More eggs=Need less sleep? - Paleo Hacks

Extracts:

OK, so I know this isn't exactly rigorous clinical research, but I swear I need less sleep during the weeks in which I consume a lot of eggs (approx. 6-8 eggs/day). I can't think of any other factor off the top of my head. Anybody notice this?

@Dan Gregory -- you should check out Seth Roberts' blog -- he often comments on how consumption of saturated fat and animal fat allow him to sleep better. blog.sethroberts.net/2009/10/31/…

That does it for me, I hit REM sooner and sleep better when I've eaten very clean.

There may be something to this Dan: since a little kid I have hated eggs but in an attempt to up my Paleo I started drinking every morning (7 days a week without fail for several months now) a shake with 3-4 pastured eggs, a half can of organic coconut milk, a generous portion of virgin coconut oil, water, ice and a bit of stevia. I am sleeping like a log these days which is unusual for me.

I can't say for sure if it's the eggs or just the good fat in general because ever since I have been paleo I have been eating eggs (4-6 a day) and sleeping like a baby. Pre-paleo I used to not sleep well at all. I was such a light sleeper it was horrible. I never had a good nights sleep. Now I very rarely wake up!

For more Paleo hacks: http://paleohacks.com/questions/5411/more-eggsneed-less-sleep#ixzz1SPemHR1Q

Reduced sleep & excess cortisol - Paleo Hacks

Best ways to deal with excess cortisol? - Paleo Hacks.com

Well, I had a problem with waking at 4am, overheated. If that happened, my blood glucose would also be high when I finally got up (around 6-7am) at 100-105.

I know this sounds crazy to a lot of low-carbers, but I added sweet potatoes and fruit to my diet. Not a ton of it - I eat about 20-25g per meal (about the same as I eat in protein per meal) and it stopped happening. Morning BG is now 85-95, and I don't wake up at freakin' 4am either. I wind up eating less over all, but I seem to do fine with less protein now.

My theory is that it was too taxing for my adrenals to get the BG out of protein after years of low-carbing (which I did before I was paleo). I know I have not felt this good for a long time. I used to eat more like 1.5 lbs. of protein a day, now I eat more like 13-15oz. I still eat lots of green vegetables, and my total carbs daily are around 100g.

For more Paleo hacks: http://paleohacks.com/questions/3624/best-ways-to-deal-with-excess-cortisol#ixzz1SPdU5DU7

Getting less sleep on a paleo diet is OK - Paleo Hacks.com

Anyone getting less sleep on a paleo diet? - Paleo Hacks.com

Extract:

I'm not sleeping as soundly as I used to before starting the paleo diet. I wake up as early as 4:30 in the morning, though I usually can go back to sleep. Anyone else notice sleep disturbances?

This pattern of sleep is called 'bimodal' or segmented sleep - this way of sleeping has been documented as the 'normal' sleep pattern of pre-industrialized societies, i.e. before electric lighting was invented. Typically, the body reverts to it after a week or so of going to bed when it gets dark and sleeping in pitch black all night (except for the three nights around the full moon).
 

Although it has not been documented, a paleo/primal diet may also help move the body back into a segmented sleeping pattern and you may find that this is what your body is trying to do, although, 4.30 a.m. sounds as if it is not quite there yet.

5 to 6.5 Hours of Sleep Ideal for Longevity? - Paleo Hacks

5 to 6.5 Hours of Sleep Ideal for Longevity? - Paleo Hacks.com

Extract:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20870457

The title of the original article is "Mortality related to actigraphic long and short sleep."
Here are a few points:

1. The results are based on data collected from 1995-1999. "Actual sleep" was determined by an actigraph, sort of like a pedometer worn on the wrist.
   
   
2. The results are based on estimated survival, not actual morality rates, because many women could not be contacted in the follow-up.
   
   
3. From the article, "Subsample recruitment was deliberately structured to include as many older women as possible to increase the power of mortality analyses."
   
   
4. The age range of the women in the study was 50-81. We know that older people sleep less than younger people.
   
   
5. The authors do not make causal claims in the original article. It is typical for the popular media to spin it that way, though.
   
   

Sleep impact of low carb - Paleo Hacks

Forum discussion - personal experiences with sleep impact of low carb

Can't Sleep on Paleo - Paleo Hacks.com

....and see:

• So, apparently I don't sleep anymore ... - Paleo Hacks.com
• Started paleo.. Can't sleep? - Paleo Hacks.com
• Exercise Induced Insomnia - Paleo Hacks.com
• Normal to sleep "heavier" on paleo? - Paleo Hacks.com

Extract:

Hey guys I've looked at many other posts about sleeping, and I've tried a lot of suggestions ( magnesium, tea, gaba) with little success however I feel that my sleep gets worse if I have a day with very low carbs, So I was wondering is carbs help someone sleep? and when should I eat them if so, I am trying to lose weight so I've typically been eating no carbs and it is than I found my problems started. Another thing is when I do fall asleep I wake up extremely early having to pee something that has never happened to me before. Should I eat carbs in morning, Post workout, b4 bed? whats the suggestions

I am on the carb side of the fence here. I added back nighttime carbs and my sleep is much better for it. I think this strategy works for a few reasons:

• Carbs suppress the release of certain blood sugar raising hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These things can cause you to have bad sleep.

• Carbs at dinner/night will keep your blood sugar from crashing during sleep, which can raise those stress hormones at some inconvenient hour. Those are the hormones that help wake you in the morning- which hopefully comes 8 hours after you go to bed.

Healthy Sleep - Video Index (Harvard Medical School)

Video Index | Healthy Sleep

Video Index and Interactives:

• Why Sleep Matters
• The Science of Sleep
• Getting the Sleep You Need
• Did you Know
• Other

A resource from the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School and WGBH Educational Foundation

Harvard University

Carbs and Getting Better Sleep

The Daily Lipid: Getting Better Sleep -- Cool, Dark, And Lots of B6, Carbs, Calories, and Fat

In addition to getting enough fat, I also need to get enough carbohydrate.

In order to make serotonin and melatonin, the amino acid tryptophan needs to enter the pineal gland or cross the blood brain barrier. Certain amino aicds such as valine, leucine, isoleucine, phenylalanine and tyrosine compete with tryptophan for entry into these regions. Eating protein tends to decrease the ratio of tryptophan to these other amino acids in the blood, and thus decrease its availability for serotonin and melatonin synthesis (1).

However, eating gelatinous animal products such as skin and bones would not have this effect because gelatin (collagen) is not rich in these competing amino acids.

Carbohydrate stimulates insulin, which drives these other amino acids into cells and thus has the opposite effect, making tryptophan more available (2). High-glycemic carbs are more effective than low-glycemic carbs (3), which is consistent with a recent study that found that high-glycemic Jasmine rice reduced the time needed to fall asleep in healthy volunteers relative to lower-glycemic Mahatma rice (4).

Thus, if you are eating low-carb or zero-carb and find that your mood and sleep is fine, your diet is probably working just fine for you, but if you are eating such a diet and find yourself having mood problems or unable to fall asleep, you may need more carbohydrate.

Aaron Blaisdell said...

I've discovered some of the same things that you report regarding fats and carbohydrates and their effects on good sleep. I find eating some FAGE full-fat yogurt with part of a banana mashed in it is very satisfying and allows me to fall asleep very easily about an hour later. It works extremely well for my young kids, too!

I also find I sleep very well (and feel very satisfied) when eating my mashed potatoes. I make them from about 4-5 boiled potatoes with about a half cup of raw whole milk (from Organic Pastures) and about 4-6 tablespoons of butter from grass-fed cows. The carbs/fats ratio is very nice in these mashed potatoes. I especially like making them with the raw milk after it's soured a bit in the fridge (usually a week after opening the bottle).

I also can't stand any light sources when I sleep and cover up all LEDs on the TV, clocks, charging devices, etc. My older daughter, on the other hand, cannot fall asleep in a pitch dark room because she's too scared of the dark. She seems to have no problem falling asleep with a night light on, even a bright one.

Tomas said...

I think that my personal observations regarding fat and carbs matches yours. Large bowl of potatoes with cream and butter, or puffed rice with heavy cream or some bananas with butter do the job. I even found out that, compared to eating lot of animal protein in the evening, carbs make me calm, tame and ready for sleeping. So I prefer a large steak for lunch and some carbs with fat in the evening.

I am experimenting with magnesium supplements as well, and the carbs/fat plus Mg plus meditation drives me deep into the theta. :)

March 25, 2011 1:37 AM

john said...

Many studies have shown dairy products especially milk are great melatonin stimulators

March 25, 2011 3:52 AM

Olga said...

Does anyone have a problem with staying asleep. I have no problem falling asleep. Going back to sleep after waking up at 3am is my problem. Has anyone found eating more carbs in the evening to be helpful with this problem? Also,Chris, how many carb so you eat during the last meal to improve sleep? I want a ball park number to start with. Thanks.

March 25, 2011 7:38 AM

julie said...

Kathleen DesMaisons wrote a book called Potatoes not Prozac, where she proposed having enough protein at each meal, and then a potato 3 hours after dinner. As you discuss above, this stimulates the insulin response and allows the tryptophan (from the protein eaten earlier) to cross the blood brain barrier. Apparently 3 hours is the optimum timing for this to happen.

March 25, 2011 8:27 PM

Low carb - impact on sleep, Matt Stone, 180degreehealth

180 Degree Health: The Catecholamine Honeymoon

Extracts:

Each of these techniques or diets relies upon one thing – and that is a rise in catecholamines. Catecholamines collectively refer to the stimulatory adrenal hormones – mostly epinephrine and norepinephrine. These hormones, when released, cause a rise in body temperature, a rise in mitochondrial activity, an increase in mental acuity, cognition, and alertness (or at least the feeling of being sharper even if you really aren’t), a huge rise in physical energy, the release of fat tissue from fat cells, a drop in appetite, and weight loss while feeling not only good – but far better than normal.

That’s what I experienced on low-carb (roughly 100 grams per day, which is different from Atkins induction levels of carbohydrates which can cause lean tissue losses), along with other unmistakable facets of being in a high-catecholamine state such as being incapable of sleeping for more than six hours per night, never feeling tired or so much as yawning during the day, having true Energizer bunny vitality, seeing a disappearance of allergies/asthma, having a disappearance of aches and pains, being in an absurdly good and stable mood, and so on. It was awesome. I thought I was Superman.

from coments

Swede said...

Good stuff here. When I was low carb, I was so jacked up that I barely slept 5 hours a night and could literally feel my heart beating through my chest (not by putting my hand there, but I could just feel it beating it was beating so hard). I also had my worst ever performance in school and almost became depressed by that. But hey, I had gotten down to 165 lbs (185-190 now). Oh, low carb and your devilish seduction. Scott

June 10, 2010 2:41:00 PM MDT

Matt Stone said...
Thanks Mr. Lawrence. 

HED definitely tends to increase peripheral circulation, and makes people feel warmer. However, the systems responsible for more efficient cooling during hot weather also perform better if you are able to improve your overall health. 

But it's not always so black and white. Aurora has a warmer body temperature than I do, yet she sleeps with blankets and I sleep without them. I feel much warmer than she does, even though I'm not. 

With sufficient carbohydrate intake, Paleo can make your dreams come true. Too low in carbs and you'll be lucky to dream at all - or sleep for that matter, if you are anything like me.


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For adrenal-related insomnia, when you CAN'T sleep, we recommend taking 300 mg PS and 50 mg zinc 2-3 hours before bed and 1-3 mg melatonin at bedtime. That works for those who CAN'T sleep.

Those who WAKE are likely having an adrenaline rush. A bedtime dose of HC helps that, taken just as you're turning lights out so it will metabolize dead slowly and carry you through to morning, along with a protein/fat snack at bedtime to avoid overnight hypoglycemia.