started diet this week (intermittent diet) and sleep gone to pot! anyone find the same?

[ExpatAgain]

I'm prone to poor sleep anyway but had been doing ok, however, since starting the intermittent diet at the beginning of this week, my sleep's gone haywire.

My system seems to be in turmoil rather and I don't feel unwound enough to be sleepy, if that makes sense, when I should. I'm also doing the classic anxiety-related thing of waking up early - anywhere between 3am and 4.30 and then that's it for the night. It's knackering and is affecting my energy levels in the day such that I''m finding it hard to function let alone do the exerecise I plan to. I often end up lying down in the afternoon (not sleeping, never can in the daytime) just to try and catch up.

I realise this is chicken and egg - I need not to rest in the afternoon and I need to exercise regularly in order to help me sleep, a real struggle though!

anyone else in same boat or got advice, please?

Thanks

I experienced similar on a low carb, low fat diet. The thing that worked for me was upping my fat intake. Maybe something like Atkins would be more suited to you?

thanks, glad it's not just me! I guess you mean good fat - fish etc? I like the intermittent diet as based on 2-day v restricted diet per week, other dats normal and good for those with family history of breast cancer which I have in mine.. Not so sure about Atkins for me, seems a little unbalanced.

I actually eat a lot of "bad" fat like streaky bacon, cheese, cream etc. There is no scientific evidence that saturated fat is unhealthy but there have been several studies linking high intakes of omega 6 (a polyunsaturated fat) to several types of cancer, including breast cancer.

omega-6-omega-3-balance.omegaoptimize.com/2008/10/10/breast-cancer-gene-and-omega6-fat.aspx

Have a read of this site for more information on how healthy eating is making us sick and fat.

interesting site and agree with much of what i've read there so far around diet (unhelpful calorie counting, for example).

Founder's not a medical doc though (PhD from American distance learning university? Not heard of it...)and has some "interesting" views about climate change and exercise..Wonder about proper evidence-base for his arguments here. An interesting background he's had though.

Back to the diet, I'd read before about upping omega-3 for mental health also (Natural Prozac etc). Try to follow this and also thake 5http supplements but forget too much of the time.

The ID diet derives from the genesisuk.org website, if you fancy a look.

Yes! I found making sure I don't nap in the day so I am exhausted at night helps. Also eating my dinner at 7.30-8pm helps for some reason.

IS the sleep worse on the 2 low cal days - could it be you are drinking more caffeine than usual as in coffee or diet coke just for volume - on the normal days try foods rich in tryptophan - bananas and turkey are good ..

Also could just be linked to change in lifestyle and mind is still coming to terms with it - lots to think about in terms of having right foods in the house and new mind set to support the changes? Give it a few more days to see if it evens out - I have insomnia and find that the "clean routine" works - it is hard though to not sleep on the low cal days as energy is always lower - but when i did the trial, I found that after the first couple of weeks, my body adjusted to the new eating pattern and energy levels recovered - insmonia stayed the same though!!

I have been eating 'clean' for last two months and was struggling with sleep pattern. I was given some advice from a nutritionist and personal trainer at a seminar.

Apparently I needed to up my intake of water - to 1 litre for every 50lbs of weight and to go to bed around 10pm but never later than 10.30pm if need be to eat a banana an hour before. It has worked for me, I wake up much more refreshed and feel I've had a good sleep. I have to say I didn't follow the diet at all sleep routine over christmas and I felt constantly tired and sluggish.

thanks, both. Well, had to drag myself thro the day yesterday but summoned the enerygy to do 1 hr 10min hike, to eat fairly well and ended the day with a banana and milky drink. Result was 7 hours sleep, fantastic! Longest sleep i've had in weeks.

ZZ - my energy levels were much worse on VLCDs but day after was when i had worst sleep, as you say probably everything just settling down also maybe carb withdrawal? How do you cope with ongoing insomnia then, esp on these days? not easy..

Hi expat. Totally agree it is hard to cope with insomnia, even when not doing vlcds. At moment my sleep is crap due to many things but not helped by jet lag which really knocks my sleep out for a few weeks -and I do a long haul flight every monthbso neve really recover...

My plan is to try to do the clean sleep routine again and more exercise -am bad at routines which means weight and sleep never really con tolled for more than a few days/weeks... But things always get in the way... Planned early night tonight but just sen desperate housewives on which is my one tv treat... Tomorrow doing vlcd so really ned to sleep well so might have to take grown up approach -and buy tv recorder!

Hi expat-could it be that you are doing too much exercise? If you are working out intensively every day, this may, mad as it sounds, be the problem. Insomnia is a classic symptom of over-training, especially if you are restricting calories.

hah! I wish, that may have been the case a few months ago. All slipped rather over christmas. I'm studying atm so far too much time sitting around!

zz - sounds like you have a lot on your plate (sorry, couldn't resist!). Seriously though, that's a lot to contend with. I'd heard of sleep hygiene, including keeping a sleep diary and that's quite helpful, but no idea how to cope with regular long-haul flights. Melatonin?