Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Turning the Puzzle Sideways: Sleep, Diet and the Brain-Gut Connection

cowboy.vc

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 134 posts

Re: Turning the Puzzle Sideways: Sleep, Diet and the Brain-Gut Connection

#11

Post by iamben »

sametmax wrote: post #4
iamben wrote: post #2

I've been on a ketogenic diet for a year now and sleep has been the biggest thing. I was a light, restless sleeper and I noticed very quickly how how much better my sleep got. I'd fall asleep quicker and it feels (and tracks) deeper. I don't wake as much, sweat nearly as much when I sleep and wake up feeling far more rested. Sleep aside, I don't sweat nearly as much during the day and I've shaken almost most all the…

I have always had great sleep, so for me it's easy to notice when my sleep is affected since it's so rare. Top 3: - weight. The fatter i get, the worse i sleep. And it's a vicious circle. - rafined sugar. Too much of it will make me restless, including the sweating you mentioned, but also accelerated cardio respiratory rythm. - things agressive on the intestine such as too much milk (i'm NOT lactose intolerant) Scree…

I think no refined sugar will be my starting point if and when I ever reintroduce carbs. I've always exercised pretty consistently, I didn't have much weight to lose when I started the diet, and I still eat a load of cheese - so I think it's probably my best guess as a starting point.

Coffee is a funny one - I've never been able to make a direct correlation between that and sleep (it doesn't seem to have too much effect), but when I cut coffee down to (for the most part) a single cup in the morning, I now notice that a second cup will give me jittery legs.

Re: Turning the Puzzle Sideways: Sleep, Diet and the Brain-Gut Connection

#12

Post by iamben »

pumanoir wrote: post #8
iamben wrote: post #2

I've been on a ketogenic diet for a year now and sleep has been the biggest thing. I was a light, restless sleeper and I noticed very quickly how how much better my sleep got. I'd fall asleep quicker and it feels (and tracks) deeper. I don't wake as much, sweat nearly as much when I sleep and wake up feeling far more rested. Sleep aside, I don't sweat nearly as much during the day and I've shaken almost most all the…

Sounds super interesting. Can you provide a link or a quick list of the things that you eat for your diet. I’m currently having great difficulty sleeping due to IBS.

Sure. Can't give you an exact list, but start with https://www.reddit.com/r/keto/wiki/faq and then take a look at dietdoctor.com who have a 2 week (I think) intro to keto which gives you some decent variation with keto food (and worked really well for a friend of mine). I use MyFitnessPal to track what I eat and keep below 20g of net carbs every day (usually coming in around 10-15).

Good luck with it - IBS is absolutely miserable.

Re: Turning the Puzzle Sideways: Sleep, Diet and the Brain-Gut Connection

#13

Post by dr_dshiv »

Aromasin wrote: post #10
iamben wrote: post #2

I've been on a ketogenic diet for a year now and sleep has been the biggest thing. I was a light, restless sleeper and I noticed very quickly how how much better my sleep got. I'd fall asleep quicker and it feels (and tracks) deeper. I don't wake as much, sweat nearly as much when I sleep and wake up feeling far more rested. Sleep aside, I don't sweat nearly as much during the day and I've shaken almost most all the…

I've found with me that, after trying keto for ages and loving how I felt but hating the diet itself, I managed to pin point the issue down to grains. Any form of grain, be it rice, wheat, barley, oats etc, all seemed to mess me up big style. I'n now on a diet of mostly fruit, nuts, beans, seeds and tubers and I'm better than I was on keto on almost every measurable factor. I think cutting out the carbs initially imp…

Maybe it is glycemic load? I completely agree, but I get hit hard by sugars, bread, mashed potatoes and cheap fries (really good fries I justify).

Re: Turning the Puzzle Sideways: Sleep, Diet and the Brain-Gut Connection

#14

Post by laforge »

iamben wrote: post #2

I've been on a ketogenic diet for a year now and sleep has been the biggest thing. I was a light, restless sleeper and I noticed very quickly how how much better my sleep got. I'd fall asleep quicker and it feels (and tracks) deeper. I don't wake as much, sweat nearly as much when I sleep and wake up feeling far more rested. Sleep aside, I don't sweat nearly as much during the day and I've shaken almost most all the…

Maybe you want to consider to switch to a whole food plant based diet. Other than the other „lifestyle“ diets such as low carb, the plant based is actually backed by science. A good source is nutritionfacts.org and the book „how not to die“ by the same author. If you asked me to switch two months ago, I‘d say no way. But the science behind it convinced me to try it and it is so much easier than expected.

Re: Turning the Puzzle Sideways: Sleep, Diet and the Brain-Gut Connection

#15

Post by iamben »

Aromasin wrote: post #10
iamben wrote: post #2

I've been on a ketogenic diet for a year now and sleep has been the biggest thing. I was a light, restless sleeper and I noticed very quickly how how much better my sleep got. I'd fall asleep quicker and it feels (and tracks) deeper. I don't wake as much, sweat nearly as much when I sleep and wake up feeling far more rested. Sleep aside, I don't sweat nearly as much during the day and I've shaken almost most all the…

I've found with me that, after trying keto for ages and loving how I felt but hating the diet itself, I managed to pin point the issue down to grains. Any form of grain, be it rice, wheat, barley, oats etc, all seemed to mess me up big style. I'n now on a diet of mostly fruit, nuts, beans, seeds and tubers and I'm better than I was on keto on almost every measurable factor. I think cutting out the carbs initially imp…

Thanks! This is great advice. If and when I return to the world of carbs I'll definitely do it like this. Keto as a diet really works for me (wonderfully). So many of my favourite foods!

Re: Turning the Puzzle Sideways: Sleep, Diet and the Brain-Gut Connection

#16

Post by radiator »

randomsearch wrote: post #6
sametmax wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Funny like eat well, sleep enough and get exercice is getting rediscovered again and again.

I think that is strange. Why aren’t we told this by our family, by our teachers, by society? Probably the most important thing you do to improve your health.

We are being told about it, but it is considered old-fashioned.

Also, when you are young, the effects of breaking those rules are less severe. But then, gradually and slowly, you are not so young anymore.

Re: Turning the Puzzle Sideways: Sleep, Diet and the Brain-Gut Connection

#17

Post by rofo1 »

I've had my share of sleep problems in the past. Fixed it by reading "Why We Sleep" and "Circadian Code" and borrowing a lot of ideas and suggestions there.

I immediately gave up coffee, at first, a long with a bunch of other things (details at [0]).

Anyway, recently I started experimenting with coffee again and it turns out it didn't have any impact on my sleep, whatsoever. I started drinking coffee again (albeit, little less than what I drank before) and I still sleep 8+ hours daily.

I eat very cleanly, in general, and exercise daily.

I think that trying to fit my last meal 4-5 hours before sleeping has had the biggest impact on my sleep!

It's extremely important for your physical and mental health to eat clean, sleep well (8+ hours minimum) and exercise (strength training preferred). Optionally try to include time restriction on the eating window (say, eat within 8 hours period in each 24 hours). That's all there is to it, really. The rest is probably genetic lottery.

[0] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17639429 (old comment of mine)

Re: Turning the Puzzle Sideways: Sleep, Diet and the Brain-Gut Connection

#19

Post by iamben »

laforge wrote: post #14
iamben wrote: post #2

I've been on a ketogenic diet for a year now and sleep has been the biggest thing. I was a light, restless sleeper and I noticed very quickly how how much better my sleep got. I'd fall asleep quicker and it feels (and tracks) deeper. I don't wake as much, sweat nearly as much when I sleep and wake up feeling far more rested. Sleep aside, I don't sweat nearly as much during the day and I've shaken almost most all the…

Maybe you want to consider to switch to a whole food plant based diet. Other than the other „lifestyle“ diets such as low carb, the plant based is actually backed by science. A good source is nutritionfacts.org and the book „how not to die“ by the same author. If you asked me to switch two months ago, I‘d say no way. But the science behind it convinced me to try it and it is so much easier than expected.

Appreciate the comment; I tried veganism as a test for a month a few years ago and didn't get on with it at all. Keto seems to work pretty well for me - I enjoy the food and there's plenty of science to geek out on :-)

Re: Turning the Puzzle Sideways: Sleep, Diet and the Brain-Gut Connection

#20

Post by sz4kerto »

I developed a pretty bad pollen allergy around the age of 30. Every spring I had to take antihistamines that helped a bit (not completely), but they made me either anxious or sleepy.

Then just for fun I made a bet with a friend of mine -- I tried to do a half-distance amateur tri race (1.9k swim, 90k cycle, 21k running) without any carb intake. So I dramatically decreased my carb intake for 3 months or so from February to May.

My allergy has completely disappeared and didn't come back for 2 years (despite me having switched back to eating carbs). Then it came back, and I cut back on carbs again. It subsided.

Very strange.

The problem is that I can't figure out what is helping. Carbs in general? Gluten? Something else? I don't know because it takes 1-2 weeks at least before the effects kick in, so I can't just simply A/B test.

Post reply on HN