Knacked all the time. Waking at night: could it be my diet?

[Toadinthehole]

I tend to be exhausted by 8 to the extent that I just about never go out. I am too tired to do anything at all, and if I sit down I go to sleep. I have two DDs, 9 and 6, and when I compare myself to other parents I find my levels of tiredness are not normal. My sleepiness has even been the cause of comment at work, although I should note that no one has questioned my performance. I have pretty much zero hobbies or social life.

I am in the Southern Hemisphere and the weather is pretty hot. Before anyone gets jealous, this is my typical night. I go to bed at 10. At about 10:30 I will wake up, with my legs wanting to dance the hokey cokey for want of a better expression. I just have to move them. After stretching ... and stretching ... and stretching ... I can relax enough to go back to sleep. On a bad night this might happen 3 times.

I don't wake up during winter. It is just during the 4 hottest months, but that is long enough.

GP can't help. Has no idea except tea and sympathy and codine (which didn't work) ... which brings me to diet.

This is what I will typically eat and drink during the average day.

6 am: porridge with golden syrup. Cup of tea*.
10 am: Cup of tea.
11:30: 2 sandwiches (normally with peanut butter). Probably an apple and a mandarin or a banana.
3 pm: Cup of tea. Possibly also another piece of fruit between lunch and tea.
5:30 pm: Dinner. Typically a casserole made with legumes and some kind of red meat, less often white meat. Fish once a week. Carb: rice, potatoes or pasta in equal amounts. Veg: lots of cabbage, broccoli, carrots. Veg eaten less often but frequently: lettuce, courgettes, pumpkin, cauliflower; other veg frequently but less often. I normally have a cup of tea after.

I get through a 250g bar of milk chocolate a week. Also about half a bottle of wine; beer less often.

*Tea for me = a mug of strong black tea with milk and 2 sugars. This is my exclusive liquid intake other than alcohol.

The last time I saw the GP, he gave me a blood test and said I had no deficiencies other than a lack of folate, but that might have been because of specifically what I'd ate in the previous week which was unusual.

I have no fecking idea what the problem is and I am contemplating removing my legs with my rusty saw. So any suggestions would be most gratefully received.

You're dehydrated, which is probably why your legs are getting restless at night.

You definitely need to increase your water intake

Have you tried drinking water?

It's worth a go isn't it? How much you need depends on your body weight, but a good couple of litres would be a start.

When I'm 'being good' I low carb, I feel better and I sleep better. It's just that as a non egg eating vegetarian it's a bit difficult, but if I was a meat eater I'd be fine.

X post!

Great minds clearly think alike though!

Restless legs can also be a side effect of some medications. You can Google the basic suggested treatments. But yes, as pp have said, more water needed!

I was going to say the caffeine, as if I drink normal tea (I drink decaf usually) at all in the afternoon I'm wide awake at 3am, but it really sounds like you're not drinking enough in general, particularly if it only happens during the hotter months.

The caffeine in the tea will be reducing the hydrating effect of the tea as well. It's better than not drinking anything, but not as good as drinking the same volume of water. Caffeine is a diuretic.

I would be awake and tossing and turning all night too if I had this level of fluid intake I also get restless legs but not too bad most days if hydrated well. I'm also in Southern Hemisphere and also get it more in summer.

I did some experiments on the restless sleep and hydration and for me if I don't drink at least a litre of water during the day then I don't sleep.

I aim for a litre and a half minimum, more if possible and it means I sleep through

I wonder if you try to drink more water if it will help your sleep?? Worth a try

Thanks very much - will try that. I didn't think it was possible to be dehydrated without feeling thirsty - is that incorrect?

I think feeling if you feel thirsty you are already very dehydrated.

By the time you're thirsty your body is already dehydrated. Also I think you can end up conditioned to not feel thirsty if you habitually don't drink enough.

Thanks to everyone who replied. The advice has worked very well. I reduced my tea intake to one cup in the morning, and keep a cup of water at my desk during the day. Now I probably drink about 3 pints of water a day, more if it's hot.

The first week I did this, the fidgeting stopped completely. I still woke up, but I'm assuming that's because my body got into the habit. Then we went on holiday to a place with only tank water. It tasted horribly of chlorine, so I drank less .. and the restless legs came straight back.

I still have the odd restlessness, but it isn't at a level that particularly bothers me now.

Thanks to you all :-)

Could be it hidden and not-so-hidden sugar in your diet?

I was in similar situation where I had no energy in the evenings and would fall asleep on the sofa around 8/9pm on most nights (luckily I have never had trouble sleeping at night). I got so fed up being tired all the time that I went to see nutritionist recently and she pointed out that most things I ate caused a spike in blood sugar, only to crash shortly afterwards and leaving me to crave certain foods and feeling lethargic. I would start my day with porridge for breakfast (with banana and honey or soya yoghurt and an apple), would have a sandwich for lunch, a handful of grapes or other fruit, biscuits or chocolate for afternoon snack followed by pasta or salmon, veg and potatoes for dinner with a glass of white wine or two at weekends. I always considered myself a healthy eater but it turned out I'm not and have been fuelling my body with sugars which do nothing to my energy levels!

I've now changed my diet and the difference is amazing! I've got so much more energy, haven't fallen asleep on the sofa at all, my head feels clearer and I don't get as hungry as I used to. It turned out porridge with fruit was one of the worst possible breakfasts for me leaving me hungry around 10am and reaching out to biscuit tin, fruit or chocolate. I've now upped my protein intake (eggs for breakfast, chicken salad with avocado for lunch, lots of nuts for snacks and lentils/pulses with chicken, salmon etc for dinner), replaced white pasta with wholemeal and even reduced alcohol intake (apparently red wine is better than white for me).

I don't know if this will help you, but your story sounded similar to mine so I thought I share what helped me. I'm quite amazed what difference the food I eat makes and everything that the nutrionist recommended me was common sense but I just needed someone to point it out to me! Anyway, I hope you feel better now and find out what works for your body.