Hi Fiona,

Sorry to hear that! I’ve struggled a lot with sleep on fast days, but from the opposite reason, being that I’ve had too much energy. Are you sure you drink enough? Try water with lemon throughout the day, herbal teas, etc – both fill you up, too. As for food, what do you normally eat? And do you only have one meal?

I have felt odd on the following day, too – but I think that comes from interrupted/lack of sleep.
A xx

I find I wake in the night after a fast day, sometimes with a headache. I think I drink enough but maybe I don’t.

Hello Fiona, I have similar wakeful nights but not with headaches. I do drink several mugs of caffeine-free (Red Bush) tea with my self- imposed skimmed milk ration, so I’m not dehydrated. I just can’t sleep and find I am planning my breakfast. I eat all my 500 calories after 7pm and get through the day better if I don’t eat anything until then, only black coffee or tea. I sleep very well the following night, but that will be no consolation if you have to get up early and are still tired.

Same here. I usually get up at 2 AM and have a glass of water with Himalaya salt and half a teaspoon of butter, coconut oil or olive oil. This little amount of fat is enough to deal with the feeling of hunger. If that is the reason I will fall asleep soon after going back to bed.

Seeing what I wrote about the butter I resolved to eat the butter and drink the salted water BEFORE going to bed. No more problems sleeping 🙂

MIEK
I read your post about salt, butter and oil in the middle of the night. I couldn’t think of anything worse. I think I’ll stick to my half a Stilnox ?Yours is more natural but mine is more palatable ?
I have nasty nights quite often where I can’t sleep, even after hard physical work. It’s pretty annoying even when you’re not hungry!

Hi athunusia, thanks for the well done 🙂

I couldn’t eat butter or drink salted water or oil either… sorry miek… What’s a stilnox?

My first fast day is going to be tomorrow. I just decided right here right now!!

Social_Butterfly
I can’t drink coffee much at all. It messes with my tummy. Now my gall bladder is gone its even worse.
They say to stay off iPads and iPhones etc an hour before trying to sleep. Something about the light emitted. I know if I read a book I’m more likely to drop off!
Sleep well fellow insomniacs ???

We drink a small ( a whisky size glass) of milk about a hour before going to bed we find this helps. This is on top of our 500/600 calories but it doesn’t stop the weight loss. Michael or Mimi said this at the start of 5.2 “people may find it helps with sleep”

Give it a go

Melatonin will give your brain a signal to sleep about 2 hours after you take it. Placebo effects may kick in sooner. If you want the real effects at the time you actually are trying to sleep, take melatonin about 2-3 hours BEFORE you USUALLY go to sleep. If you don’t have a “usual” sleep time, your body will find it difficult to use the melatonin in a predictable way. Keep light very low (VERY low — like, BARELY enough to read by) if you are getting near bedtime. Light will block the effects of melatonin, so you need dimness to get the effect of it.

You don’t need much. Most over-the-counter formulations give you 10 – 100 times as much (or more) as your body/brain would normally produce, so pick the smallest amount available on the shelf of the pharmacy or natural food store or wherever you pick it up. It will be plenty. Most of the unused melatonin will simply be pee-ed out when you urinate.

Don’t use Benadryl. It’s bad for your sleep architecture, although it certainly will help you fall asleep, it won’t help your quality of sleep. Also it’s got a lot of other side effects, none great. I’d avoid it.

Keep your wake time super regular, even on weekends, and don’t stay in bed if you’re not sleepy.

Good luck.