[Lissi]

Ello! So I’ve always had difficulty sleeping, but my sleeping difficulty reached its peak after I went on a ketogenic diet. I was restricting my carbs like really bad, and suddenly I couldn’t get any sleep. It was a nightmare.. :c

I would soon go off the keto diet, and my insomnia improved.. a bit. I learned that carbohydrates can help people improve their sleep, because carbohydrates can increase melatonin levels. However I still wake up randomly in the middle of the night. For some reason I rarely STAY asleep.

While some people seem to get 7-8 hours of sleep so effortlessly, it always felt like something I needed to work hard on. School was the worst because of having to wake up early, and resetting my body’s “internal clock” had always been a struggle. Nowdays I’m in college, and I have to wake up at 8 to reach the bus.

Problem is my body doesn’t allow me to get any rest at all unless it’s 1 or 2 A.M, and even when I do, I tend to wake up too early. I’ve tried sleep teas, nothing. I’ve tried dimming the lights, nothing. I’ve tried getting more sunlight, nothing. I’ve tried walking more, nothing. The only thing that has helped me at all is carbs. I’m still searching for more answers on how I can sleep better.

• This topic was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by Martin Reed.
• This topic was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by Martin Reed. Reason: Removal of external link

[Martin Reed]

Welcome to the forum, Lissi. First, let me make it clear that waking during the night is completely normal and this happens even to the best sleepers. That’s because we tend to wake as we emerge from one sleep cycle and begin another — so we may naturally awaken a number of times during the night.

The difference between those without a sleep problem and those who struggle is often down to the fact that the person without a sleep issue will not pay any attention to these awakenings. They will remain relaxed and fall (almost immediately) back to sleep. As a result, they usually don’t even remember waking.

For those of us with a sleep issue, as soon as we wake we begin to worry about the fact we woke. As soon as we worry, or feel any form of anxiety, we make sleep more difficult — and this is when the nighttime awakenings can become a problem.

‘Working hard’ on sleep is not constructive because put simply, we cannot control sleep! We cannot lie down in bed at night and force ourselves to fall asleep within a certain amount of time. We cannot force ourselves to sleep for a certain number of hours. All we can do is give ourselves the best opportunity for sleep and then see what happens. As soon as we try to control sleep, or put pressure on ourselves to sleep, we make sleep more difficult.

I’ve got a quick question for you — if you didn’t have to stick to a routine (such as getting up for college) and you could go to bed and get out of bed whenever you wanted, do you think you’d have any sleep issues? For example, if you could go to bed at 2 am every day and get out of bed whenever you wanted, do you think you’d still have an issue with sleep?

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