What are some strategies for those of us who struggle to sleep while fasting?

I've done fasting many times over my life, and honestly the sleep is overwhelmingly the major obstacle I face. During the day? I'm fine, if I'm hungry I just ignore it. Stay busy, never notice the hunger. Day 1, day 2, day 4, whatever, easy peasy lemon squeezy. Hunger is nothing. But at *NIGHT*?! It's miserable. I lie there and pray for the sweet oblivion of death. Sleep feels impossible, starting from the first night. Why it's so hard to fall asleep on an empty stomach, I don't know, but it is. Hours and hours of lying in bed, days of feeling tired because I slept 2 hours the night before. Anyone else in the same boat? Anyone been here and found a solution? Anyone got any ideas?

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> It’s miserable. I lie there and pray for the sweet oblivion of death.

I have no advice, but it’s nice to be able to find someone who shares my pain.

Just doing IF for the next few days before I start the actual fast, so a soup a day before bed. But laying sleepless at night really does make it so much harder

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I added epsom salt baths during my last fast. Also added lavender essential oil. It helped so much it’s now part of my regular routine. I still woke up super early but I felt rested and fell asleep quickly. I don’t take any sleep aids. I stopped melatonin around Thanksgiving.

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I deal with it simply by not worrying about it. When I have insomnia from fasting, I simply get up and do something until I am tired enough to try again. Fasting upregulates hormones that can make it harder to sleep– but those same hormones help keep you from being tired.

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I feel like this is cheating but during my first 7 day fast, I took ibuprofen pm day 3 & 4 cuz I was really wired and couldn’t sleep at all. Got better as I went on and I just needed less sleep overall.

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Sometimes a take Dramamine (OTC nausea and motion sickness med). You have to make sure you don’t get the non-drowsy formula. Get the original. It helps make you drowsy enough to get a little sleep usually. But I’ve had insomnia since I was a child so it doesn’t always work for me because I’m so used to it. Fasting just makes the insomnia worse for me because the adrenals pump out a ton of cortisol which keeps your brain awake in “fight or flight” mode.

You can also try transdermal magnesium. It’s a spray that gets absorbed by your skin. It has helped me a few times.

But I feel ya and know that others out there deal with this too. I’m 36 hours into my fast and I have to leave for work in an hour and I got exactly zero hours of sleep between these 2 shifts!

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Fiber pills help with cravings. Drink plenty of water with them.

I usually take a hot shower and have a coffee about a hour before I want to sleep. The caffeine crash is enough to let me sleep for a couple hours. I know everyone isn’t wired like that. Worth a shot though.