Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Quality sleep is an important part of Paleo, but I just can't seem to get it because I tense my neck and shoulder muscles in my sleep and wake extremely sore the next morning. Has anyone dealt with this and found a solution?

flag	asked Nov 1 2011 at 23:43 Olga 1,926●2●14●35

Nutritionator · Answer 1 · 2011-11-01 23:48:35Z UTC

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Have you tried Magnesium supplements? A lot of people have trouble with it but Natural Calm has done amazing things for my sleep. I always use to make fists and curl my wrists under me when I slept, in addition to a plethora of other sleep issues like taking FOR EV ER to fall asleep. Most of my issues disappeared when I added Mg to my diet. Just an n=1 but worth looking into if you haven't.

answered Nov 1 2011 at 23:48

Nutritionator
5,306●1●8●39

I take chelated Mg in the AM, but maybe switching to taking it around dinner time would make a difference. Do you take Natural Calm or a different form of Mg? I tried Natural Calm but it did nothing for me. – Olga Nov 2 2011 at 0:38

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I heat up a mug of water, mix in 2 teaspoons of Natural Calm and throw in a chamomile tea bag almost every night about an hour before bed. I definitely had to work my way up to 2 tsp though, can't go full force with Mg citrate or your bowels will hate you. I've been wanting to try the chelated for a while, maybe I'll get some of that when this batch of NC is gone. Timing might make a difference, not up to snuff on my Mg literature to know though. – Nutritionator Nov 2 2011 at 0:43

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n=2 for the natural calm reccomendation. I used to do the same thing, natural calm really helped me stop curling up into a tightly wound ball every night. – Allie Nov 2 2011 at 1:07

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Olga-I prefer mag chelate also, but switching from morning to night would seem to be beneficial. – Annie Nov 2 2011 at 4:34

UrsusMinor · Answer 2 · 2011-12-09 18:10:54Z UTC

An approach that is kinder to the bowels is dermal absorption. Magnesium is fairly readily absorbed through the skin.

Epsom salts baths are the classic way of acheiving this, but you can also use what is called "Magnesium Oil."

Even though Mag Oil feels oily, it is actually just a saturated solution of Magnesium Chloride. (Vastly cheaper to make it yourself.) This can be rubbed or sprayed onto the skin. (Warning--it's almost impossible to rinse it off your hands.)

Dermal magnesium can be combined with oral.

Magnesium in the body is mostly "tied up" in cellular components, enzymes, and bone. That is why blood tests for magnesium are fairly useless; the Mg balance in the blood is kept in a fairly tight range, and if you are deficient the body will start raiding your bones and tissues for more Mg.

Because of this, it can take a long time to recover from magnesium depletion, no matter what the blood tests say. (There is an obscure test using cheek cell swabs that some claim is a better evaluation of Mg status, but I'm not sure how well-researched it is.) Some claim that you need to expose the body to excess Mg for 12-24 months to fully reload the body's tissues. As long as your bowels can handle it, there doesn't seem to be much downside.

How to keep from tensing up during sleep?

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