Melatonin

[pboy]

Considering Peat considers melatonin a stress hormone, does he recommend waking up every few hours to turn on a light or leaving a light on while you sleep? It seems to make sense to limit melatonin production, but also seems like it would prevent proper sleep. Strangely enough, since I cleaned up my diet and lifestyle the past couple years I have literally only been requiring 4 hours of sleep a night and I tend to like at least a dim light when im awake during the nightime hours. Dunno if this has anything to do with melatonin though.

Also on a side note, does anyone know how cannabis might affect melatonin? I remember reading a while back that it drastically increased melatonin production for a few hours after being ingested.

I've also read that melatonin is a super antioxidant capable of permeating even the blood brain barrier? (maybe this is just an indicator of its need, that your body produces many toxins under the abscence of light)

 

[jaa]

pboy,

My friend who is into buteyko says that one of the benefits of increasing your co2 levels is that you need less sleep - something like 5 hrs a night I believe. In fact, he says oversleeping is one of the restrictive factors to making progress with buteyko. I personally find this hard to believe as it doesn't jive with my experience, but then my co2 levels and peat progress are both pretty low. I wonder if anyone else is experiencing the same decreased need for sleep as you. It would be a pretty sweet side effect of peat dieting if it that was the case.

 

[pboy]

I make a concious effort to breath well, as well as eat a lot of dark pure cacao which increases Nitric oxide and deep breathing for sure, I'm sure Co2 as well a lot. Since I've been doing this my veins are pretty much always bulged but in a healthy way...perfect blood pressure. Maybe theres some truth to it...though my diet isnt entirely Peat, I'm pretty much vegan strangely enough...I just think theres a lot of truth in all Peat's research on metabolism, hormones, additives, ect...i just replace the meat/eggs/milk generally with other things but other than that its pretty much the same.

 

[Dean]

...though my diet isnt entirely Peat, I'm pretty much vegan strangely enough...I just think theres a lot of truth in all Peat's research on metabolism, hormones, additives, ect...i just replace the meat/eggs/milk generally with other things but other than that its pretty much the same.

Do you mind elaborating on what your Peat-influenced, vegan diet consists of. Just curious.

 

[pboy]

Herbal Teas and/or Coffee with Sugar, Maple Syrup
Fruit and fruit juice
Hempseed, hemp oil, Brazil nut (1 a day for selenium), coconut oil, dark cacao/chocolate
Lots of wheatgrass juice (i buy the juice powder then rehydrate) for iodine, choline, calcium, magnesium
Thats mostly it average day to day...very simple

Rarely Mushroom / vegetable / seaweed broths, microalgae like spirulina
very rarely other seeds, nuts, buckwheat, tubers, masa, white rice

I realize Peat would be against the hemp but i keep it very low and it seems to be of benefit
The teas/herbs/wheatgrass since I consume them all without the fiber only as teas or extracted juices/broths
they dont seem to cause any trouble and provide valuable minerals. I supplemented b12 once in the past
couple years but didnt really notice much or a difference....moreso just to be safe

 

[Dean]

Thanks for the reply. You can't be gettingmuch protein, certainly nothing close to what Peat recommends. So most of your calories are coming from coconut oil and dark chocolate; and with the wheatgrass, your diet would be very mineral dense. It's an interesting approach.

What about salt? What types of fruits are you eating? How long have you been following this WOE? Impact/benefits?

 

[pboy]

Well I kinda settled into this in the past few months but was adjusting towards it the past couple years.
Yea the protein is low, ends up being about 35grams a day but I think since I get the good fats and sugars, and especially choline, my protein requirements are lower. About half my calories come from yes, coconut and chocolate, the other half coming mosty from the fruit juice/sugars. Orange, Mulberry, Mango, Grape, Apple, Cherry are my main goto juices...sometimes pineapple and blueberry. I do a lot of nettle, oatstraw, and/or horsetail tea (very high calcium, silica, magnesium). About a small handful of hempseed or a tablespoon of the oil, and like 7-10 servings wheatgrass juice. I feel really good day to day doing this but I wouldnt reccomend it to anyone cause its still sorta in an experiemental stage i guess you could say. The main thing I noticed is that I dont sleep much but also dont feel tired unless I physically exhaust myself the day before (which is a rare occurance cause i dont excersize more than I need).

Thats mostly why I'm asking about melatonin, wondering if a lack of it is causing me to sleep less and if I should be concerned or if this is actually maybe a good thing?

with salt I just add pinches to tea or take straight pinches here and there when i crave it

 

[Dean]

So with the fruit, you are mostly juicing it? Are you eating the carrot salad? What's your fiber intake? Mostly from the dark chocolate?

Sorry for the 3rd degree...just curious

 

[pboy]

i mostly buy bottled juices that arent from concentrate...usually they have 0-8grams fiber (0-2/serv) at the most for
the whole 32oz, i dont strain or anything...sometimes ill eat fresh orange juice or dates but i peel them and kinda pull out the fiber before i swallow. I dont eat the carrot, yes mostly fiber is coming from the dark cacao...I'd say I'm getting about 20 grams a day on average (15-25), sometimes less sometimes more

 

[HDD]

Well I kinda settled into this in the past few months but was adjusting towards it the past couple years.
Yea the protein is low, ends up being about 35grams a day but I think since I get the good fats and sugars, and especially choline, my protein requirements are lower. About half my calories come from yes, coconut and chocolate, the other half coming mosty from the fruit juice/sugars. Orange, Mulberry, Mango, Grape, Apple, Cherry are my main goto juices...sometimes pineapple and blueberry. I do a lot of nettle, oatstraw, and/or horsetail tea (very high calcium, silica, magnesium). About a small handful of hempseed or a tablespoon of the oil, and like 7-10 servings wheatgrass juice. I feel really good day to day doing this but I wouldnt reccomend it to anyone cause its still sorta in an experiemental stage i guess you could say. The main thing I noticed is that I dont sleep much but also dont feel tired unless I physically exhaust myself the day before (which is a rare occurance cause i dont excersize more than I need).

Thats mostly why I'm asking about melatonin, wondering if a lack of it is causing me to sleep less and if I should be concerned or if this is actually maybe a good thing?

with salt I just add pinches to tea or take straight pinches here and there when i crave it

Ray Peat believes that one of the causes of MS is protein deficiency. I was dxed with MS 24 yrs ago. Had been a vegetarian and never a big protein eater or milk drinker.

 

[gretchen]

It has more to do with not producing melatonin, cortisol and prolactin during the day- ie, hormonal spillover. Darkness is stressful but *sleep*, not light , is the answer. We're supposed to sleep at night to decrease the stress of dark and get adequate light during the day for similar reasons.