Sleep Quality & Deep Sleep

[d1d2]

I would like an accurate means to determine sleep quality, but just based on my experience, and many others, that a registered good night of sleep many times is contradicted by the fact of feeling bad in the morning.

I preordered the new Oura ring that may be of interest for sleep tracking. It won’t get delivered until about June or July though but I was able to find a coupon online for s discount.

Meet the New Oura Ring

Also, I’ve had good success with pau d’arco to help with sleep quality.

Source Naturals, Pau D'Arco, 8 fl oz (236.56 ml)

 

[yerrag]

I preordered the new Oura ring that may be of interest for sleep tracking. It won’t get delivered until about June or July though but I was able to find a coupon online for s discount.

Meet the New Oura Ring

Also, I’ve had good success with pau d’arco to help with sleep quality.

Source Naturals, Pau D'Arco, 8 fl oz (236.56 ml)

Looks really nice. It's very tempting to get one. This blog article of theirs has a few interesting things to say about sleep, which concurs with what @Mito has observed: Heart Rate While Sleeping – Look for These 3 Patterns

 

[Mossy]

I preordered the new Oura ring that may be of interest for sleep tracking. It won’t get delivered until about June or July though but I was able to find a coupon online for s discount.

Meet the New Oura Ring

Also, I’ve had good success with pau d’arco to help with sleep quality.

Source Naturals, Pau D'Arco, 8 fl oz (236.56 ml)

That ring does look interesting. You’ll have to report back with your experience with it.

Thanks for sharing the Pau D’Arco tip. I have used that in the past, and it does help me to sleep, but strangely enough I can get sick the next day as a result. I have a hypersensitive system, and other supps cam do this as well.

 

[Maggiemccall]

Are you taking any thyroid? May be I have missed this? Do you know what your thyroid levels are? Ray Peat says that all poor quality sleep is low thyroid. But perhaps you know this?

 

[NFF]

Hi All!

First post, nice to be here.

I too struggle with insomnia after about 8 years of strict keto, eating about 1600-1700 calories a day as a 40 year old woman. No matter how much keto I did, I could never lose any weight. I finally went to the doctor who took one look at me & said, do you shave your eyebrows? And I said no. And he said - HYPOTHYROIDISM. My TSH came back at 15. There's absolutely no history of this in my family, btw.

LADIES, AVOID KETO!!! Don't DO KETO! Learn from me. Keto has totally crashed my metabolism & done nothing for my weight. In fact, due to the hypo it induced, I've gained 20 lbs.

So after some time on 100mcg Levo, all my symptoms are slowly resolving - I have a bit of eyebrow, etc. - except for the sleep & constipation issues. I need to solve the sleep first.

After reading in the forum all last week, I tried the orange juice + salt + potassium & valerian tea. This worked GREAT the first night, but hasn't worked for me since. I'm thinking of moving on to a banana + whole milk + valerian tea. How long should I try each strategy? Can those of you who've solved this problem offer me a timeframe for general resolution? Is there a better strategy for hypo?

My TSH is now 1, which is where I want it, but my T3 could be 1 point higher. So I'm looking for ways to boost that & improve sleep. Ty for all the interesting information.

 

[SOMO]

Hi All!

First post, nice to be here.

I too struggle with insomnia after about 8 years of strict keto, eating about 1600-1700 calories a day as a 40 year old woman. No matter how much keto I did, I could never lose any weight. I finally went to the doctor who took one look at me & said, do you shave your eyebrows? And I said no. And he said - HYPOTHYROIDISM. My TSH came back at 15. There's absolutely no history of this in my family, btw.

LADIES, AVOID KETO!!! Don't DO KETO! Learn from me. Keto has totally crashed my metabolism & done nothing for my weight. In fact, due to the hypo it induced, I've gained 20 lbs.

So after some time on 100mcg Levo, all my symptoms are slowly resolving - I have a bit of eyebrow, etc. - except for the sleep & constipation issues. I need to solve the sleep first.

After reading in the forum all last week, I tried the orange juice + salt + potassium & valerian tea. This worked GREAT the first night, but hasn't worked for me since. I'm thinking of moving on to a banana + whole milk + valerian tea. How long should I try each strategy? Can those of you who've solved this problem offer me a timeframe for general resolution? Is there a better strategy for hypo?

My TSH is now 1, which is where I want it, but my T3 could be 1 point higher. So I'm looking for ways to boost that & improve sleep. Ty for all the interesting information.

Holy ***t, TSH of 15 lol. I thought my 4.5 was bad.
Just to clarify, your physician saying sparse/thin eyebrows is also related to hypo? That's interesting because my mother is also on Keto and also has thin eyebrows/thin eyelashes (she uses that product Latisse to make her eyelashes grow.) Btw, Ray Peat says topical thyroid may also help with hair regrowth, so you could apply your Levo to your eyebrows by mixing it with water and applying the paste to your eyebrows.


My mom has been on Keto for about a year, and her health has possibly declined, even though she did lose weight (maybe 20+ pounds.) This is the "Trap" of Keto - it will often make you lose weight, but it can cause Cortisol to go THROUGH THE ROOF.
I wish I could get her off Keto, but she's one of the unfortunate people for whom the appetite suppression/hunger control benefits work for losing weight. Even she admits that she is having PMS/menopause type symptoms, but is now scared to go off Keto because she thinks she will regain the weight or that weight-loss will be more difficult going forward.

She also has become a bit of a sugar-phobe, but fortunately still eats fruit once in a while (mostly Keto-approved stuff like blueberries and other low-sugar berries)


My personal experience with Keto was...extremely ice-cold hands and feet in the mornings. My extremities would get so cold I'd have to warm them over the stove fire. Digestion on Keto was also not that good unless I was eating just meat + salads which get boring after a while. In either case, it's good to hear that you got off Keto.

Keto works great for some people. For others it doesn't work at all. And for some it works for a long time, until one day it just doesn't.

Keto may be great for short-term quick weight loss, but the more I read about physiology the more I think Keto and Fat-burning is meant to be an emergency/backup form of metabolism.

Also I'm a huge fan of potatoes and beans.

 

[NFF]

Holy ***t, TSH of 15 lol. I thought my 4.5 was bad.
Just to clarify, your physician saying sparse/thin eyebrows is also related to hypo? That's interesting because my mother is also on Keto and also has thin eyebrows/thin eyelashes (she uses that product Latisse to make her eyelashes grow.)]


My mom has been on Keto for about a year, and her health has possibly declined, even though she did lose weight (maybe 20+ pounds.) This is the "Trap" of Keto - it will often make you lose weight, but it can cause Cortisol to go THROUGH THE ROOF.
I wish I could get her off Keto, but she's one of the unfortunate people for whom the appetite suppression/hunger control benefits work for losing weight. Even she admits that she is having PMS/menopause type symptoms, but is now scared to go off Keto because she thinks she will regain the weight or that weight-loss will be more difficult going forward.

She also has become a bit of a sugar-phobe, but fortunately still eats fruit once in a while (mostly Keto-approved stuff like blueberries and other low-sugar berries)

Thinning eyebrows in women is THE classic sign, particularly the outer third, I'm afraid. Mine had almost completely fallen out.

Keto works great for some people. For others it doesn't work at all. And for some it works for a long til doesn't

Truth. Ty for your reply.

 

[YourUniverse]

Are you taking any thyroid? May be I have missed this? Do you know what your thyroid levels are? Ray Peat says that all poor quality sleep is low thyroid. But perhaps you know this?

Good point! Thank you for pointing that out. No, Im not taking any thyroid; my TSH was 1.07 this past August, which was at the tail end of veganism (=x) so I'm sure its only gotten better since then. Really good point nonetheless.

 

[Spartan300]

Hi @jamies33

b) having gelatin, honey, salt, and vinegar in chamomile tea before bed. The tea makes me extremely sleepy.

How much gelatin do you use and are you just spooning it (granules?) into the hot tea?

 

[YourUniverse]

Hi @jamies33



How much gelatin do you use and are you just spooning it (granules?) into the hot tea?

Hello Spartan! I was spooning gelatin granules into tea. Ive since scrapped this, and sleep has been fine!

 

[Spartan300]

Ah, well I might still give it a whirl. Ultimately I think good sleep is down to de-stressing.

Did you find a magic bullet or did things just seem to click into place?

 

[YourUniverse]

Ah, well I might still give it a whirl. Ultimately I think good sleep is down to de-stressing.

Did you find a magic bullet or did things just seem to click into place?

IMO, protein is something to be avoided before sleep, even gelatin and its soothing glycine. Sugar, salt and sat fat are whats needed - conveniently combined with calcium in ice cream

 

[Dave Clark]

I'm sure someone may of offered this at one time, but here is something to investigate for possibly improving sleep/health. Check it out thoroughly, there's also info on how to improve mitochondrial health using 9.6 hz levels. https://earthpulse.net/magnetic-sleep-machine/

 

[Spartan300]

Thanks Jamie, that's probably the reason people reach for the ice cream tub when they're stressed!

 

[YourUniverse]

Thanks Jamie, that's probably the reason people reach for the ice cream tub when they're stressed!

Thyroid too, forgot to mention!

 

[jzeno]

In case others are still searching for more ways to improve sleep: I noticed that grounding my body during sleep increased restfulness dramatically at the very early stages of use and still has positive, yet less pronounced effects after prolonged use (still very worth it, won't sleep without it). I slept like a rock and had never experienced that before. Miraculous.

What convinced me to give it a shot was this extremely thorough research paper done on grounding: The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases

It covers wound healing, sleep, cortisol. All of that seems to be positively impacted by grounding. Very helpful to someone trying to reduce cortisol and boost antioxidants. From the paper: "Our main hypothesis is that connecting the body to the Earth enables free electrons from the Earth’s surface to spread over and into the body, where they can have antioxidant effects."

Link to the post describing my device, CTRL + F "ground": Guide To Ray Peat: Simple, User-friendly Guide To Applying Lessons Learned From The Research Of RP

YouTube video which pretty much captures the essence, not including my variant of using a 'conductive' sock:

Conductive sock example on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Conductive-E...2991430&sr=8-17&keywords=grounding+socks&th=1

I bought identical ones available on eBay (were half the price) and I connected the end of the wire to an alligator clip and clamped that to the little metal connector on the cuff of the sock with the other end of the wire connected to the 3-pronged plug and plugged into an outlet.

All the best.

 

[charlie]

In case others are still searching for more ways to improve sleep: I noticed that grounding my body during sleep increased restfulness dramatically at the very early stages of use and still has positive, yet less pronounced effects after prolonged use (still very worth it, won't sleep without it). I slept like a rock and had never experienced that before. Miraculous.

What convinced me to give it a shot was this extremely thorough research paper done on grounding: The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases

It covers wound healing, sleep, cortisol. All of that seems to be positively impacted by grounding. Very helpful to someone trying to reduce cortisol and boost antioxidants. From the paper: "Our main hypothesis is that connecting the body to the Earth enables free electrons from the Earth’s surface to spread over and into the body, where they can have antioxidant effects."

Link to the post describing my device, CTRL + F "ground": Guide To Ray Peat: Simple, User-friendly Guide To Applying Lessons Learned From The Research Of RP

YouTube video which pretty much captures the essence, not including my variant of using a 'conductive' sock:

Conductive sock example on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Conductive-Electrode-Relief-Massage-Physiotherapy/dp/B078RTVFB3/ref=sr_1_17_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1542991430&sr=8-17&keywords=grounding+socks&th=1

I bought identical ones available on eBay (were half the price) and I connected the end of the wire to an alligator clip and clamped that to the little metal connector on the cuff of the sock with the other end of the wire connected to the 3-pronged plug and plugged into an outlet.

All the best.

Great work!

This site suggest adding a resistor if you are going to plug into the wall:

Home-Made Grounding Device

Edit: I think I am going to go with this for now:

 

[jzeno]

Great work!

This site suggest adding a resistor if you are going to plug into the wall:

Home-Made Grounding Device

Edit: I think I am going to go with this for now:

Nice. Resistors. See I'm new to understanding electricity. Wasn't my focus in school so I wasn't aware this is possible but it makes perfect sense. I'll see if I can cheaply and easily apply this to reduce the possibility of accidental shock or something.

Yes. This is the other video I consulted to make my grounding device. Very similar. Very straightforward. I certainly do recommend experimenting due to the positive results recorded in different studies and how straightforward, inexpensive, convenient and natural it is to ground yourself considering that just by walking around barefoot on the bare earth we become grounded. Seems to be an important element we've lost in the advances of the modern world. Not to worry. Modern problems simply require modern solutions.

Thanks for the tip on the resistor @charlie.

 

[jzeno]

This site suggest adding a resistor if you are going to plug into the wall:

Home-Made Grounding Device

@charlie,

I totally forgot: I plug the plug of my grounding device into a surge protector (commonly known as a power strip, here in the US). I do not plug my device directly into the wall socket.

Surge protectors are designed to protect against surges in electricity--such as when lightning strikes--but I believe they have a 'resistance' function as well.

Nonetheless: I even shut off my power strip (so as to turn off all the other electrical devices connected to it for the evening) while I'm connected to it via the grounding device. And yes: the grounding device will work even if your power strip is shut off. The ground pole, doesn't "shut off" because it's simply grounded into the earth (at, or under, the foundation of the house somewhere). The power shut off function cuts power to the active positive and negative poles. So, hey! Easy solution: Just buy or use a power strip--problem solved!

I didn't realize that until I went to bed last night and thought about it for a second. I must be getting smarter without even knowing it.

That is much easier than figuring out how to splice a resistor onto the wire. Yuck. Keep it simple!

Thanks Charlie for the reminder. Good tip.

 

[charlie]

@charlie,

I totally forgot: I plug the plug of my grounding device into a surge protector (commonly known as a power strip, here in the US). I do not plug my device directly into the wall socket.

Surge protectors are designed to protect against surges in electricity--such as when lightning strikes--but I believe they have a 'resistance' function as well.

Nonetheless: I even shut off my power strip (so as to turn off all the other electrical devices connected to it for the evening) while I'm connected to it via the grounding device. And yes: the grounding device will work even if your power strip is shut off. The ground pole, doesn't "shut off" because it's simply grounded into the earth (at, or under, the foundation of the house somewhere). The power shut off function cuts power to the active positive and negative poles. So, hey! Easy solution: Just buy or use a power strip--problem solved!

I didn't realize that until I went to bed last night and thought about it for a second. I must be getting smarter without even knowing it.

That is much easier than figuring out how to splice a resistor onto the wire. Yuck. Keep it simple!

Thanks Charlie for the reminder. Good tip.

Ok so after researching around I was not comfortable with grounding through the electrical system of my house. People have reported problems with it due to feedback from the power system, etc. So what I did was head down to the hardware store and got a copper water pipe($10) about 5 feet long and 3/4 in diameter. I got pipe instead of a grounding rod because the pipe has more surface space to contact the earth. I then got 14 gauge solid wire($20 for 100 feet) and hooked it on onto the pipe with a ground clamp($4). I got aluminum screen($7)(this is only temporary until I get silver cloth or something like that) and draped it across my bed. I hooked the grounded wire to the screen with an alligator clip($3). Working on getting the right resistor for extra protection just in case of lightning strike or tampering. Put fitted sheet back on bed.. Tested with voltmeter and indeed body voltage drops dramatically after laying on bed. Bingo bongo, all good. Tonight will be first night sleeping on it.