I see lots of posts about insomnia during fasts and although I had some issues with increased insomnia when I went low carb I’m back to my normal amount of insomnia (2-3 days once or twice per month). Does anyone else end up breaking their fast when they have insomnia? I’m on day 3 of less than 2hrs sleep and food is all I can think of (I do 16:8 and it’s usually pretty easy with manageable hunger). The more tired I am, the more hungry I feel and the more likely I am to give in to cravings.
I can usually push through a single day of sleep deprivation. But I agree it makes things way harder in terms of cravings, and in terms of willpower.
What I typically do on such a day is take things really slow and avoid physical activity as much as possible. I find that taking the elevator instead of running the stairs can be the difference between making it or not on such days.
I had insomnia before starting IF. Would usually need to take Ambien maybe 10 days out of the month. About 2 months after starting IF, the need for Ambien started to decline. Haven’t needed it now for the past 3 months. Hang in there!
I noticed that I was more amped up when I did a 45 hour fast last week, so I bought some melatonin and a sleep aid to help me sleep this week (since I’m aiming for 4-5 days of fasting). It’s normal for the body to produce adrenaline during fasting, but it really isn’t helpful for sleeping…