my head hitting the pillow. For days now it's taken me one to two hours to fall asleep! And while there were a couple of days earlier where I slept reasonably well for nine hours (days 5 - 7) I now wake up earlier every day. And it seems to be getting worse. I am lucky to get 5-6 hours, so the deficit is piling up. Also, whenever I was short on sleep in the past for whatever reason, I used to power nap during the early afternoon. I could do that really well and almost anywhere. Now, although I am totally exhausted and want nothing but sleep I can't even nap any more. The first days it was not so bad, despite the little sleep I felt ok during the day, but not any more. I feel absolutely terrible. And I get a fright every time I look in the mirror, I look horrible with big dark circles under my eyes... Today was day 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristina Poduch Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 I'm definitely exhausted when I wake up. This morning was better than the past two days as far as exhaustion goes. But I honestly felt like I didn't sleep at all. I don't know what to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristina Poduch Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Have you tried melatonin at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Strathdee Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 This is pretty common as people hit the "big energy" stage, it seems. It's like your body doesn't know when to turn it off! However, it does get better. Just like with anything else, your body has to learn when it's appropriate to be awake and when you need to sleep. Some things that can help - and you'll find that you have this in common with your toddler - 1. A solid bedtime routine. Pick the same time of night if you can, develop a ritual - calming tea, a good book, turn off electronics, meditate... This will cue your body, through repetition that it's time to go to bed. Eventually, you'll find yourself in the habit of winding down at that time of night. 2. Magnesium - via a supplement like Natural Calm or an epsom salt bath. This will help your body with the actual relaxation process. I promise, it will work itself out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B1121 Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 1. check 2. check That's how I never had problems before the Whole30. Day 15 starting here in Europe. Enjoyed another 6 hours of sleep, 4 of those were uninterrupted... Sigh This is pretty common as people hit the "big energy" stage, it seems. I am glad to hear it's common. I have to say, I do notice that despite me feeling terrible, there is an unusual energy or at least a motivation on another level. I mean, if I had had a week like this before the Whole30 I would not still be functioning the way I am now. I promise, it will work itself out. Thank you, Robin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katyroq Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 I think the exhaustion finally caught up with me, and I fell right asleep last night and couldn't wake up even after 8 hours. This is pretty common as people hit the "big energy" stage, it seems. It's like your body doesn't know when to turn it off! However, it does get better. Just like with anything else, your body has to learn when it's appropriate to be awake and when you need to sleep. Some things that can help - and you'll find that you have this in common with your toddler - 1. A solid bedtime routine. Pick the same time of night if you can, develop a ritual - calming tea, a good book, turn off electronics, meditate... This will cue your body, through repetition that it's time to go to bed. Eventually, you'll find yourself in the habit of winding down at that time of night. 2. Magnesium - via a supplement like Natural Calm or an epsom salt bath. This will help your body with the actual relaxation process. I promise, it will work itself out. Thanks, Robin! I'm glad to be reassured that it will work itself out. I have felt that I just have a ton more energy than normal, yet I'm used to a pretty low activity level, lots of sleep, etc. in order to counterbalance NOT having energy. So, maybe I should work out more or just otherwise plan more things into my day to wear myself out using all this energy! Also, the bedtime routine. I don't have that, and it's probably a good idea Hope all of you return to a normal sleep schedule soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristina Poduch Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 I definitely have a good bedtime routine, I go to bed at the same time every night (again I have a toddler life would be hell without going to bed by 10pm!) And then I read for 30-45 min and usually fall asleep no later than 11 and I am up by 7. I really hopes it gets better soon because I can't take too many more nights like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cayce13 Posted January 24, 2013 Share Posted January 24, 2013 I had a lot of trouble sleeping through the night for over a week (aprox days 7-15). I feel asleep fine, but would wake up after about 4 hours or so and just lay there. It was very difficult to get up. But, once I was up, I had plenty of energy throughout the day and was not experiencing my normal afternoon slump. The last few days have been much better, and I have slept through the night - on day 18 now. I feel great even late at night when I would typically be completely exhausted. Robin's explanation of this being typical of the body having a "big energy" stage makes a lot of sense. I am confident my body is now getting adjusted and the good sleep will continue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kristina Poduch Posted January 25, 2013 Author Share Posted January 25, 2013 I slept much more soundly last night. Hopefully the trend continues. I drank some of that calm drink so I think that helped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B1121 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 So, is everybody sleeping well again? I'm not. Day 23. That's 16 days since I had a reasonable night's sleep. This is pretty common as people hit the "big energy" stage, it seems. It's like your body doesn't know when to turn it off! I never felt any big energy. It's been a loong time since I felt any little energy. I just drag myself through life. There is not a hint of energy left in my body and it's been like that for a while. Someone please come up with another explanation for this. There has to be a reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoodles Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I'm not sleeping either. I toss and turn for a few hours before I can finally fall asleep. I think I sleep through one sleep cycle and then wake up with tons of energy, ready to start the day at 3am! After that I never really get back to sleep again, I just doze, waiting for the alarm to go off at 6. I'm on day 11 (with 2 restarts since Dec 26 oops) and I DESPERATELY want that sleeping like a baby thing to kick in pretty soon! I feel wired but tired, like I have the "big energy" but it's being eclipsed by being completely sleep deprived. I've tried carbs before bed, magnesium, lavender oil, eye mask, ear plugs, relaxation music, you name it! I read somewhere or other that your body produces cortisol when converting protein to glucose - not sure if that's true but I guess it would explain why so many people who start this way of eating, or even atkins etc seem to have trouble sleeping. I hope you're right Robin and that it sorts itself out soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nadia B Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Zoodles, I hear you! Usually I am crashing around 10pm, I just turn into pumpkin. However, if I go to bed at this time, I'll wake up at midnight with no hope of falling asleep again for couple hours. If I go to bed later, I'll still wake up multiple times during the night. I hate waking up at 3 am, then at 4 and then at 6, when I have to get up at 7. I take Magnesium, my room is dark and I keep the window slightly opened to maintain lower temperature. I am so willing to fix my sleep, I just wish I knew what else can I try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B1121 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I get tired at night and I fall asleep, I just don't stay asleep for long. I am not wide awake or rearing to go when I wake up, not any more. I just wake up and feel dreadful and can't go back to sleep. Anyway... I read somewhere or other that your body produces cortisol when converting protein to glucose - not sure if that's true but I guess it would explain why so many people who start this way of eating, or even atkins etc seem to have trouble sleeping. I hope you're right Robin and that it sorts itself out soon! Well, I'd say your body produces cortisol when it's stressed because it runs out of fuel. And your body also converts protein to glucose when it runs out of fuel. So yeah, it makes sense that the two go together. I actually took a long, hard look at myself this morning, as in literally, in the mirror, and I didn't like what I saw. I have lost weight, looks like both muscle mass and fat (I can spare neither!!!), and there is a little tell tale pot belly. So, in my case, a cortisol issue for sure. (Which I had already suspected, since I could not come up with another explanation.) I am pretty sure I am not eating enough. The thing is, I already kinda knew that, it's not like I'm not trying. I bet if I posted food logs nobody would believe it's not enough, I easily eat double of what any other female on here eats, but I also burn through some serious calories in a day... Well, 9:30 pm here in Europe, high time to turn this silly machine off. Good night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisAlex Posted February 1, 2013 Share Posted February 1, 2013 Hi Guys and Girls First post here and not that we want to complain. My girlfriend and I loves the Whole30. It all makes sense and just works, except that she always had depression and insomnia issues. since the Whole 30 she has almost not slept at all! We on day 26, strict whole30 followers, regular excercies - 5 x per week - but what now?? It is just getting a bit crazy that she is not sleeping at all. Max 2/3 hours a night and then it is interrupted too. Any advice for us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Strathdee Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 So, is everybody sleeping well again? I'm not. Day 23. That's 16 days since I had a reasonable night's sleep. I never felt any big energy. It's been a loong time since I felt any little energy. I just drag myself through life. There is not a hint of energy left in my body and it's been like that for a while. Someone please come up with another explanation for this. There has to be a reason. You're definitely right- there's got to be a reason. Logic would indicate that, if you didn't have any sleep issues before this, then there's a new factor causing the disruption. Are there any other changes (besides the food groups you're eating) you've introduced since you started? Any change in food timing? I might just start experimenting with things - stop eating longer before bed, eat closer to bedtime, more protein or fat before bed (since you tried carbs), more carbs in the morning... I'm not a doctor - and definitely not a scientist - but I know enough to know that the chemical systems in your body interact with each other, and that when one is changing then those interactions are all affected. We may never figure out exactly what's out of whack, but with some experimentation you might be able to solve your issues. Hi Guys and Girls First post here and not that we want to complain. My girlfriend and I loves the Whole30. It all makes sense and just works, except that she always had depression and insomnia issues. since the Whole 30 she has almost not slept at all! We on day 26, strict whole30 followers, regular excercies - 5 x per week - but what now?? It is just getting a bit crazy that she is not sleeping at all. Max 2/3 hours a night and then it is interrupted too. Any advice for us? Hi ChrisAlex! Are her sleep issues worse? Or just the same? Is she under a doctor's care for these issues, perhaps on medication? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B1121 Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Thank you for your comments, Robin! Are there any other changes (besides the food groups you're eating) you've introduced since you started? Any change in food timing? I might just start experimenting with things - stop eating longer before bed, eat closer to bedtime, more protein or fat before bed (since you tried carbs), more carbs in the morning... Changes: One major change has been to eat breakfast as soon as I wake up. I used to have nothing but coffee with about 100ml 90% coconut milk. (Been drinking my coffee with coconut milk for a loooong time. ditto for cooking with coconut oil.) After reading the reasoning for early breakfast in ISWF I had expected this to improve my sleeping and circadian rhythm. While it hasn't helped, I very much doubt that it is detrimental in any way. Adding carbs to breakfast is something I never tried. And am kinda reluctant to do. But will test it on a quiet day. (On active days I really don't want to prime my body to burn carbs in the am. I need to access my fat stores reliably during the first half of the day, which more often than not is spent in the mountains, ascending several thousand feet. I usually start to add in carbs after an hour or two in motion and try to get them in during and after. But not being able to use sugar and not wanting a full stomach it's not easy...) Other than that... There is nothing I have newly introduced. I have been eating paleo-ish for a long time. Unfortunately in the months before starting my Whole30, due to injury and boredom, I had slipped back into higher carb, higher sugar ways, as well as adding gluten and dairy. Well, and then the usual Holiday bingeing... All up 3 months of high sugar lifestyle, and not very compliant paleo-ish in the 6 months before that. Before that I ate much cleaner for one and a half years. So the change in the kinds of food I eat would have been the removal of sugar and the sharp drop in carbs, increased protein and increased vegetables. Also more fat, but I don't think my fat intake has gone up hugely. I've never been afraid of fat. I always used to say butter makes up the base of my food pyramid Meals follow the template, usually two palms of protein, mountain of veg and swimming in fat As for the timing of evening meals, I don't think there is an issue. I usually eat my last meal between 6 and 7, and it's lights out around 10. But there have been several days where I had dinner earlier, and then had a little snack around 8, or even later if it was a late night for whatever reason, or if I was still hungry after a big day in the mountains. Macronutrients of last meal or snack also always varied some. And it never made any difference whatsoever on the quantity or quality of my sleep. It doesn't seem to matter at all what exactly or when exactly I eat. The nights are always exactly the same, no noticeable differences. Having said that, an ever so slight shift may be happening, ever so slowly, towards sleeping better. At least, as already mentioned above somewhere, I do fall asleep now without problems. Sleep is still interrupted frequently, but at least after waking up I can go back to sleep pretty much instantly. But I still only get about 6 hours which is nowhere near enough. Personally I still lean towards the cortisol explanation. I think I am just not able yet to use my fat stores as efficiently as I thought or would need to if I wanted to fuel my activity level. While my activity is all lowish intensity, the overall volume is pretty insane compared to the average office bum. In addition I was too low calorie for the first three weeks. (Damn the stupid ban on logging or tracking anything. If I had done that I would have noticed a lot sooner, as well as the imo extremely low carb intake, despite the starchy veg and apples. Mind you, sweet potatoes do not exist here, white potatoes are also stupidly forbidden, sugary fruit discouraged... Easy to say "eat enough carbs to fuel activity"...) I thought I was doing well because I felt so good in the mountains, it's not like there is a drop in performance, rather the opposite. HOWEVER, this is exactly how I felt pre paleo, when on big climbs I would simply fast and deliberately induce that cortisol response. No breakfast, no food at all, ignore the hunger for the first couple of hours, and sooner or later cortisol would kick in and I was Superwoman for the rest of the day. Just buzzing... powerful, alert, inexhaustible... Of course it always took me many days to recover from such an outing. Not something to try on a regular basis. Summary: I think denying my not yet fat-burning body the carbs while forcing it to perform regardless is what did me in. Enough rambling :-) I'll keep eating, and I'll try the carbs in the am, it will increase overall carbs and cals, so I think it'll help. And I have a gut feeling that your very first comment was indeed right. It will sort itself out eventually Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B1121 Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 PS.: I totally understand and support the reasoning behind the "stupid" ban on weighing, tracking, and white potatoes. It is only "stupid" within my personal context. No criticism or complaint was implied! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jillian Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I've heard some people on these forums talk about the good sleep they get after a few spoonfuls of warm gooey coconut butter (not to be confused with coconut oil or milk). It's very convenient, yummy, and calorie-dense. If I don't get enough to eat - I'll be awake in the middle of the night for hours and I may also really struggle to fall asleep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Strathdee Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 PS.: I totally understand and support the reasoning behind the "stupid" ban on weighing, tracking, and white potatoes. It is only "stupid" within my personal context. No criticism or complaint was implied! If that's the worst thing you say during this process, we'll take it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhereIsMeeshamabelle Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 In my experience or doing Whole 30, I'd have to say that sleep in the beginning was interupted. Some times because I found myself hungry, and others because I was actually getting good sleep... So I didn't need as much. The more I researched & the more the days went on, sleep became the best I've ever had. I would be able to turn my mind off like the second I hit the pillow. Don't get discouraged. But don't stress and over think it. Keep it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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