Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Any ideas what food would be a good one to eat before bed? Been having issues with waking up at 3:30 AM, on a very consistent basis. Wake up with my heart pounding, wide awake, and quite anxious.

Seems like my blood sugar is bottoming out and my adrenals are kicking in to get my blood sugar back up. I eat a fairly low carb diet, 100% paleo. Thinking I need to get my carb intake up a bit more, but typically try to stop eating by 7 or 7:30 at the latest.

Handful of almonds? Greek yogurt? Tea with honey? Hunk of protein? I've had all these suggestions. Thought I'd open it up to the floor.

flag	asked Feb 17 2012 at 1:03 mgood66 260●1●9

Me too. I've had this occasionally, but not always, and sometimes eating carbs before sleep (sweet potato, berries, etc.) doesn't work. It's like I hit a wall and either wake up super early, or wake up after only 7 hours of sleep while I'm trying for 8-9. – raydawg Feb 17 2012 at 1:29

I seem to be having this with remarkable consistency. Like, every single night. It's starting to drive me crazy. – mgood66 Feb 17 2012 at 1:30

Potassium deficiency? – Happy Now Feb 17 2012 at 1:33

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How stressed are you? Normally it's not your adrenals that have to kick in to get blood sugar back up ... your liver should be able to do that. So you should figure out why your body is essentially in fight or flight in the middle of the night! – Beth-WeightMaven Feb 17 2012 at 1:38

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you could give ice cream a try – daz Feb 17 2012 at 4:44

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ROB · Answer 1 · 2012-02-17 01:27:30Z UTC

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Bananas and/or gelatin put me right to sleep. Your could try and experiment with those.

answered Feb 17 2012 at 1:27

ROB
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citrusfire · Answer 2 · 2012-02-17 01:42:05Z UTC

Dont know about the heart pounding anxiety business, but:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/19/opinion/19ekirch.html?_r=2.

"We now also know that pre-industrial families commonly experienced a "broken" pattern of sleep, though few contemporaries regarded it in a pejorative light. Until the modern age, most households had two distinct intervals of slumber, known as "first" and "second" sleep, bridged by an hour or more of quiet wakefulness. Usually, people would retire between 9 and 10 o'clock only to stir past midnight to smoke a pipe, brew a tub of ale or even converse with a neighbor."

It's a natural sleep pattern. People used to wake up in the middle of hte night, hang out or have sex, and then go back to sleep. When it happens to you, just own it - get up and do something for a little while and go back to sleep. Maybe you're feeling anxious because you're worried about being up during the middle of the night.

Renee · Answer 3 · 2012-02-17 02:24:46Z UTC

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This isn't a food suggestion, and may not be Paleo, but I find 10 mg of melatonin really helps me.

answered Feb 17 2012 at 2:24

Renee
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	from what i have read melatonin only seems to work for people who have low levels of night time melatonin. you can do a midnight saliva test to check. melatonin tends to have the opposite effect on me, ie. it disturbs my sleep esp in larger doses. best to start small if experimenting ie. sub-milligram doses. larger doses can also give you that "hung over" feeling in the morning – daz Feb 17 2012 at 4:58
	I also have to be careful with melatonin...too much (more than 1 gm) causes me to have really crazy vivid nightmares that end up just waking me up anyway. 10 mg might push me into Freddie Krueger territory. – mgood66 Feb 17 2012 at 16:52
	how do i do the midnight saliva test - is it something i have to order through a doctor? – Renee Feb 17 2012 at 17:36
	"how do i do the midnight saliva test"...hi Renee, it depends where you are. best to search on-line. you may need an authorised person to fill out a request form (naturopath, doctor etc) & then order a kit over the phone (or on web). the cheapest test will be a single saliva test, the consensus (studies) seems to be that midnight is the best time to test. most labs also offer "sleep profile" or "stress profile" saliva kits which include more tests for collecting at multiple times & may test for other hormones such as cortisol – daz Feb 17 2012 at 22:47
	first you could try searching for a laboratory in your region which offers saliva (hormone) testing. & then see if they have a list of practitioners/providers who can request the test/s for you. here's a link healthscopepathology.com.au/html/… with some info on the test from a lab in my area (Australia) – daz Feb 17 2012 at 22:56

Eric · Answer 4 · 2012-02-17 04:34:50Z UTC

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I would say magnesium and potasium. And higher carb (white potatoes will be helpful to get some minerals and some more carbs.) This seems to be a common theme with some of the VLC folks. (Not all of course).

answered Feb 17 2012 at 4:34

Eric
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	Maybe along this line, you could keep a coconut water by your bed, and sip it any time you wake up. – Senneth Feb 17 2012 at 16:48
	Good suggestion. I already supplement with magnesium, but maybe I need to bump it up. VLC combined with IF is sort of what got me into my hormonal pickle to begin with. I'm eating a lot more sweet potato right now. Was experimenting with white rice, but it seemed to cause weight gain. – mgood66 Feb 17 2012 at 16:54

Sarah · Answer 5 · 2012-02-17 02:35:33Z UTC

I have this problem when I'm pregnant and then during the first six months after the baby is born when they are exclusively nursing - I just suddenly NEED food between 3 and 5 AM. I keep a banana next to my bed. A date or two always helps, and I find that Greek yogurt with a touch of honey right before I go to sleep really helps, too.

Severine · Answer 6 · 2012-02-17 02:19:24Z UTC

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I like some berries with cottage cheese and a splash of whipping cream as a last meal (I make some kind of "Icecream" from that) You can throw in some protein powder aswell if you´re into that. I´m not hungry until late lunch then.

answered Feb 17 2012 at 2:19

Severine
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Happy Now · Answer 7 · 2012-02-17 05:32:32Z UTC

Half a pizza, and a couple of beers? Um, not that I would know ;)

Breakfast for dinner, sometimes helps me with this. Bacon, eggs, and rice flour pancakes (if you are into the safe starch idea) made with banana, and coconut milk. The pancakes are like little round angels singing to me from the pan as they bubble away in Kerrygold. I try to make enough extra to have snacks if I need them right before bed.

I don't wake up with the heart palpitations so we might be experiencing completely different things, but I will often wake up crazy hungry and have to stuff my face for a few minutes if my nursing baby is about to go through a growth spurt.

annamalia · Answer 8 · 2012-02-17 07:47:54Z UTC

Had the same issue once. My heart was racing so hard, I felt like my chest was going to explode. Turned out I was extremely deficient in magnesium (heart racing is a common issue). My doctor prescribed supplements and bone broth. Good man.

Best food before bed

8 Answers