If you've been dealing with sleep issues since going low carb, keto, or carnivore, please share your experiences in the comments & also please connect with me and others on my new forum here: lifeanddiy.com/forum/diet-fitness/carnivore-keto-insomnia-sleep-issues-and-solutions/. I created a post to address the sleep issues, hoping we can help each other through the forum.
I had to eat bread pancakes and beans again to be able to sleep. I was finally able to sleep last night. I think is because my body is not used to eating only meat. I’ll slowly transition into carnivore for now
I've been doing carnivore since August 9,2022, and waking up at between 2am and 3 am since November of 2022. I get up and do so so much. Today, I actually stayed in bed til 4 and now the day is gone!! LOLs. It's 5:30 am. I go to bed as early as I can- usually around 8:30p.m. I asked Dr. Berry in chat about it and he called it "sequential sleep"or something like that. It's not as common now as it used to be before electricity became so ubiquitous in our homes. I'm retired, and I can't fathom having to work after waking up in "the middle of the night" but now, it's just when I get up. The family has made a joke about it-- "well, if we need to wake up early, Mom's awake, she'll make sure we get up" Try not to fight it; if your family hears you and they can't sleep try moving where you sleep? It's just me and the old man (my husband), so I don't have to worry about noise. Good Luck, my dear. Don't stop Carnivore- the health benefits weighed against the amount of sleep I don't need anymore? I'll keep waking up early if I get to feel like I'm 30 again!!
Hi Holly, I hope this helps. I am 61yrs old and have been carnivore since Feb 2019. My sleep during this time has been I would say normal, not great but the same as prior to carnivore. A typical night would be to wake at 1.00am to 3.00 pm and I usually go and pee. returning to sleep is difficult. I bought a Fenix 6 pro watch that records my sleep and found that it was poor in many ways. I was OMAD but recently started having lunch and then dinner. I found my sleep improved!!! Hhhhmm, so then I started having dinner earlier and my sleep improved again. I now have a big breakfast and good size lunch and fast until breakfast the next day. I now sleep right through the night, no waking to pee and I feel great in the morning. This is opposite to what most people say and do but for me it is a game changer. Even my heart rate has dropped to 52bpm while sleeping, my deep sleep, REM, have increased and my stress and light sleeping has dramatically reduced. I hope this helps you?? My thoughts are with you!!
@@juanitalantang8636 I have given up coffee for the first time in 40yrs. This life changing in a great way. Digestion and energy has now improved greatly but it took a month. It was TOUGH. :)
@@gdaymate8920 Do you think that contributed to your improving sleep? I've read that some people fixed their sleeping issue on carnivore by quitting coffee.
@@juanitalantang8636 I think it depends on the person and how long they have been drinking coffee, how much and when they drink it. Myself it was 40yrs, between 1 cup and 4 cups but aways in the early morning. So in my case It may have helped me sleep a little..... What was big for me was getting my energy back after quitting it!! :)
Great video. Fwiw I've been carnivore for over a year now. Before carnivore I slept 7-9 hours every night and woke up tired every morning. Now I sleep 5-6 hours every night and wake up refreshed. I just roll with it, I don't ever feel tired during the day. I just assume my sleep quality is better so I need less of it. Carnivore makes me feel invincible.
Have you researched biphasic sleep ? Many of us are not built to sleep 7-8hrs straight. In fact it was uncommon with our ancestors. I typically sleep 11pm to 3am and then again from 10am until noon. I do not feel sleep deprived. You actually require fewer hours of sleep when it is broken up like this. I can not however have the second sleep cycle late in the afternoon or I will not fall asleep easily at 11pm. I eat eggs, meat and vegetables almost exclusively however I have to have a sweet potato each day or my sleep is terrible. For me there is a min amount of carbs that is non negotiable. We are all unique though and self experimentation is key. And I would not bother with the cortisol testing. I wasted lots of money on them. It will indicate your sleep cycle is "off" but the cortisol levels are just a result not the cause of what is going on. Kind of like buying a new thermometer because you are too hot, yet your AC is broken. I honor your journey and the courage to put yourself out there like this. Best wishes from Tampa Bay🥰
Interesting, that is something I noticed as well. If I wake up at 3 or 4 AM I feel quite often perfectly refreshed and can not sleep anymore. Then later on, especially after a meal I get tired and very sleepy. I was usually fighting it, because I was afraid I will not be able to sleep well during the next night. But if I fell asleep before noon, my next night was OK. If I fell asleep later afternoon, my next night was a nightmare. The only problem with it is, that it is a lifestyle suitable for retired people or people who work only afternoon.
How we sleep and wake on carnivore is natural . Biphasic sleep could mean that you wake up in the middle of the night because you're supposed to wake up. You could maybe go for a walk or do some yoga or read a book for 15 or 20 minutes then go into the second phase of sleeping, with an even deeper or enhanced level of sleep!
59 year old female, 6 months into carnivore. first half slept great and now last 6 weeks started dealing with insomnia. Trying all the different suggestions, but nothing seems to help, I think my IBS is kicking back up because of the stress of being so tired and lack of sleep. Had great energy in the beginning now that seems to be reversing. Ugh.
I really am so sorry to see you going through this, Holly. I have suffered from severe, chronic insomnia for over ten years and it has been life-wrecking for me. I feel as if I am about to be incredibly obtuse here by asking such an obvious question, but why would you hold to a diet that is giving you insomnia ...? If you were sleeping OK before you started, it seems likely that your old sleeping pattern will gradually reassert itself if you return to your old diet. Is there something specific that you are hoping to achieve with Carnivore - something that you did not have before? After all, you were already looking beautiful, and more than a decade younger than your actual age. And I had the impression that your mast cell issues had subsided. It also strikes me that you are missing out on plant compounds that could aid your anti-aging protocol and keep you looking gorgeous, such as blueberries, broccoli sprouts, phenolic compounds etc. You wouldn't need to reintroduce things like lectins, gluten or lactose, and you could easily minimize oxalate with a little basic data. And you could still eat all of the staples from your carnivore-diet ... So, what holds you to this when you are staring at the ceiling at 3AM? Forgive me if I am being stupid, and please know that I fully support your dietary choices, whatever they might be. But it just seems like the million dollar question, right now. A sort of cost vs benefit analysis.
Thank you for such a nice comment! I should have elaborated more on this topic in the video, but I was trying to keep the video short. :) For the last month or so, I've added fruit back in a few x a week (berries) and it's less than 10g of sugar, but giving me more of a variety. I am also a fan of broccoli sprouts, as it is nutrient dense and there are so few vegetables that I can tolerate (but that is one that I used to be fine with). So thank you for reminding me about them. I haven't made them in so long, but I love that I can make them at home. Yes, I am not having any mast cell issues or symptoms. The reason I don't just go back to how I was eating is because I have more food intolerances now, so I am finding it difficult & certain things are causing me GI problems. I believe I'll be able to slowly add in the avocado and that may be the key - as it was my main staple with how I was eating before, in addition to eating a small amount of berries a few x a week, or even daily. I'm also fine with pure coconut milk, olives, pickles, Primal sauces, certain nuts, and a few other things. So I have incorporated those back in, but it seems like the thing that helped me the most in my diet were the avocados. I live in a super rural area and I've became more lazy with grocery shopping since doing carnivore, doing a big shopping trip monthly. I have to drive pretty far for groceries. But, that doesn't work when buying anything fresh. I'll have to see if I can freeze some avocados, to work around this issue. I really appreciate your comment! 🙏
@@LifeDIY Yes, I understand. And I think you are right to reintroduce foods slowly. Your microbiome must have changed radically in the last six months, so I'm not surprised that you are getting GI issues, reintroducing carbs and fiber. Just a passing thought: Have you ever experimented with raw flax seed that has been ground in a coffee grinder, preferably washed down by a drink? Be warned, they don't taste great, but flax seeds have some really interesting qualities. For a start, they contain zero-lectins, are low oxalate (unlike most seeds and nuts) and are one of the only plant-based sources of omega 3. But, more importantly, they generate a unique form of mucus that is claimed to protect your GI tract and aid bowel-transit. You can actually test this: If you soak some some raw flax seed for about 12 hours, you should find that they turn into a kind of weird crunchy frogspawn. Which is a bit gross, TBH. But that gooey mucus is supposed to be great for our GI health. They are also one of the highest known sources of phyto-estrogen - so much so, in fact, that men who body-build are advised to avoid them. But, what with you being a girly an' all, the estrogen could be a nice little boost. They are still full of fiber, though, so take it slow. Just another thought to add to the ever growing list.
Thank you so much for sharing this! It's interesting to hear about the flaxseed. I believe I have some here. I'll look into it a big more for GI health. And, it's true the microbiome has really changed. I am sure it will take time to make any changes. :)
@@LifeDIY I hope you're holding up OK, H. I've been navigating the sleep-deprivation Hellscape for well over a decade, so I know how challenging the terrain can become. Sending you positive thoughts from across the pond, for what such things are worth.
I have the same issues, wake up between 1 and 3, and have difficulty going back to sleep. I have been doing carnivore for 6 and a half months. Sleep issues started roughly 4 and a half months in. Ive tried adding some carbs back in as well, with no success. I have yet to see any of the carnivore Dr.'s mention it...on Q&A people have asked Anthony Chaffee, and he really didn't answer the question. Im hoping my body makes adjustments and fixes itself! Haha
Hey Forrest Gump :) It sounds like we have the exact same issue. When I tried adding in carbs I had no success either initially. So it's really frustrating because some people will say to just "go back to what you did prior," but it's not exactly working! I also tried what they all recommend by adding in way more fats - and I got sick and when not sick, it just didn't help at all and sometimes my sleep was worse. I'm currently doing another experiment with a bit of carbs. Some days it seems to work and others not so much. One night I made a bit of a concoction and ate a small amount of granola/oatmeal with peanut butter and some coconut oil and I slept for about 9 hours. I have no idea what that was about though and I am looking back at my log (since I am keeping track of every detail in my attempt to figure this out) and I may try to recreate certain meals on days when I did sleep 8-9 hours since I have had numerous days like that. I'll do a video as soon as I figure it out...it's so complicated! One commenter yesterday said that she read about one potential solution - eating a fingerling potato by itself (no other proteins or anything else) prior to bed. I've heard others say that this has worked for them and one person I know says that eating 1/4 sweet potato does the trick for him.
I have to agree. It's very frustrating. I keep track of my sleep scores on my garmin. There is no rhyme or reason why, but I'll sleep really well once a week. The first fee months my sleep scores we're consistently in the 90's now my scores never leave the 70's to low 80's. I started adding small amounts of carbs, like green beans and now white rice, but no real changes. It's frustrating because I love my sleep, haha..Ill keep trying, and maybe one of us will come up with something. You would figure that as big as carnivore has grown, this would be a focus. I found a video right after I had watched yours. The lady was a nutritionist, and she was saying it was because glucose lvls were too low, but she said that usually at the beginning of the diet, and your body would adjust. The first couple of months of my diet was a piece of cake. Everything went well. Then I had some issues for a while. I still have issues maintaining a proper electrolyte balance, so I still deal with palpations alot. If I drink any alcohol at all, 1 beer or any type of alcohol, my sleep scores are in the 50's for 2 days. I do feel good on the diet, just not a big fan of the sleep issues, tho.
@LifeDIY so I just found a video guys name is Thomas Delauer. The video is called Keto Sleep issues. Can't sleep on keto? you're not alone. Try and find it. It may help, I am going to give it a shot!
@@forrestgump5942 I have seen the video by Delauer! I made a more recent video on sleep carnivore issues and tryptophan...so maybe you can check it out too. If you find a solution , please share!
I've had sleep issues for more than a decade (since menopause) but have only been carnivore for a little over a year. Nothing changed with my sleep as I improved my diet. Like you, I wake up and can't go back to sleep so I keep going to be earlier and earlier. Doesn't seem to matter. I just get about 5 or 6 hours of sleep. I've read all the books and watched all the videos, tried all the tips. I'll be interested to see what others suggest.
Bobbi, I like your username. I really hope we can find some answers and fix our sleep issues! 🙏 The 6 hours of sleep is killing me. I need more than that. :)
Generic things that helped me on carnivore. Electrolytes, but that's an easy one most figure out quickly. Iodine (Lugol's). Higher fat and, or higher protein, and sometimes a very high protein meal. Early on I had sleep issues but they eventually went away. I suspect spiking insulin sometimes seemed to help with sleep and early on I would do that with some carbs or a bigger protein meal, but my goal was to be as near zero carbs as possible so that was kind of training wheels for me early on. I basically went cold turkey from SAD to carnivore and pretty quickly went extremely strict without even any spices. Reach out to some people like Nutrition with Judy or Bart Kay for a coaching session and they may be able to help based on more information on how, what, and when you eat along with lifestyle. Try cold shower before bed and lower room temperature? Circadian rhythm hacks, grounding, etc. Get checked for CIRS?
Thanks, but my bedtime now is 6 PM to 7 PM since I keep waking up at 1 AM to 3 AM. I tend to do a lot better eating closer to bed instead of hours before, but everyone is different. :)
another main reason of your insomina, is the smart meters on your home wall and your cell phone, your wifi, if you switch back to the analog meters, hard wired your wifi, try not to use cell phone more, you wil sleep the whole night like a baby
Try higher melatonin to bypass the high amino acids of the carnivore dietary competition with tryptophan uptake into brain. I keep melatonin by my bedside. Also can try jigger your protein slightly lower and fats slightly higher which might help reduce
Pkg of pistachios before bed help me sooo much ! They contain melatonin Also get outside in am early sun like for 25 min every single day Also chewable l theanine on amazon helps to fall bk
I started taking organ meat supplements and it made me feel wired 😳 no one else seems to report this? Interesting to hear someone report similar My advice would be to stop trying to fix it. What you resist persists. Do some shadow work and ask yourself if there is anything you are not facing and processing. I’m in functional freeze too much in day and find I wake sometimes as my body intuition finally surfaces as I surrender so have to be braver honestly with self and emotions surface
Thank you. For me, I need to be able to function like a normal person and I need to get proper sleep - so I have to fix this. It's become a massive issue for my health. I think I've figured out the cause, thanks to all these awesome comments, so I will do an update video shortly to share what I've learned. Thank you again for the insights. Working on underlying issues is important too.
I started hrt for insomnia, if i wake up i take a 100 milligram of progesterone, my obgyn said i can take 2 a night if i need , after years and years of insomnia, this has really improved my sleep, I started carnivore a month ago and it got even worse, i have been doing extreme oxalate dumping, i hope when that clears i will get up less to urinate at night.
The one question I have for you is how do you feel when you get up in the morning? Are you still tired? You might be getting enough sleep everybody's under this mentality to have to get at least 8 hours. I have trouble sleeping. I started taking magnesium supplements at night from pure sleep and also I tried increasing my saturated fat to over 300 that didn't work but the magnesium does and if I wake up at 3:00 a.m. I just take a melatonin tablet and go back to sleep
Thanks, Daniel. I know what you mean. It varies on how I feel when I wake up but I am usually feeling fine and abnormally alert (which is good). But, maybe around 9 AM I might be struggling to function and make it through the rest of the day and for most people, their day is just starting. I don't like doing my job in the middle of the night either, and then I end up working long hours as I have meetings and stuff later. Other than that, some days I wake up feeling like complete garbage and every minute is a struggle. But, for the most part, I tend to wake up mostly fine for a number of hours, then I decline and feel wiped out and can't keep my eyes open at 5 or 6 PM when hanging out with my son on the couch.
Not sure I can offer any help. I've had trouble sleeping for the last 13 years. I was on Zolpidem for a good bit of that time. I've been off that for 3 yrs and carnivore-ish for 6 months. I started having sleep issues again - did just start menopause, so there is that. I actually started Now Quercetin on your recommendation. I can get a solid 5 hrs if I take 2 at bedtime which has been very helpful. I also find I sleep better if I go to bed at 9, not before and not after which is weird! If I remember, I will sometimes have a hot cup of herbal tea with a half tsp of Glycine but I haven't done that since starting the Quercetin. I'm sorry I don't have more to offer but thank you for the video. I am very interested in reading the responses. I hope you find something that helps!
Thank you so much for the comment! I am sorry about your sleep issues. That can really take a toll. I can't imagine having problems for years. ;( I am so happy the Quercetin helps you. I too take Glycine at night normally and it used to help a lot until I developed this issue. It does help relax people and often helps them initially fall asleep. I believe I've figured out the cause for me - thanks to all these awesome comments - and I will do an update video shortly. I also shared it in the sticky comment above if you want to check it out.
@@LifeDIY I read through the pinned post replies. That sounds very promising! I did not add above that after taking 800 mg of Quercetin to fall asleep, I keep next to my bed a couple of 500 mg Tryptophan capsules and a 5-HTP, as a last resort, to take if I wake up and cannot fall back asleep. I'm encouraged and hopeful that you are on your way to a solution!
@LifeDIY but now I hear Belle the steak and butter gal stop eating salt and she say that helps at night too so stop using salt for a couple of days and see but she says you get enough from the meats and butter if you get the butter with salt.
Thanks for sharing this! I don't think this is my issue, as I believe I figured out my main issue (thanks to all these helpful comments), and I put it in a sticky comment at the top. But, it is interesting to read all these comments about people not using salt now. I don't really add it in excess and just use the same amount that I did prior to carnivore.
i still think that eating exclusively carnivore is not meant for humans. plus... it might take the pleasure out of eating all together if you only eat meat. i mean food is .... good. why should we go thru all this effort to limit it ? we should dieting should be all about the amounts of food we get in, not about taking some foods completely out, lol. anyway, nice to see you again, and take care and sorry for being so late, long story😅
I'm on carnivore now for the third time, having had tried twice previously and quitting due to the insomnia for a prolonged period of time. This time around, I've been allowing myself small amounts of carrots and blueberries (some of the only fruits/veg that don't cause me autoimmune issues and cystic acne), and have noticed that while I still wake up around 1-3 am as well, I fall back asleep for another 3-5 hours no problem. Collagen before bed has also helped me massively due to the glycine I suspect.
I sleep well when I eat until fat is no longer palatable. If you are not disgusted by the thought of having the best juicy juicy (fat), salty, hamburger patty you ever had... then you're still hungry. I am not trying to be flippant either. It's a struggle for me to eat enough on carnivore. I keep thinking "that's too much" logically and it ends up compounding my laziness when I have no energy, to not want to make any food. Also, it's difficult to find palatable ways of delivering fat without dietary protein with it. Browned butter bites have helped.
Not meaning to be flippant but I wish I had the problem of not being able to eat enough! I’ve always been able to eat a lot at one sitting, I can gain weight on KETO, OMAD and now carnivore on a single meal a day.
What are browned butter bites? I’m not sure when I’m full, this is a problem when you’re on steroids, which I am. I just ate 1/2 lb of lamb and an egg, along with a piece of high fiber bread. I just started this diet for the second time, the first time around I had a terrible time with brain fog and it increased my pain, so I’m slowly reducing carbs this time. Anyway, I don’t feel stuffed, but I’m not sure if I’m full. I see people eat piles of food on this diet and I don’t think I can do it. I got to sleep at 5am the first day, and the second day, last night I didn’t sleep at all. I hope this won’t be an issue for me. I don’t know how much fat to eat🤷🏻♀️ I just counted my macros for yesterday, they were: 125.7g fat, 107.7g protein, and 9.4g carbs. That’s 1,599.7 fat calories, 430.8 protein, and 37.6 carbs.This was before I couldn’t sleep and got up and had some carbs, along with more protein and fat. This is more than I usually eat in a day! Do you think that’s enough fat?
Biphasic Sleep. Have you heard this term? it turns out that our societies current sleep pattern is a modern phenomenon and biphasic sleep used to be the norm. I've been Keto, ketovore, now carnivore for many years and I experience the same symptoms as you. It's been well over a year this has been happening and I would mention it to my wife. Listening to carnivore based youtube channels I've heard some people mention it then I heard 1 guy mention Biphasic sleep. When I first noticed the issue I also noticed I did not feel tired waking up in the morning so I assumed I was getting enough sleep and that my diet was the reason for not lacking energy. I refuse to take any drugs or supplements and stick to a strict bedtime also not using an alarm clock to wake up. Listen your body and maybe a 15 minute nap during the day is not a bad thing. I'm sure you've heard of a siesta, that's why the exist, it's normal human activity clashing with a modern society. You are not broken and need fixing just listen to your body.
I had sleep issues on carnivore, until i fixed my circadian rhythm. This means I get sunrise light EVERYDAY. When I work on computer screens I use yellow tinted glasses. I get mid day sun everyday even in the cold. After dark, I put on red tinted glasses and block all blue and green light. I do my best to cut off non native emfs especially at night, by unplugging wifi. You need to get a ton of sunlight, sunlight helps serotonin production. Glycine supplementation helps boost serotonin as well. Taurine can help with electrolytes and countless other processes. Improper Light signaling is a real problem for many people.
Thanks for sharing this - great tips! I've been using blue light blocking glasses too. I get sunlight as soon as I can if there is any sun. We have very little sun during our very long winter here. I've been taking Glycine for a couple years now at night - love it, but it isn't enough to help me here with this issue. I will look into taurine. I do think I figured out the main cause of my problem and you can read about it in the sticky comment if you like, otherwise I will do an update video this week asap. All these comments have been super helpful. Thank you!
@@LifeDIY We are meant to get large amounts of sun exposure everyday. There is research on how sunlight on the bare skin can produce serotonin which eventually leads to melatonin, once full darkness is achieved. If I wake up before sunrise, I put on my red glasses and avoid bright light until sunrise, then as so as the sun sets I turn off all the lights and put on red glasses. Human beings evolved outside with much sun light hitting our skin. We have now broken away only recently and are paying the consequences. I am a male and had the same issues, waking up at 3am wired. I never added carbs and the more i fixed my light environment the better my mood and sleep became. I notice everyone quickly points to carbs as a quick fix, but never gets to the root of the problem. Wish you the best of luck on your issue and hope to see some good progress. look into Carrie B wellness and sarah kleiner wellness for more good information on circadian health.
Thank you and I agree! I wish I had access to sunlight but it's not available where I live in the winter. :) Sometimes we have some sunlight but most days we don't. Today the sky is just gray. Sometimes there's a slight amount of sun in the sky (minimal) and I go outside to try to get that into my eyes, but often that doesn't even happen until the afternoon, so it's random. I was looking into a home UV light (for people with skin issues) and it requires a prescription. I'm not sure if that would work but I am trying to find something to help. I think as an alternative that if I had a sauna it may help in some other ways. So I am looking into that too. Even with this said, I've never had sleep issues like this and I've lived in this environment for years or most of my life. For me it seems quite diet related. I am going to get more bloodwork done this week to see if I can figure it out (with my integrative health doctor).
Great topic, I have been mentioning a solution that work for me but most people brush it off. Pretty much I would wake up about 4 hours after going to bed everyday. I have always heard about salting food to fight leg cramps since I have been watching carnivore videos and followed suit. While salting does seem to help I stopped lsalting my food because Dr Chaffee stated one day he doesn’t add salt to his meat anymore. I decided to experiment to see what would happen if I stopped adding salt. First morning after no salt previous day my sleep time increased markedly. I did wake to a calf cramp though. I was disappointed about the cramp but did it again for a second day, same results better sleep and the cramp was less intense the second day. Within one week my cramp issues were better than they have ever been while adding salt to address them. Bottom line is I wrote this long comment to say it appears adding too much salt causes this sleep issue. Not saying salt is bad but it should be added more sparingly or not at all if you don’t want to. For got to mention I sopped all added salt including electrolytes as part of the experiment. Cheers,
Interesting as just today I realised my boyfriends water has lots of added electrolytes and this could be making me feel wired as magnesium has same effect on me Did you find reducing electrolytes helped you?
@@slinkyminx2010 I believe it did. I cutout all electrolytes and stopped adding the Redmond’s salt. I felt the difference the next day. I was experimenting with the cramps and found this benefit by accident.
Thanks for sharing this - as these comments are helping others. It's nice to have all these ideas to try out and it's great that this helped you. I don't use electrolytes all the time - some people say to load up on them and others don't. If I feel like I could use them, then I do. I don't notice a sleep difference either way.
I feel your pain & frustration. My insomnia began in my thirties & continues to this day at 65. I've tried the sleep drugs, natural remedy's, yoga, hypnosis, & so on. I was told that I may not be a person that needs the 8 or more hours of sleep. Maybe, most days I'm okay with it. I sincerely hope you find your solution.
Thank you and I am sorry you've been dealing with it for so long now. Interestingly, I was told that I am a person who needs 8+ hours of sleep. A neurologist mentioned it because I had a past brain injury and he said that it's common for people with this, to just need more sleep to recover and recharge. I think I'm getting it figured out now thanks to all these wonderful comments. I'll do an update video in the near future. :) 🙏
Magnesium malate seemed to put me to sleep whenever I would take it. Also, getting in a really good strenuous exercise session helps me if I just cant seem to get to bed as early as I want. I have found out over time...that I only need 5-6 hours of deep sleep now to operate optimally. Before Carnivore, I could sleep any amount of hours...even up to 12...and it was never enough. Hope you find a solution soon, Holly. :)
Thanks, Adam! I just added magnesium malate to my Amazon cart, since you and some others have recommended it. I do take magnesium, but in a different form. I think you're also onto something with the exercise. I find myself sometimes in a bad cycle with the tiredness and then I don't exercise because of that. I'll try to push through that and just be more active. It's interesting that 5-6 hours is enough for you now. I think I am better with less sleep sleep on carnivore, but not that amount! I used to "need" 9 hours and now I'm fine with a bit less, but 6 is not enough for me. :) I am also tracking my sleep and activities with an Oura Ring, and the other issue I'm having lately is that my deep sleep is way lower than it used to be and on those days, I really feel it. Thanks for your tips here. I think it will take a little time to fix, but hopefully I can figure things out and fix it.
I am exactly the same as you, i wake uo at 2 or 3 am, i go to be early, i have tried meditaion. One thing the same, i made a pasta for my wife, I had a small bowel and i slept well that night. I am still doing carnivore and adjusting to the new sleeping patten.
I had the same problem. Higher the fat (raw fat) and extra salt - try a teaspoon in water twice a day for a few days. Or electrolytes. I’ve only used sea-salt 🌊
This is all how it's supposed to be in nature. Remember when humans and pre humans ate meat pretty much exclusively for the last 4 million years especially during the last ice age, we needed to stay awake during the night, when other potential predators were roaming about. We needed to remain alert so light sleep or no sleep during certain hours of the night meant for us to stay alert. This is built into our Gene's through positive and negative selection pressures. Sure nowadays humans dont require this level of alertness, but just like with the consumption of carbs not being good for us, these are unfortunate aspects of this diet for some. It's not universal. Just like the consumption of dairy among the population worldwide. Some Europeans have persistent lactase Gene's, meaning they are adapted to consume milk without issue, yet others cannot. The same with beta carotene...some 40 to 45 per cent of the worlds population cannot convert beta carotene to vit A. It all depends on where we came from and our environment we were in at the time.
I have had bad Insomnia, or shall I say can't go to sleep until 3am and can't go to sleep unless I watch some youtube programs until I get to sleep, I tried Pho serine to affect Cortisol but it didn't work I am addicted to English tea, and drink even before going to bed which doesn't help. I think in my case the initial reason was psychological or emotional, I lived in Beijing and was alone in my apartment and so I started watching youtube (English sitcoms from the 1970's and 80's) and had this playing in the background and it felt calming for me ad I felt not alone, this became a habit and so now I feel I need to do this, my wife now sleeps in her own room as she needs to have silence to sleep, the answer for me is to get tired by the end of the day so I collapse, so doing some exercise during the day, waking up early and getting light into the eyes and taking some magnesium at night and some nights taking Epsom salt baths just before bed helps
This I completely understand. When my son was little, he always had a problem falling asleep, so I bought a nighttime meditation for kids audio book through audible. It was incredible because this was over 10 years ago and I'd play it and he'd pass out. It had almost a hypnotic effect. I was in the same room many times back then and I couldn't keep my eyes open when it was played. I could never remember the stories because it would knock me out. So now my kid is over 18 and I was so used to listening to that with him years ago that I must listen to it (or something else) when falling asleep. I cannot sleep in silence anymore. :) Hopefully your sleep issues resolve. Maybe you can switch out the English tea for a more calming sleep tea. :)
Hi Holly! Good topic! Do you do any type of high intensity training (HIT) training, such as sprinting? After I started HIT, I noticed that I fall asleep faster and have deeper sleep.
Thank you! I haven't been doing enough of it since having these sleep issues, but I love HIT. I am getting back into working out now - even if it's just short periods of it, I know it helps with my health. :) I'm going to incorporate it in as much as I can.
I have been suffering from insomnia doing the carnivore woe. I couldn't figure out why I slept OK when I was eating crapy food and not on carnivore. I was eating two meals a day. I watched a video on insomnia and carnivore about not getting enough fats or calories. So I added a third meal to my day so I am having 3 meals. Also I make sure all my 3 meals are high fatty red meat meals. I eat until I am full. Its only been a couple weeks and I am definitely sleeping better. Also I am loosing more weight. Which is weird as I am eating more. Hope that helps 🙏
Some people swear by eating a banana with cinnamon sprinkled on it (Ceylon is the healthiest) just before bed. I know several people who get a great night’s sleep from doing that.
Hi, I’ve had exactly the same issues - I’m currently taking high dose of omega 3 and 5HTP before bed for tryptophan. Which has helped - I also found my hormones were whacked out too (part to do with perimenopause), so I’ve had to add estogen & progesterone which worked. I have to watch b6 levels too - that def has depleted since carnivore and higher fat has helped too. I also tbh add occasional carbs once a week such as some roasted parsnip. I’m not quite there yet - but it’s definitely improved significantly and now getting good 6 hours. I was literally 3 hours for a couple of weeks. Do what feels right for you. Even with adding some carbs - I’ve lost weight and don’t have bloating like I did before… as said, do what is right for you. Oh and forgot to mention - I’m also doing warm cup of water, fresh lemon squeezed and apple cider vinegar 30 mins after eating protein meals…seems to help on digestion. Good luck!
Hey, maybe this can help. in my experience, when I eat a lot of protein late in the day/evening I wake up around 3 in the morning. If you try, keep me updated on that for you too.
Exactly the same issue on carnivore. Looking into Histamine intolerance at the moment. Aged & cured meats can be high in histamines, Also egg whites + Avocados!. This can tip you over the edge for this. Seems that Histamines dump at night time (2-3am), and make you wake up feeling excited (heart feels like pumping hard). A few days ago started taking DAO enzyme supplement before meals to help break down excessive histamines, Not sure how it's going yet. Will asses after another week.
Sorry you're having these issues too and thanks for sharing this. You may want to look into taking Quercetin - which can help with histamine issues, allergies, etc. You can also get some labs done to test histamine and it used to be really cheap through DHA Labs. I made a sticky comment if you have a sec to check it out, explaining what I think is the main cause of my issue. I'll do an update video on it soon.
Yep, histamine intolerance can cause early morning waking insomnia. Histamine is an excitatory neurotransmitter. Estrogen slows MAO-A and increases histamines. So, an early morning rise in estrogen thus increases histamine causing waking up and the inability to fall asleep again. Calcium-d-glucarate (200-500mg) before bed (to help stage 2 elimination of estrogen) can help to confirm if this is the issue. Carnivore has the potential to increase overall histamine levels, due to high histamine in bacon, egg whites, ground beef, length of time of meat on store shelves and in the fridge, and leftovers will have skyrocketing histamine levels. Slow-cooked bone-both also has high histamine. At the same time, low vitamin C intake can exacerbate histamine issues. So, DAO (e.g., NaturDAO) w/meals, opting for steaks instead of ground beef, getting freshest meat and keeping it frozen until needed will help control histamine intake, and supplemental vitamin C (ascorbic acid) can help some. Avocados are high tyramine, not histamine. But it is also MAO-A which breaks down tyramines. It may also be that higher fat carnivore is improving hormone levels, thus ironically increasing estrogen to a problematic level.
It does seem like the most significant change is your diet. The first suggestion is always getting the electrolytes up and balanced. But given your previous diet was also largely keto, that is less likely. My guess is you are just under-eating fats. And waking up subconsciously in search of that missing energy. If you’re eating 130g of protein in a day, that’s means eating, at minimum, 130g of fat. That is nearly equivalent to two sticks of butter. Basically, for a lean person, if the meal doesn’t resemble a very fatty ribeye, it isn’t enough fat. For around six months of carnivore, I thought I was getting enough fat, because things were going okay. But after adding a stick of unsalted butter per day, I realized I was way short. I just bite a chunk off after every meal and have hugely improved my energy and sleep. I think my mistake was because I was lean going into the diet. People using the diet for weight loss, who are carrying more fat, don’t need to worry as much about replacing that energy.
Thank you for sharing this. I think it could be part of my issue, but I think there's more to it than that. If you can check out the sticky comment, you'll see what I mean. I'm going to do an update video on this too. I also started out with no weight to lose, very lean, etc. so it puts you in an interesting situation when you lose most of your body fat and everything you eat is so important for how you feel and function. I can't have dairy at all, so it makes it a bit harder. But, I do eat a lot of fats and as much as I can tolerate. If I have a bit "too much" then I get really ill and have stomach problems for days. I will experiment with this a bit more though to see if I notice any improvements.
@@LifeDIY I should have said I did feel nauseated after meals when I increasing the fat. But let’s just say there were clues that this was just my gallbladder coming back online to process that fat, so I carried on with it. After a couple months the nausea is gone and now I look forward to, and can feel the energy relationship of increased fat. I also now easily stay up late with more energy, which ultimately means I can sleep longer and later. I know you said you have difficulty with high fat beyond a point, and that your fat is high, but to be fully adapted means pushing gradually into those uncomfortable limits. I feel like you found an unusual limit, and it’s related to fat, so right there could be a red flag indicator that can be worked on, albeit uncomfortably! Some of my energy improvements came from other factors. Because I also made an effort to quit caffeine, correct my vitamin D, workout harder, drink more water, take magnesium bisglycinate, walk outside when sunny and some other ideas. But I really believe increasing the fat beyond comfort is a key. I’ve also given some thought to sleep apnea, not with a sleep study, but I just instead pro-actively trained myself with a Sleep Noodle to left-side sleep. It is difficult to have an obstructive apnea event when side sleeping. I’m not sure how that idea affected things. That’s too bad you have the sensitive dairy allergy. I’ve heard for some people butter can sneak past a dairy allergy. So without butter, tallow snacks would be the same idea. To me, the pinned comment is one interesting idea of what’s going on. But that kind of implies that both your parents may also have the mutation. I also don’t understand the relationship to carbohydrates, given adequate protein generates appropriate glucose levels in the body. It could be, but it feels more exotic than some simpler, common answers. Hope you figure it out!
Sorry for the late (and short) reply here. I will know more this week as I'm going to get a lot of bloodwork done. If you've ever watched videos by Dr. Cywes on youtube, he talks about issues that can happen for some people who are lean and low carb for a very long time - where they become so insulin sensitive (which is good) that they push a bit too far and can become insulin suppressed (or resistant, similar to Type I Diabetics). I'm curious about this, so I'm getting insulin, glucose, C-peptide, etc. tested this week. I'm fortunate my doctor is familar with low carb and she's up on the related research. So I will keep you posted on it!
My first day of carnivore yesterday after my sleeping tablet and I toss and turn and I felt awake most of the night. Today I removed coffee and added 400gr of blueberries , I know too much, my 1 kilo lost yesterday will evaporate! 😢 hypothyroidism in 24h felt hot body temp up very good, hands better from ra , 1 kilo weight loss in 24h very good but insónia and constipation big issue.
Increasing your fat intake should help bring down your cortisol levels and help with sleep. Exercising increases cortisol as well, which can harm your stress levels and sleep too.
Thanks! I know this is a problem for some people, but my cortisol is low day and night (I got it tested day/night). I have experimented with increasing my fat intake but haven't seen a difference in my sleep yet.
This also has happen to me I always wake up from 1-3 am and I am wide awake it takes at least an hour if I am lucky to fall back asleep. I am 37 and I struggle with anxiety so I am not sure if that’s why but I have read some research that suggests eating carbs with protein before bed to help manage glucose levels during the night. I am experimenting and so far I do notice a slight improvement but more to come ..
Thanks for this video. I'm desperate to know what to do. I think I'll switch my meal time to breakfast instead of supper and see if that helps as I saw this idea suggested here. I hardly slept at all for two nights. That is not sustainable.
I'm going to start trying the butter trick to get back to sleep. Eat a small piece of butter before bed. Keep some butter at your bedside and eat another piece when you wake up.
I sleep better with extra Iodine an hour before bed. I take 8-ish drops in the morning to get the body going, then, since 5-6 days, 4-6 drops before bed. Have slept pretty well most of the nights. I fall asleep quickly after getting up to pee.
Know The Problem. Get a biophilia intruder or better - it will help with finding out about your issues close to real-time and Provides quite effective treatment (dont start with the Hunter 4025) All the best!
Try CBD or gummy melatonin . This keeps me sleepy and my brain groggy when I wake up too early like 12 or 1:00. I usually get up at 2-3:00 also but I go to bed at 7:30-8:00. 7-8 hrs is plenty.
I hear people like yourself say they eat gluten free and they say that like they only feel gluten is an issue. Sure it gets a lot of attention however it’s not just gluten, it’s grains in general. The key is going grain free. I’m not suggesting that this will solve the insomnia, I’m just highlighting that this is another topic of the carnivore community that is often overlooked. I’m dealing with insomnia as well but I strongly suggest it’s hormone related for me. Carnivore has helped me tremendously but I don’t treat it like a cure. I still have health issues to work out and I think that’s why I’m dealing with insomnia. I think we heal so much that other issues go away and the deeper issues just come forward.
I stay away from all grains now, but my main issue is gluten. With gluten, the side effects for me are severe (causing thyroid issues that last for weeks, if not months). I'm not a fan of grains either. I'm glad to hear that carnivore has helped with your health! Did you have insomnia before carnivore? I hope your sleep improves.
@@LifeDIY I did have sleep issues before carnivore. But they have gotten worse but I honestly don’t thinks it’s carnivore. I think it’s several factors that carnivore may not have the ability to address. I tried carbs and all it proved to me is why I went carnivore in the first place. I’m extremely carb intolerant. I think of the reason for insomnia in a lot of us is that we are healing, and in the journey it’s going to rough. The body is adjusting, growing, changing. I have found a few things that have helped. Eating closer to bed to help with blood sugar drops at night. Taking extra electrolytes before bed for the same reason.
This is the reason I can't fast past 48hrs. I eat no carbs in the morning but for dinner I eat some sweet potato or any fruit after my meal and magically I sleep very well. I also take a lot of magnesium and take Epsom salt baths.
my sleep is better . make sure . watch the sun come up , walk on the grass bare foot , no screens before bed . Above all , do big compound lifts or hard intense cardio .
I also get night waking on keto or carnivore. I dont undereat, have enough salt and potassium, and take melatonin before bed. I can wake up once, or several times, and feel like i havent slept come morning. I get so frustrated that i just give up. I do not know why.
I’ve been carnivore keto for years & I’m going to stick with it but am WIDE awake at night now that I’ve been super strict for about 2 months. I love not craving carbs BUT having issues! Completely awake at night. Not sleepy. I fall asleep then awaken after just a few hours with horrible calf cramps. I am taking magnesium before bed, LMNT salts, electrolytes plus more of things that I think might help. So I’m having 2 issues. Sleep & cramps even with supplements & plenty of salt & water. I’m going to pull up an old kindle book. “Carb addicts total recovery program” by Kathleen Des Maisons phd. She discusses at length little tryptophan competing against big aminos to make serotonin. And to help this brain struggle then one, especially women?, need to add a small potato WITH skin on it late or prior to bed. NO PROTEIN with this little potato. We need a small increase in insulin, but not a spike. So tryptophan can do its thing. I have to try it! Robert Cywes just made a video about this recently about some people need to cycle in carbs because their body shuts down ALL INSULIN production & thats bad for us as well. I must be one of these people. No one talks about how many carbs or when to cycle them back in. But I think Kathleen DesMaisons might have the answer. I’ll try to repost in a few weeks to follow up.
1. electrolytes. maybe try megadose potassium and magnesium one night. 2. do more during the day if you have the energy for it 3. hot shower 2hr prior to bed and then have ur room ice cold like 17 degrees. 4. try add some carbs in, like a piece of fruit, or maybe have a big glass of raw milk kefir? it would have some carbs and also ive read it does aid sleep. 5. use blue light blockers at night allways
This is exactly what I’ve been dealing with. Same thing. Walking up between 1-3am and I cannot go back to sleep. I signed up for the weed card. Indica has been helping me sleep through until my alarm goes off. Hope you find what works for you. ✌🏼💙😊
At 70 and 4 years carnivore, this year I started having the same issues with sleep. Thought it was age related until I started listening to younger people having the same issue. I have a prescription for CBD so got back on that. Also a dose of magnesium just before bed. I’m finding that I still partially wake up but my brain isn’t wired so I fall back asleep. Interesting about upping the fat content. I have to play around with that. Good luck everyone
Dotmatrix, thanks for sharing this. After testing things for about 6 months (tracking every aspect of my life) I think I've figured out one real potential cause and I will try to get my video published today (on this topic). I am curious about your thoughts on it and if it could be what you're dealing with too. I will share more soon. Thanks for your comment because you are part of what inspired my video I plan to post today. I just need to finish up the editing.
Same!!!!!! I cannot sleep and my heart pumps so hard… I wake up from a half sleep dreaming of bananas!!!! I kind of feel like carnivores don’t wanna admit this…. I ate carbs and slept.
I've been monitoring my sleep with a continuous glucose monitor and finding that I'm having hypoglycemia at night before waking up. The carbs often fix it for me too!
I had a very brief experience with carnivore and I still have the memory of being awake until 5 am, zero sleep and off to work the next day. I am experimenting with carnivore/keto/low carb during the day and then letting some rice or potato in with dinner.
I've heard that it works well for some people to eat a bit of carbs before bed, to get better sleep (so far it doesn't work for me though). I would love to sleep till 5 AM though! For me, that's super late. :)
Yes sleep can be a tough one! For me it’s a host of ingredients - things that I perceive that help me out unclude: earplugs (wax cotten works best for me) and a weighted blanket. To calm adrenaline, I sometimes plug un a podcast in one ear a a very low level. Outdoor time I also perceive as being helpful along with getting in 10k steps. Take note what helps and what harms your sleep. A full day hiking and I’m out like a light. A stressful day at work and I can be awake forever no matter what I do! Good luck in your sleep adventure! You’ll find your path! By the way I’m 61 and indeed sleep comes harder in these later years.
Thank you so much for sharing this. I appreciate it. Last night I got 9 1/2 hours of sleep and I am amazed. I need to try to recreate that somehow and figure out exactly what helped me. Then I will do an update video if I can continue to improve my sleep. I have heard it is harder as you get older.
When you are low on B1 carnivore wont be beneficial! Have you tried higher doses b1/thiamine? Have you read about B1/benfotiamine? I also take high doses magnesium!! Every day! It is amazing! Magnesium glycinate/citrate. I also do boost my brain with magnesium threonate couple of times a year cause it is the only magnesium that goes through the blood brain barrier! Ive struggled with sleep 7 years or something and went into a psychosis in 2020 because of my sleep issues…
Thanks for sharing this! I have been taking B1 and I've heard it can be really helpful for fatigue. I believe I'm not deficient in any B vitamins...I had a lot of bloodwork done recently. I too take magnesium in a couple forms. As of recently, my sleep has improved. I will do a video on it soon. :)
If you were ok with keto why not try adding more oil/fat to your carnivore meals. I'm more about metabolic switching but I noticed when I do straight carnivore I didn't sleep as well though certainly not "insomnia". I also noticed my ketone levels were not as high. The problem was I just wasn't used to fatty enough cuts of meet. In any event I started adding wagyu tallow to get a 25% to 30% fat content and for me problem solved. I'm afraid that's all I've got, I hope it helps but if not I hope you find your solution soon and I wish you pleasant dreams.
Oh I feel for you Holly! I can relate with how it can mess up your day. Breathing exercises helped me a bit. Relieving any insidious stress.? 🤷♂Like yourself I used to shoot out of bed as soon as I woke up. Recently though I made an effort to stay in bed, turn over and go back to sleep again. It has worked!…sadly not every time, but hey ho, small wins are better than none. I’ll be interested in reading the comments on here. Really hope you find a solution that works for you. x
You are not alone. I am in my late 40s and did a five week strict carnivore test back last June and my sleep was destroyed. I added in strawberries, banana, water melon, blueberries after a steak in my last meal of the day and this magically solved the issue. I was no longer waking up constantly at 1AM, 3AM, 5AM etc or having problems falling asleep. During that 5 weeks I could not do my job effectively, was like a zombie and could not finish a sentence plus I had blurred vision. I was not a very pleasant person to be around plus I have a family and children. I felt like my body was in fight or flight mode, under stress and anxious. My brain was wired and alert plus I was very restless. I saw a sleep specialist /neurologist and was told I had restless leg syndrome and mild positional sleep apnea (only when sleeping on back). They prescribed me all sorts of Parkinson's medication and other toxic stuff which I did not take. Adding carbs back in totally resolved the sleep issue with zero meds. I was a little concerned with mixing all that saturated fat with the sugars from the fruits so I just ate all whole foods again with tons of vegetables. My joints became inflamed and slowly began to pile on excess fat again. I really believe in the carnivore way and was so disappointed in the sleep issue so two weeks ago I gave it another shot. This time with eggs, bacon, ground beef and ribeye steak. Same thing happened after a couple of days: Problems falling asleep and problems staying asleep. This time I added Celtic sea salt to all my meals (instead of rock or pink salt), drank plenty of electrolytes and took night magnesium before bed. This did not help! Even though this is not carnivore I am going to add in one baked potato with butter in one of my main meals and some fruit three hours before bed. Therefore the diet will consist of plenty of red meat, eggs, fat and a starch root vegetable. Atleast they are all whole foods with plenty of nutrition (animal based, with no greens, sugar or processed junk). I just simply do not perform well being in ketosis and also have a history with Keto. I just think we are all different: Some people can tolerate junk carbs and sugars and remain thin but most get sick and fat. I think a similar thing applies with keto /carnivore. I have an open mind and always open to suggestions. Eating meat seems very logical to me and as the cabal are trying to ban it just reinforces that meat is good for you.
When you said "strawberries, banana, water melon, blueberries", I immediately thought about what would our ancestors eaten thousands of years ago. I bet that they would have been eating berries, etc. I have sleep problems too but I haven't gone to a complete carnivore diet yet and I plan to add strawberries, banana, water melon, blueberries to my diet.
Wow, thanks for sharing this! Did the blurry vision go away? I've read that it can be related to blood sugar issues, or low blood sugar. When you were having the insomnia, did you ever test your glucose levels? I have been testing things so much and I'm still not sure what my issue is. But, sometimes when I do wake up really early my blood sugar levels are lower and when I sleep more, they tend to be higher (I am still investigating this). I also have had some on and off issues with blurry vision. Personally, I can't eat fruit within 6 hours of bedtime or I wake up at 3 AM or sometimes earlier. But, it has no impact on me if it's earlier in the day.
@@LifeDIY I did test my glucose before and after food manually and at various times of the day. I only had one recording of low blood sugar. It was 3.6 mmol/L 2 hours after eating 6 scrambled eggs + 400g 80% ground beef. The glucose varied from 4.1-5.9 mmol/L averaging 5.3. If I woke up then I would also test and it was in the same range. I did fit a CGM but it malfunctioned after a couple of days. I have a replacement and I will fit it this evening to see whats going on throughout the day and night. I did not see any abnormal figures when I was fatigued with blurred vision. However lets see what the CGM reads.
Wow, thanks for sharing this. For me, I recently had one episode of reactive hypoglycemia after consuming 2 tsp of honey as I was doing some experiments with my blood sugar. My blood sugar went down to 79 four hours after having that, which doesn't sound super low, but I had horrible symptoms. My face was numb and tingling, I felt really out of it and kind of anxious almost, fuzzy feeling, shortness of breath and it kept getting more severe and worsening. I'm just sharing that because it's kind of surprising as my glucose was 79. I've had it as low as 79 since then without those symptoms. I've also noticed that when I'm in the low 80s or lower when waking up, that I am very very hungry. I have also noticed that many days when I've slept past 3 AM, that my glucose is in the 80s or 90s and I'm more often not totally starving at those times... But, even with saying that, it still varies and I am still testing this out to see. It does seem that adding in more carbs can help me sleep more, but it depends on the carbs and time I eat them, etc.. It's so interesting that you mentioned the blurred vision as I was having this in the evenings when my sleep issues were worse than they are now. Nowadays I'm getting more sleep here and there or on and off, but I still haven't figured out the exact cause/solution. Just the other morning my vision was very blurry and it was another early more wake up at 2:45. My glucose was 85 that day. Maybe that's just "too low" for me, but I am not sure. Thanks for sharing this info here. I wish I could figure things out. When I eat fruit before bed like you do, my blood sugar seems to drop off in the middle of the night and I wake up hungry and get up early again. But, I did test something yesterday by having some carbs (not fruit) and I slept an hour later than normal. I hope I can figure it out soon. I'm keeping an extremely detailed log now to figure this out. I am using this program called Julius.ai to analyze all my data for any patterns.
Concentrate on your circadian biology get morning sun in your eyes the first hour of sunlight and watch your blue light toxicity stay away from screens and LED lights after sundown for a couple of weeks. This will straighten out you’re sleeping.
Thanks, Brett. I love this comment. I wish I could show the world how dark it is where I live. I wake up between 2 AM and 4:45 AM and when I wake up it is pitch black outside until at least 9 AM (darkness starts to subside at 7 AM), and then it may not be bright at all outside at 9 or 10 AM but it's not pitch black anymore. I went outside today at 10 AM as it finally wasn't "dark" and I could attempt to look at the sky for some sun. It didn't really make me squint to look up there, as we had little or no sunlight. But, I try to grab it when I can. Other than that, as my other man-made attempt, I use a photographray light that's very bright in the morning right away in front of my face as I'm reading and sometimes for an hour or longer.
Might be something you’ve already handled but worth a shot anyway since it seems that you (like me) have celiac disease. Not only that but you are rather fair skinned. I would make sure you know your vitamin D level. Then consider taking a solid supplement with K2 and take magnesium glycinate at night. This has helped me feel more tired at night and wake up more refreshed even in less sleep. Went from sleeping 12 hours a day and being tired to sleeping between 5-8 hours and making it through the day without yawning. I however have not tried the carnivore diet yet… I’m still healing from my intestinal damage and afraid I’m not absorbing fats enough to give it a shot, but I will be as soon as my bowel movements normalize.
Hello. I just wondered if there is any update on this or if you have found any improvement or solutions at all? I am in a similar boat where I have tried most the things other people suggest but had no luck with. Thank you
Yes! I actually posted an update video to this one - here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-s54neHn3Zlg.htmlsi=bnRwuH8IW59NsyQH. I've basically had to add in some carbs to fix my sleep and excessive hunger issues I've been having. Not all carbs work for me though. In the video I mentioned some carrots. But, lately, as crazy as it sounds - adding in 1-2 tsps of honey (usually 1 is fine) with my last meal, ensures that I sleep all night. I also don't eat within a few hours of bed. I believe this is helping to keep my glucose levels high enough while sleeping so they don't dip and wake me up. I've tested it many times and if I skip out on it, I immediately wake back up between midnight and 3 AM and feel horrible. For someone who consumes dairy, drinking a cup of milk might do the trick. If you don't have dairy, one other option is some coconut milk with a tsp or less of honey. I know honey may sound bizarre and I was really shocked when people kept saying it worked for them, but it is truly working and fixing my sleep.
@@LifeDIY thanks so much for the reply I really appreciate it. May I ask even with the Honey are you eating low enough carb to be in ketosis still? Or isn't that something you're bothered about any way? I will take a watch now thank you
That's a really great question! I am still in ketosis, though sometimes I get pushed out of it briefly. I have noticed patterns and things I can do if I want to stay in it and go even deeper in ketosis. So if the meal is fatty enough, even if I eat the honey with that meal, I'll stay in ketosis. There are also times though where the meal isn't that fatty, and times when I've had some strawberries or other carbs like that, and I am still in ketosis the next morning when I check. Lately since I've been adding in this honey, I often wake up and find that I have 0.5 for my ketones, which is fine. If I were to eat more fat, it'll go up pretty fast. Some people also use MCT oil to get deeper into ketosis and this really works well too. I think I have been kicked out of ketosis fully once since doing this. And interestingly, I felt really great the next day. My doctor has told me that carb cycling can really help some people. Even with that situation, I went back into ketosis really fast as I am still really low carb.
I can wake up. And I was like that before the carnivore. But now I strongly connect it to my gut. Usually I can fall back asleep after. I’d explore the sun hypothesis I commented about in the other comment. Update: microbiome is another hypothesis. Have you heard of William Davis? Theoretically bacteria has nothing to eat on carnivore. Which I don’t think exactly true. But true partially. Since you have AI, you have gut inflammation. Which indicates problems w microbiome. I make his yogurt and it by itself has addressed a lot. Plus again serotonin is produced in the gut. And converted to melatonin. And it’s produced in the gut by bacteria.
Thank you so much for sharing this. You are right on. I did get a really comprehensive GI test done and I am lacking in bacteria in the gut. I started adding in sauerkraut but then stopped for some reason. I am super lactose intolerant, so I can't have yogurt unfortunately. I will try other things though to help with it. I will look into William Davis. Thank you!
After a few weeks on carnivore I started waking up every night at 2am and wasn't able to fall asleep, but then I started drinking a cup of fresh goat's milk before bed and it works for me - 7 hours deep sleep every night . I was dairy free due to autoimmune diseases but obviously fresh goat's milk doesn't have any side effects on me. We are all different and you have to test a lot of things until you find what works for you. If you include dairy make sure you buy it from local farmers, always fresh and raw, no super market skimmed garbage.
Wow, that's amazing. I hope others will see this comment because I forgot to mention milk as a carnivore option to trigger insulin and get a small amount of carbs before bed. I've heard a few people say it's helped with their sleep.
Andrew Huberman. You have to go out in the morning and get the sunshine in your eyes and then at night time, you have to go out and get the sunshine in your eyes. Andrew Huberman, look the dude up archaic rhythm.
