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

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

#21

Post by JanSt »

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.

The science is actually very shaky. I've looked at the first 30 or so studies Greger cites and they often seem not to give (with statistical significance or at all) what he seems to claim. There are also many duplicated sources to increase the citation page count. He also cherry-picks very strongly.

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

#22

Post by iamben »

rofo1 wrote: post #17

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, l…

I loved "Why We Sleep" (was a HN recommendation, I think!). One of my biggest takeaways was learning to not feel guilty about it. I think the constant 'hustle mentality' ends up making a lot of this community (in particular) demonise sleep in an "I'll sleep when I'm dead" and "if I'm not working 22 hours a day I'm being out hustled!" When I 'forgave' myself for sleeping (which sounds mental, but bear with) and started to get a consistent 7.5 hours a day, I found that I was just working _better_. Smarter not harder, I guess? Focussed work is definitely > unfocussed work!

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

#23

Post by kitchenfloor »

Doing keto for several years on and off, longest time was two years. While being on keto is absolutely recommended, I haven't seen signifcant impact on sleep quality.

Being on keto reduces your general anxiety. Or being on carbs makes you much more anxious and a doubting person. Maybe there is a small relation: Less anxiety leads to better sleep. In my case, I needed to fix my sleep with other things, keto didn't help there.

OT: I think that from a specific age (mid 30ies+) one cannot just eat carbs and gluten like they did when they were young. At a higher age carbs impact you much more. People get bloated and age way quicker. You see 'high carb' written in their face.

OT2: Not entirely sure if this post's actual goal is promoting the mentioned carb tracker app.

OT3: Maybe a bit extreme but very true is a quote by Talib: 'The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary'

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

#24

Post by devilmoon »

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…

This sounds quite interesting to me, have you tried a FODMAP diet for your IBS symptoms before switching to keto? I've been going back and forth on FODMAPs for the last year and a half to try and pinpoint what it is that triggers my symptoms, however no matter how "cleanly" I eat I often end up getting symptoms from foods that are supposedly safe for me (or no symptoms at all from stuff that a few months ago would've given me days of problems). I'm looking to switch it up a bit since it doesn't seem like FODMAP is a viable long term solution and it's not solving my problems entirely, would you recommend looking into keto?

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

#25

Post by Cthulhu_ »

iamben wrote: post #11
sametmax wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 eff…

I'd argue cutting refined sugar is good for everyone, and probably the easiest place to start when you're trying to lose weight / live more healthily. Replace sugary coke with a sugar free version, or put less sugar in coffee (that's how I started); the cravings, if you have them, will gradually diminish.

I believe cheese fits in a keto diet as well. If you want to adjust that a bit, go for hard / old cheese instead of soft ones. Also go for real cheese, none of that "sandwich slices" stuff in unrefrigerated plastic packaging.

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

#26

Post by devilmoon »

Something to consider when talking about anything wheat/gluten related is that SO many people nowadays are starting to show signs of gluten intolerance/allergy and this might be due to glyphosate rather than the gluten itself. I come from Italy and trust me when I tell you that everyone and their uncles eat a diet that is 99% gluten-based, however until a few years ago nobody ever had problems with it. I am starting to truly believe that we are slowly poisoning ourselves without realising it and then blaming the wrong culprits for it.

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

#27

Post by keerthiko »

radiator wrote: post #16
randomsearch wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's considered old-fashioned because what we're told about tends to be unsubstantiated pseudo science as often as not, with lots of contradictory advice and weak explanations.

I think everyone knows "quality food, exercise and sleep is good for you", but noone knows what that is for everyone. It varies from person to person, circumstance to circumstance, and the effects (good or bad) are hard to observe and correlate to choices, so it's hard to justify or blame them accurately. Especially when the accepted "facts" keep flip-flopping every 5-10 years (fats are bad! fats are good! sugar is bad! sugar is good! phasic sleep is good! no, you should sleep 8 hours in one go! you should always sleep in the middle of the night! no, it's possible daytime sleep is better for you!) At some point, it feels like if you just make random lifestyle choices, even a broken clock will be right twice a day?

Nutrition and sleep science are both still very loosey-goosey and the surprising thing to me is that we don't invest in significantly more in-depth research to find better metrics and measurements and baseline principles to teach kids.

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

#28

Post by micael_dias »

devilmoon wrote: post #26

Something to consider when talking about anything wheat/gluten related is that SO many people nowadays are starting to show signs of gluten intolerance/allergy and this might be due to glyphosate rather than the gluten itself. I come from Italy and trust me when I tell you that everyone and their uncles eat a diet that is 99% gluten-based, however until a few years ago nobody ever had problems with it. I am starting…

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts by inhibiting the plant enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase. It is used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses that compete with crops. (Wikipedia)

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

#29

Post by [deleted] »

devilmoon wrote: post #26

Something to consider when talking about anything wheat/gluten related is that SO many people nowadays are starting to show signs of gluten intolerance/allergy and this might be due to glyphosate rather than the gluten itself. I come from Italy and trust me when I tell you that everyone and their uncles eat a diet that is 99% gluten-based, however until a few years ago nobody ever had problems with it. I am starting…

[deleted]

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

#30

Post by devilmoon »

micael_dias wrote: post #28
devilmoon wrote: post #26

Something to consider when talking about anything wheat/gluten related is that SO many people nowadays are starting to show signs of gluten intolerance/allergy and this might be due to glyphosate rather than the gluten itself. I come from Italy and trust me when I tell you that everyone and their uncles eat a diet that is 99% gluten-based, however until a few years ago nobody ever had problems with it. I am starting…

Glyphosate is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide and crop desiccant. It is an organophosphorus compound, specifically a phosphonate, which acts by inhibiting the plant enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase. It is used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses that compete with crops. (Wikipedia)

It is also being linked to celiac disease and gluten intolerance more and more https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3945755/
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