Greetings!
I am 1 week into ~16:8 IF, but I’m really struggling with sleep for some reason.
I eat at about 11:30am, and again at 6:30pm.
I go to bed at around 10:30, but I’m lucky to get 2-3 hours of sleep before I’m wide awake. This results in me crashing around 4pm for a 1-2 hr nap.
Any suggestions? Is there an adjustment period as my body tries to figure out what the hell is happening?
Your body does get used to fasting and you’ll get less sleeping problems after a while. Usually adding magnesium when you eat 250-400 mg does help. While your getting used to it you could take 5-10 mg melatonin 1 hour before your bed time just for a week or shorter intervals, also getting sun during the morning and avoiding artificial light when your trying to sleep.
Apparently IF just gives you SO MUCH ENERGY that you no longer need to sleep…. Cause #same. About a week in and I’m genuinely excited if I get 4 consecutive hours. Coming from a person who generally needs a solid 8 to even function. It’s been hell.
I did try melatonin last night. It kind of helped. I fell asleep easier but that sleep didn’t last long.
Good luck friends!!
It takes a few weeks for your body to get adjusted and it’s not fun during that time. Stay helped me was shifting my eating window to later 1 or 2 to 7. That one hour made a big difference so I wasn’t starving going to sleep which is what kept me up.
No suggestions sorry, but I’ve been doing IF 16:8 for a week now too and my sleep has also been awful, similar to what you describe. Hoping it settles in time. I try exercise to exhaust my body, that seems to help.
Have you changed up your caffeine intake? If you’ve been using black coffee or tea during your fasting window try switching to herb tea. And even if you haven’t increased your caffeine intake, try cutting it. The extra amp up some people get from IF might amplify the caffeine affect and push a normally ok dose into the not ok zone.
Hi! I’m also doing 16:8 daily and have faced no issues.
It seems you might have trouble sleeping due to your sugar levels reaching baseline at night. Depleting sugar level is a healthy part of a fast yet side effects are a stressed state or irritability, making harder to sleep.
My recommendation is to switch your feeding time. Instead of eating at 11:30 am, move your eating window later to say 2:00 - 8:00. This way you’ll eat a bit later into the day, feel more satiated when going into bed.
This is my routine as I too have a light sleep and any irritability keeps me from having a good sleep. Been on this time schedule for almost a year and results are fantastic.
1- What do you open your fast with? Sometime having a carb heavy meal after fasting will let you crash few hours later. 2- Also, You can change your eating windows. So instead of opening your fast at 1:30 and close it around 830- 9 pm. 3- as suggested by others, melatonin or magnesium can help.4- sometimes it takes your body time to adjust. Your sleep will get better with time.
Are you still meeting your caloric needs? Your body will always prioritise finding food over sleep and you might be waking up if you are hungry. Sometimes this doesn’t “feel” like hunger but leads to long periods of wakefulness during the night.