me 2 Neill

i’m really wandering if in the long run i’m ruining my health

by not sleeping i’m 2 alert tossing & turning

it is becoming a great concern

i’ve tried melatonin nottin

i’m going 2 try Valerian

i really understand how u feel

the crashing part is not fun

& like u i’m happy w/ this lifestyle finally something that works

I always was a light sleeper, but had a couple of difficult nights when I first started 5:2 (difficult getting to sleep, easily agitated).

When starting I had many small meals/ snack, but as I trained my fasting ability I can do 24 hours and spare my calories for one meal in the evening (600 KCal of meat and vegetables will certainly make you feel full).

I am sleeping better now than before I started but I also do more exercise now (4.5 hours of cycling per week in addition to walking my cairn terrier). Cycling is a wonderful way of transportation and exercise.

Also try not to make the being awake cause you to not falling a sleep, don’t worry so much that you cannot sleep. Get out of bed and do something else (listen to radio pod-cast works for me), read a book if that works. Go back to bed when you are feeling more sleepy.

If nothing else works then talk to your pharmacist/ doctor about your problem. I have used a over the counter drug containing Promethazin. It worked well for me but be careful not to take it on a regular basis (according to my pharmacist it will loose effect and you will be in a worse position).

hi clare & NeillMac & DrLL & thanks

i have asked my doc no help there

i have tried eating @ night, boring book, blackout the room etc

noise machine ugh. i don’t do (4.5 hours of cycling per week). lazy i guess

yes i admit it 😉 i @ least do the hit a wk

it is every other fast day that this happens 4 a while now the deprived sleep

i always thought that was an expression tossing and turning but 2 actually be doing it all night is weird

i’m just concerned because our bodies need 2 repair & sleep just like fasting

if it does not get it, 2 repair & build our immune system, what is going 2 happen?

i think this diet has been the best ever it works

i have lost over 22 lbs since march 2/13 & 51 lbs 2 still go.
slowly going down by 1.4 a week some plateaus inbtween ugh

plus it is fun averaging 1410 cals a week used 2 b 1300

like today i could add 696 calories if i want yay!!

9870 cals -sun394-mon2902-tues1221-weds1757-th550-fr1840-sat510 = 696 (i added a 3rd fast this week)

the 2902 cals went out with my little niece 2 c a movie and had a ton of popcorn then a slice of pizza and a soft pretzel a hot dog
things i don’t usually eat. that’s ok as long as i average the 1410 a wk i’m good

sunday is splurge day whatever i want which usually because of this great diet i do not want that much anyway yipeeeee!!!!!

i’m trying this low carb cycling high mod carb low carb and sund feastday click on my name and u will c all my posts & replies w/ all their trials & tribulation
& experiments

i’m getting tested this mon on cholesterol my high blood pressure the type2diab

let’s hope it is lower

please share whatever works 4 sleeping

wish u all continued mental acuity, energy, health, weight loss & above all

sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

hi everyone,
before starting this plan i used to sleep like a log, then begain this plan,
to start with i couldnt drop off due to tummy rumbles, i also worried about if lack of sleep would affect my health,

my thoughts on it is, when my body was carrying much more weight it had to work harder hence being tired at the end of a day, now i have less weight my body dosent have to work as hard and i have much more energy,

if i found myself wide awake id get up and read the posts here or play a game or 3 of solitaire then go back to bed and would find i would drop off.

it was frustrating laying there at night waiting to drop off but i kept at it and changed my eating to most of my cals as an evening meal it has improved, but it did take quite a few weeks before i noticed any changes my sleep is now much better. xx

@keyz – ” i downloaded the CD to my MP3 player and play it when i have difficulty falling asleep.”

I also have a series of recordings that I can tap into depending on what mood that I need to shift or a skill to develop.

I do wake up early or sometimes in the middle of the night.

I take the waking up in stride & I’ll go back to sleep whenever I feel sleepy again. I’m fine with waking up & it gives me an opportunity to do many things that are mundane.

Rather than being concerned, I can be productive for what interests me.

It’s an attitude of anticipating that the body knows what it’s doing & the mind can continue until fatigue sets in again.

My wife has gone through anxious periods before and now sleeps well through the night by taking melatonin & relaxing about the waking up part.

➰

I realised too that I sleep far better (though not very well) if I have my main meal in the evening. For me too the second fast day caused me most problems which I guess is because the body is more drained than during the first fasting day. The protein gives a sense of feeling fuller which I think is why I feel better when I eat more of my 600 calories in the evening. I was never very good at sleeping so it is just more of the same anyway for me 🙂 but I also felt that it disturbs me that this wonderful diet comes with this side effect… I hope to go to 6:1 soon so I hope that this sleeping issue will then be resolved, but otherwise I need to find something out because I do not want to sleep badly like that for a very long time.

I find myself wide away thinking about food and Mosley. It’s a hard life.

wiltldnrUSA are you a contender for Mosley’s #1 fan? The crown is mine. Until you’ve suffered Horizon addiction you don’t have a hope of snatching the title. However I will allow you to join the ranks of ‘The Mosley Groupies’ if, and only if, you are strong enough to stomach watching the entire series of Genius of Invention back-to-back. Even the strongest would-be Mosley Groupies buckle at that one.

I’m still struggling to sleep on my fast nights. I started on 5:2 on 2 October 2013 and reached my target weight end of November 2013. Originally I did the 2 fast days back to back and it was only on the second fast day that I only slept intermittently. Now I do different days say Monday and Friday and find staying asleep difficult. The only thing that works for me is to take a small dose of citrizine (an antihistamine).
I now skip breakfast all weekdays. Fast one or 2 days depending on whether I feel I may have put a little weight on. My exercise is less as it is winter now and I don’t like going out in the cold.

You can add me to the list of people who have been experiencing sleep problems 🙁 Even without fasting, I usually wake up about three times a night to pee (because of a back problem). It’s hard to go to sleep hungry and even harder to get back to sleep when you wake up at 3 or 5 in the morning with your stomach crying out for mercy.

Saving as many calories as possible for the evening and taking some valerian helps, but I don’t think I’ve found the definitive solution yet. I’m considering fasting more frequently (every other day, for instance, as suggested by Krista Varady), but being a bit more generous with the calories — maybe a 100-cal snack at midday, a 400-cal dinner at eight p.m., and a 200-300 cal bedtime snack.

Varady proposes “fasting” every other day (approx. 1 x 100-cal snack and 1 x a 400-cal meal). Once you reach a point where you’re just maintaining your weight, you can presumably double this (approx. 2 x 100-cal snacks and 2 x 400-cal meals). Again, if you follow her system you’d be doing this every other day. Perhaps it’s still possible to lose weight, even if it’s more slowly, at some intermediate point that’s more sustainable for those of us with sleep issues.

I don’t think losing sleep is very good for your health. Also, I need to be very focused to be productive in my work. The combined effects of fasting and sleep loss can make this difficult to achieve.

Anyway, I’m hoping that with some tinkering I can come up with a workable approach.

I’ve had sleep problems for about as long as I’ve had weight issues, i.e. most of my adult life. Twice I’ve been to a sleep clinic. I learned some good strategies that I employ from time to time, so I sleep quite well most of the time now, and I will try and summarise here.

i. hyper-active brain … whirling thoughts, often brilliant and exciting that keep your brain zinging and whizzing … this is where you need that dull book, or a puzzle, or solitaire but usually something that you can do lying in bed and just drift off when the brain slows down

ii. patterns to initiate sleep … establish a routine that you can do when preparing to sleep … walk around the garden, check lights off, dog out, brush teeth, read favorite book,light out, recite favorite poem, sleep … if you cant sleep get up and do ten minutes of some non-habit activity and then go through the routine again.

iii. reverse psych … self talk that says ‘wow I’m glad to be awake and having all these fabulous thoughts and sleep can just wait’ is a better way to get back to sleep than ‘doom gloom oh woe is me i can’t sleep and i’m going to be so knackered tomorrow’

iv. if i have two bad nights in a row i take phenergan (an antihistamine that makes me drowsy) at bed time. i never take it more than two nights in a row. I sometimes take it if i have a big day coming up and sleep is really important.

v. the usual … no caffeine or stimulants after about 2pm … bedtime snack of milk and biscuit … goldilocks room temp …

vi. orgasm … no joking, there is some science behind this one … but on your own or in company it is still a great way to get to sleep.

Sleep can be an issue for many of us including myself. In the past my Doctor has prescribed sleeping tablets. They worked but some, the so-called Z tablets can have serious side effects so I do not recommend them. What I now do is a form of meditation based on my breath count. You can practice this during the day on a quiet moment to help you with the the technique. When in bed and I finally settle down I start to focus on my breathing and a reverse count down from 50. I focus on each deep breath and how I do it.I breath in through my nose and out through my mouth. At the end of each exhalation I do a count, starting from 50, then 49 and so on. If my mind wanders, and it does, I recognise it has. I refocus on my breathing and start the count again from 50. My breathing becomes slow and shallow. My mind starts to quieten down and stops jumping about and stills its racing. I go to sleep. It may not be for every one, it is frustrating and it takes time to learn but for me after years of sleepless nights it was worth the minimum effort I took to learn it. Check out meditation on the internet. Buy a pair of headphones and find a relaxation process you can use in bed. I can assure you that if you spend a bit of time learning a mind quietening technique it has a good chance of helping you with your sleep problems.
Good luck to you all.

@roba
” I sleep quite well most of the time now, and I will try and summarise here.”

Thank you for these sleep solutions.

I will keep these notes because they will come in handy in the future for me.

➰

This is interesting for me because I’ve had long term issues with sleep.
I do find that my sleep is both better and worse with IF.

Unlike a lot of people here my sleep is better on fasting days (I fast from 1pm). I think by night time I’m in the slow down mode of fasting by then so sleeping is fine. But the first day I’m back on normal foods – particularly protein – I do struggle with sleep. I’m thinking about cutting protein from my night time meals to see if that helps.

I do also use melatonin.

Interesting stuff. The interplay of hormones and various chemicals is a complex one and hard to predict.

Let me know if anyone tries switching their food intake to earlier rather than later and if that helps.

I too also had no problems sleeping before fasting. In the first few weeks I would get up and have cereal then read for a while. Now I just do meditation and brainwash myself. I will try some of the suggestions on these posts because it is annoying.

@emullen. I wouldn’t try any medication to resolve the lack of sleep. I just accept that on fast days I don’t sleep well. Pretty sure that it is my mind saying ‘stay awake and go and find some food, you haven’t had enough calories’. Seems a pretty reasonable action from my mind.
I have reached my target weight and to maintain just fast one day a week (called 6:1)and I still get a bad night’s sleep on the night of the fast. I am used to this fact so I don’t get too wound up by it. One thing about lack of sleep, it is guaranteed that at some point you will sleep.

i just checked magnesium has zero calories-im sure a tablet of this can help

I’ve been on the 5:2 diet for two weeks now and had sleeping issues this week. Interestingly, I’ve just switched from 2 meals to one evening meal on fast days. Maybe it’s a body clock (circadian rhythm) thing?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25880-food-influences-body-clock-and-may-ease-jet-lag.html

Good to see you talk about training yourself to fast. I was hopeless the first week. A bit better this week. Trouble is that when I am housesitting I have to much time on my hands during fast days. Have to get busy and that helps me get through. JJ

This is my problem as well. I usually have no trouble sleeping, but fast days cause me to wake up repeatedly during the night and feel exhausted the next day. Other than this issue, the diet is working very well for me, but the sleep is a deal-breaker. I’ve tried over-the-counter sleep aids, eating the last light meal later in the evening, saving calories for a few sips of milk, but nothing has really worked. I really need to find a solution.

The first week I experienced sleep problems, but sleep problems are fairly common for me anyway (menopause, always a light sleeper), though fasting days it was more pronounced. But after the first week my sleep got better and not just better as in not having trouble sleeping but better as in sleeping REALLY well. Weird but I’m loving it. I do find im VERY wired by the end of a fasting day, but I do about 30 min of brisk walking at the end of the day and it helps with that.

I have not slept well for years, but other than warm milk/ovaltine, have not let it get to me. However , since retiring, I find things have got worse, also since starting FD I find I’m more aware of hunger at night. I have tried all sorts of different herbal/natural remedies and all seem to help for a week , then the circle starts again. I have found an Ayurvedic natural product from Pukka (www.pukkaherbs.com ) that contains Valerian and Ashwagandha. It works for me. Have taken this now for over a month. There have been a couple of bad nights where I have got up and read for an hour, but I take another capsule and manage to get back to sleep no problem. Already I feel much better when getting up. Just have to sort out my silent reflux now then I might be something like fit and well.

Hi,

I just wanted to add, insomnia is a big issue with me if I haven’t had enough carbs or kcal. I have found having a high carb snack before bed really helpful.

I often find I’m falling asleep after lunch at midday though grrr!

Good luck!

@stopfasting. The diet here IS calorie restriction. So we do eat some food it is NOT a fast where no calories are consumed. I suggest you see your doctor for your problems as they are probably not related to this way of life