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“Good sleep requires fairly vigorous metabolism and a normal body temperature. In old age, the metabolic rate is decreased, and sleep becomes defective.” -Ray Peat
Sleep issues have become a big health problem in America and now a big business never to cure the problem. I know so many people on sleeping pills and so many that have been in sleep studies and plenty now sleeping hooked up to machines. I had suffered in silence since my early twenties, even having sleepwalking issues back then. Back then it took hours to get to sleep, and in my later years I could fall asleep easy, but then I would be wide awake not too many hours later. I never snored, but in my early years I was underweight and never ate sugar, honey or fruit. In my later years I was still not eating any sugar sources and had a few pounds to lose.
“This view of sleep is consistent with observations that disturbed sleep is associated with obesity, and that the torpor-hibernation chemical, serotonin, powerfully interferes with learning.” -Ray Peat
I never really knew what to do about my sleep issues, but I sure wasn’t signing up for the domino effect of sleeping pills and the new set of issues those bring. My sleep was at it’s worst when I was dealing with histamine intolerance. I would would wake energetic in the middle of the night. In my early days of reading Ray Peats articles I read that caffeine, sugar and salt are natural antihistamines. So one of those energetic middle of the nights I tried a sweetened FORTO coffee shot and it put me back to sleep!
“Salty and sugary foods taken at bedtime, or during the night, help to improve the quality and duration of sleep. Both salt and sugar lower the adrenalin level, and both tend to raise the body temperature.“ -Ray Peat
Though the caffeine and sugar helped me many nights I finally decided to get to the bottom of why I couldn’t stay asleep or sleep long enough. So I conducted an experiment a couple of years ago on the Ray Peat Forum and found answers to what I was doing wrong or what I could be doing right to fix my sleep issue.
“I suspect that nocturnal sleep has the special function of minimizing the stress of darkness itself, and that it has subsidiary functions, including its now well confirmed role in the consolidation and organization of memory.” -Ray Peat
By the end of my experiment I was sleeping a straight uninterrupted eight hours and waking up refreshed. Here is the important thing I do now…
1. Do not eat meat in the evening meal, 5 to 6 hours before sleep. The liver is important in regulating sleep and it shuts down for sleep when it’s job digesting is done. Meat takes on the average 5 to 6 hours to digest, and even longer for some with poor digestion. Eat carbs and fats at night for sleep, eggs, cheese, and other dairy. I find shellfish to be good too for sleep, like crab legs and butter, shrimp and scallops too. Zinc is very good for deep sleep.
2. I leave a nightlight on, so if I wake in the night the darkness doesn’t prompts a stress response.
3. I prepare myself for sleep taking a spoonful of raw honey before bed to keep my liver from waking if it’s glycogen stores happen to run out before my eight hours of sleep are in.
4. I run my bedroom air filter at night. The light hum of the machine covers the stark stillness of the night where every little slight sound was capturing my attention. Also I would wake in the mornings and sometimes in the night with congestion before I started using an air filter while sleeping. The congestion alone was a reason for me not sleeping well the last stretch of the early morning hours. I don’t have any congestion in the mornings anymore now.
5. I quit watching television before bedtime in September of 2022. Most of us know that the television and computer screens are interruptive to our brain waves. If I do happen on a rare occasion to watch a tv program at night I make sure to turn off the television an hour before going to sleep and read instead, or busy myself with little tasks or talk on my telephone landline to a friend.
6. Lastly I have found a 5 minute warm foot soak, with me sitting on the side of the bathtub with my feet in a little tub of warm water works wonders. I don’t take a bath because I am allergic to fluoride and skin is good at soaking anything and everything into the blood stream. Adding some Epsom salt to my foot soak is even better because of the magnesium.
“Increased body temperature improves sleep, especially the deep slow wave sleep. A hot bath, or even warming the feet, has the same effect as thyroid in improving sleep.” -Ray Peat
Rinse & rePeat:
“Good morning Dr. Peat, I hope the day finds you well! When do you think is the best time to consume eggs? Because of the sleepy tryptophan in the egg whites and their “powerful protein”. that you say needs a lot of sugar to balance, I would think they would be most beneficial at night . On the other hand you don’t recommend proteins at night, for better sleep, so maybe they are a better daytime food?”
RAY PEAT:
“Having only one egg per meal, with plenty of juice, there is seldom a problem. Blood sugar is more stable in the middle of the day.“Rinse & rePeat:
“Do you think eating an egg near bedtime would help or hinder sleep?”
RAY PEAT:
“If I have one egg for supper with some carbohydrate it doesn’t bother my sleep.”
“Blood sugar falls at night, and the body relies on the glucose stored in the liver as glycogen for energy, and hypothyroid people store very little sugar. As a result, adrenalin and cortisol begin to rise almost as soon as a person goes to bed, and in hypothyroid people, they rise very high, with the adrenalin usually peaking around 1 or 2 A.M., and the cortisol peaking around dawn; the high cortisol raises blood sugar as morning approaches, and allows adrenalin to decline. Some people wake up during the adrenalin peak with a pounding heart, and have trouble getting back to sleep unless they eat something.“
-Ray PeatRegarding body temperature, I find being just a little too cool can hinder my sleep. That might be the difference between a sleeveless or short-sleeve tee. I need to get it just right. Goldilocks!
Sleep has been challenging lately, kept waking up every 2 to 3 hours usually between 2 and 3am (with difficulty going back to sleep) then between 5 and 6am. :<
I did an experiment last night by taking about 200ml of room temperature non fat milk with roughly a teaspoon of sugar (drinking milk with sugar seems to help with bloating/diarrhea). I still woke up at about 3am but was able to go right back to sleep and the second waking was after 6am which is an improvement.
Will add some salt to the sugary milk tonight and see.This is fantastic to hear JP! It is wonderful to hear someone taking the time to solve their own sleep issues instead of making a bigger complicated mess running to the doctor. I would suggest trying a full-fat milk for sleep. Here is an email between Ray Peat and I on March 14, 2022 with that recommendation…
Me
“Hi Dr. Peat!
I recall five, or so, years ago reading that you recommend having protein in the day and starches and fats at night, am I remembering right?”
Ray Peat
“Yes, the function of the fat is to slow absorption of
the carbohydrate.”“To help promote a healthy pineal gland:
Create an environment that promotes the proper functioning of the pineal gland: Getting high-quality sleep every night is crucial for optimal functioning. One factor that affects your sleep quality is blue light. It suppresses the production of melatonin for up to four hours. When you go to sleep, your bedroom should be as dark as possible.
Indirect sun exposure is essential: Your eyes need indirect sunlight exposure to function correctly. Both the sun and darkness activate the functions of the pineal gland. It has a photoreceptor that receives light signals, causing it to produce melatonin. But remember, don’t look at the sun directly.”
https://www.webmd.com/sleep-disorders/ss/exercises-better-sleep
Will give full fat milk a try, thanks Cari.
I am one who does not listen to the doctor. If symptoms persist, I go see one to know what he/she thinks then find ways and means to help myself without using prescription. My son calls me an outlier.
It seems reasonable to pick the doctors brain to see what he thinks. I don’t even want to be in the system. Let us know if the low-fat milk for whole milk JUST in the evening for sleep helps, take the honey too!
“Eat less meat later in the day.
Meats are rich in tryptophan, which is the precursor to the stress substances serotonin and melatonin. Although generally seen as substances to increase to improve sleep by mainstream standards, these stress substances lower metabolism and disrupt restful, regenerative sleep. This means do not supplement with melatonin or 5-HTP supplements.By consuming foods deficient in tryptophan later in the day, you can minimize the the nocturnal production of serotonin and melatonin. Foods high in tryptophan are meats, whey protein, and egg whites. Cheese lacks tryptophan because the whey has been removed. Milk does contain tryptophan, but its other nutritional properties seems to offset its tryptophan content. Food, supplement, or food additives (carrageenan for instance) that inflame the intestines increase serotonin. High cortisol from stress, exercise, or blood sugar imbalances can increases serotonin as well.
High meat consumption relative to calcium intake from dairy or eggshell powder can disrupt calcium metabolismand cause a rise in parathyroid hormone, which is associated with sleep problems. This is another reason to be careful with over consumption of meat if you’re having sleep difficulties.”
-Functionalps.com
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Cari aka "Rinse & rePeat"