Metabolic and Mental Health
Here’s How to Improve Sleep in Ketogenic Diets and Intermittent Fasting in Five Steps.
Practical ways to address sleep issues and get restorative sleep with lifestyle habits during the transition to new eating regimens
Sleep Disorders During the Transition Period
Sleep is a fundamental need for health and well-being. Sleepless nights are a nightmare for many people. Conversely, a night with restorative sleep can bring joy, happiness, and satisfaction to the next day.
I can’t emphasize the health benefits of sleep enough, as nothing makes me happier than a good night’s sleep.
Reducing elevated cortisol and fixing sleep issues were the best contributors to my health and well-being.
Even though many people start ketogenic diets and time-restricted eating regimens with enthusiasm and great hopes due to their remarkable benefits, some quit them mainly due to sleep issues.
Sleep deprivation in keto diets and intermittent fasting is a well-known issue in health communities. Thus, sleep deprivation is a valid reason for people to stop keto diets. For this reason, I investigated this topic closely.
As I also experienced sleep issues when transitioning to keto and fasting, I understand the importance of this issue.
Therefore, I have empathy and compassion for those suffering from sleep deprivation and insomnia due to dietary and lifestyle changes.
However, after a successful transition, I don’t experience sleep issues in my keto-carnivore diet. This lifestyle provided me with an excellent sleep profile introducing a calmer, more creative, and more productive life.
The main problem with people transitioning to keto diets seems to be missing the comfort of carbohydrate-rich foods, sleep-inducing amino acids, and essential minerals like magnesium.
From my experience, ketogenic diets can create a tremendous hormonal profile like reducing insulin and increasing growth hormone for experienced people allowing them to sleep better from my experience and observations.
However, as beginners struggle with sleep issues during the transition period, I thought sharing my experience would be helpful.
It is possible to personalize keto diets and fasting regimens with sleep-inducing nutrition. I experienced both plant and animal-based keto diets. I will reflect on my perspectives on both diet types.
I look at sleep issues from three angles in this story. First, I touch on nutrition, then focus on movement, and then introduce mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. Thus, this article covers both the biological and psychological aspects of sleep.
As many keto dieters also use time-restricted eating in the form of intermittent fasting, I cover the effects of fasting on sleep quality. I introduced the ways to deal with the side effects of fasting in an article titled Reduce Side-Effects of Fasting with Seven Proven Tips.
In the beginning, fasting affected my sleep adversely. However, after the adaption period, time-restricted eating further contributed to my sleep quality.
Nowadays, I sleep much better on an empty stomach as long as my body has sufficient magnesium.
As I documented basic sleep hygiene extracted from a book chapter, I won’t repeat those fundamental points. The article is titled Smart Sleep Habits — Chapter 5.
Assuming we address the fundamental issues, create sleep hygiene, and follow a routine, the five steps introduced and explained in the subsequent sections can improve sleep quality during the transition period of ketogenic diets and intermittent fasting regimens.
1 — Bone Broth and Dermal Magnesium
From my experience with ketogenic diets and time-restricted eating, a few nutrients significantly contributed to my sleep quality. They are glycine, tryptophan, and magnesium.
A — Glycine and Tryptophan Amino Acids
Glycine and tryptophan are two amino acids that might be low in ketogenic diets. I used to supplement with glycine and tryptophan when I started ketogenic diets.
Supplementation worked, but these amino acids from supplements upset my stomach and gave me a digestive disorder. Low doses of 5HTP (a metabolized form of tryptophan) were more effective than pure tryptophan.
I had to reduce the amount, which became less effective. Thus, my solution was bone broth rich in collagen. In addition, hydrolyzed collagen can reduce inflammation in joints.
Some keto friends consider collagen forming the bone broth as the carb and fiber of keto dieters as they cover a bit of healthy sugar and calms the digestive system.
Bone broth includes a significant amount of bioavailable glycine with essential minerals.
After following a keto-carnivore diet, I didn’t need to supplement with tryptophan as the diet included it sufficiently. However, people who don’t eat meat, especially poultry, dairy, and carbs, might have low levels of tryptophan.
The good news is both plant-based and animal-based diets include tryptophan. For example, milk has a significant amount of tryptophan. Other foods are tuna, turkey, chicken, cheese, oats, seeds, and nuts.
So finding ways to increase glycine and tryptophan can significantly contribute to sleep quality in keto diets and time-restricted regimens.
Consumption of glycine and tryptophan-containing foods at least two hours before bedtime was optimal for me.
B — Importance of Minerals (Especially, Magnesium)
Calcium, magnesium, and potassium are essential minerals for the body and brain to function.
Calcium is abundant in food. I never had a shortage of it in ketogenic diets.
The body tightly regulates potassium. Therefore, unless there are underlying health conditions, potassium supplement is not recommended by healthcare professionals. However, some people use 99 mg over-the-counter potassium tablets for various reasons in ketogenic diets.
However, magnesium deficiency is well-known, especially in restricted diets. Keto diets are one of them. In addition, during the fasted state, magnesium reduces.
As I introduced the importance of magnesium in two articles previously, I won’t repeat them. Here are the links.
The critical point is supplementation of magnesium might be necessary for people using ketogenic diets and time-restricted eating regimens.
As the utilization of magnesium from oral supplementation is low and it might cause digestive discomfort, the alternative is getting magnesium through the skin. I introduced Epsom Salts in this article titled Epsom Salts: An Incredible Substance for Immunity.
My sleep quality significantly improved after using hot baths with Epsom Salts. If a hot bath is impossible, we can apply magnesium cream or spray to the lower part of the body an hour before bedtime.
2 — Timing of Daily Exercises
Like diet, exercise also plays a critical role in sleep quality. Creating an exercise framework by trial and error has been one of the best contributors to improving my sleep quality.
In general, I felt tired on the days I exercised more and fell asleep quickly. However, sometimes I had difficulty falling asleep.
The culprit was performing the intense workouts in the latter part of the day. The reason is that exercise releases cortisol hormone, which competes with the sleep-inducing hormone melatonin, as I explained in this story titled The Critical Role of Cortisol in Sleep Disturbances.
Intense exercise in the morning or before 3 PM, moderate workouts before 6 PM, and taking the gentle ones two hours before bedtime was the best solutions for me.
We need to understand the role of adenosine, a molecule maintaining sleep homeostasis and cycles. The more adenosine accumulates in the brain during the day, the sleepier we feel at night. Exercise contributes to adenosine accumulation.
However, caffeine is a massive risk preventing sleep because it acts as an adenosine receptor antagonist. So, we need to stop caffeine at least 10 hours before bedtime.
The key point is two hours before bedtime, we must refrain from workouts and work concerns. We need to calm the body and brain with meditative practices.
3 — Meditation and Self-Talk
Our thoughts and feelings are the major causes of sleep deprivation.
An active mind cannot rest easily and cause delays in shutting down. By regulating emotions with cognitive flexibility, we can calm our minds.
Thus, mindfulness and meditative practices are powerful tools to calm the body and mind for restorative sleep.
A — Mindfulness Practices
Living in the moment can ground us. It is essential for health and well-being.
Mindfulness practices are ideal for calming the overactive amygdala (the alert system). When we tame and manage this part of the brain, our stress and anxiety can be reduced.
Amygdala hijacks might occur for various reasons at night, especially for people who have a busy lifestyle.
We know that stress and anxiety can prevent us from getting restorative sleep. Studies indicate that cumulative stress increases cortisol and reduced melatonin.
Remaining mindful during the day and night is vital for having restorative sleep.
B — Meditative Practices
Meditative practices are sustainable because they can strengthen focus, attention, memory, and task switching by strengthening the neo-cortex.
Meditation is a potent tool for reducing stress and anxiety.
Meditation allows the thinking brain to take over the amygdala when there are no real threats. But unfortunately, the amygdala might get activated due to perceptive threats.
Thus, we need the help of the neocortex to tame and calm it. Focusing on our breath and an object has a calming effect on the brain.
In a story, I introduced the experience of a female bodybuilder who struggled with sleeping due to her overactive mind.
In this story titled How a 37 Years Old Female Body Builder Cured Insomnia, Heather asked why doctors cannot prescribe meditation for sleep deprivation.
As sleep is critical for fat loss and healthy weight management, I shared the experience of another friend who lost substantial fat after fixing her sleep. The story is titled Sleeping Better Enabled Frederick to Lose 44 Pounds.
To highlight the importance of hormonal issues on sleep, I documented my findings in an article titled Fix Hormonal Sleep Issues and Improve Sleep Quality in 3 Easy Steps.
C— Compassionate Self-Conversations
Years ago, I used to think that talking to oneself was crazy. It was an assumption and wrong perception that I had to correct.
I reported my experience in a story titled Talking to Myself Was Not Crazy But Clever.
When studying human cognition, I learned about the importance of self-conversation, another form of storytelling. It is an intimate approach of our body to our mind and soul.
Using self-talk before bedtime or when I wake up in the middle of the night, I quickly fall asleep. The tone of self-talk is crucial. It needs to be in a pleasant story format for the brain and body to feel safe and nurtured.
Our voice needs to reflect empathy and self-compassion.
I documented sample self-talk depicting my tone in an article titled This Was How I Talked to Myself Yesterday.
4 — Digestive Enzymes
Digestive issues adversely affect sleep. For example, if our stomach is upset, we have difficulty falling asleep and having a restorative sleep.
People on ketogenic diets consume significant fat. Some people cannot digest large amounts of fat quickly. As a result, we feel disturbed and nauseated.
For example, when I started a keto diet with high fats, I initially struggled with digesting them. So, my solution was to use a lipase formula.
Lipase is an enzyme essential for fat digestion. Our bodies create it, but some of us might be deficient. Thus, supplementing is an option with guidance from qualified healthcare professionals.
In addition, if the diet includes high protein, then protease and pepsin might help digest food.
I documented my experience and reviews in an article titled Why Digestive Enzymes Are Important and How to Address Deficiencies.
5 — Stress-Reducing Supplements
I temporarily used many supplements like melatonin and sleep-inducing medication in my younger years.
Supplemental melatonin helped overcome jet lag but did not contribute to sleep quality. On the other hand, the natural secretion of melatonin was helpful for me.
The best supplement for me was lithium orotate, even though it is not a direct sleep-inducing supplement. Hormones and neurotransmitters play a critical role in maintaining sleep quality.
For example, hormones like cortisol, insulin, growth hormone, melatonin, and neurotransmitters like serotonin, oxytocin, dopamine, and GABA must be balanced.
I want to point out the importance of lithium orotate in balancing neurotransmitters based on my experience. Some people might have lithium deficiency. I was one of them.
When I started supplementing in small doses safely, lithium orotate reduced my overall stress and improved my sleep quality when transitioning to keto diets and time-restricted eating.
I documented my experience with lithium orotate supplementation in a story introducing a case study titled Lithium Orotate Helped Elaine Defeat Bipolar Disorder.
Some people use various sedating supplements. Some common ones come from plant sources such as camomile, ashwagandha, passionflower, valerian root, lavender, green tea extract, and cocoa extract.
As these supplements did not work for me, I cannot comment on their efficiency. However, they work for some people, so they are worth considering.
It is important to discuss supplements with qualified healthcare professionals as they might have side effects and interfere with medication.
From brain health and mental health perspectives, the best supplements for me were DHA and EPA, reducing inflammation and contributed to restorative sleep.
I documented their vital importance for the body and brain in an article titled The Necessity of Omega-3 Fatty Acids for the Body and Brain.
Conclusions
Sleep is critical for our health, well-being, and life satisfaction. Exercise, diet, and rest are essential in adjusting sleep patterns. Thus, we need to use them to improve our sleep.
Beginners of ketogenic diets and intermittent fasting regimens might face serious sleep issues initially. This situation is typical as the body needs to adapt to the biochemical effects of the new regimen.
Recognizing and accepting this fact is important. This situation does not mean these diets are flawed or do not work for some people. We take necessary precautions and corrective actions by understanding and accepting a case.
The adaption process may vary from person to person. However, by customizing some of the techniques and tools I introduce, we might reduce the side effects of these regimes and turn them into lifestyle choices we desire.
Takeaways
To recap the story, I offer the succeeding takeaway points for consideration.
1 — Get glycine and tryptophan from the diet. Bone broth is an excellent choice for collagen and glycine. If not possible, consider supplementation with help from qualified healthcare professionals.
2 — Consume nutrient-dense food to get essential minerals and vitamins. If the diet does not provide enough magnesium, consider supplementing it orally or via the skin.
3 — Heavy exercise earlier in the day and gentle workouts later can increase adenosine, calm the body, and prepare the mind for better sleep.
4 — Mindfulness practices, especially meditation and compassionate self-talk, can quickly calm the brain and induce sleep.
5 — Supplementing with digestive enzymes like lipase, protease, and pepsin after heavy meals containing fat and protein can relieve the digestive system and contribute to a night of better sleep.
6 — Some herbal supplements might work for some people. From my experience, lithium orotate contributed to improving my sleep quality.
Optimizing any regimen and building lifestyle habits can make the transition easier. Conversely, negative thoughts and pessimism might make it more difficult.
I aim to increase the hormonal intelligence of my readers and write about various hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, GABA, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, adrenaline, glutamate, and histamine.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
ALS, Metabolic Syndrome, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver Disease, Heart Disease, Strokes, Obesity, Liver Cancer, Autoimmune Disorders, Homocysteine, Lungs Health, Pancreas Health, Kidneys Health, NCDs, Infectious Diseases, Brain Health, Dementia, Depression, Brain Atrophy, Neonatal Disorders, Skin Health, Dental Health, Bone Health, Leaky Gut, Leaky Brain, Brain Fog, Chronic Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, Elevated Cortisol, Leptin Resistance, Anabolic Resistance, Cholesterol, High Triglycerides, Metabolic Disorders, Gastrointestinal Disorders, Thyroid Disorders, Anemia, Dysautonomia, cardiac output, and urinary track disorders.
I also wrote about valuable nutrients. Here are the links for easy access:
Lutein/Zeaxanthin, Phosphatidylserine, Boron, Urolithin, taurine, citrulline malate, biotin, lithium orotate, alpha-lipoic acid, n-acetyl-cysteine, acetyl-l-carnitine, CoQ10, PQQ, NADH, TMG, creatine, choline, digestive enzymes, magnesium, zinc, hydrolyzed collagen, nootropics, pure nicotine, activated charcoal, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B1, Vitamin D, Vitamin K2, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine, and other nutrients.
Disclaimer: My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.
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Sample Humorous Stories
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