SaraRiley's Journal, 10 Jul 23

Nice job! 🙂 The more junk you cut out, the better & better your sleep will get. Bet... Also, staying away from too much blue light after sun down will help. They have apps & glasses for that. 💜 

Sara, disrupted sleep patterns is one of the reasons, I began doing the 12/12 total fast every night. After 7 pm, I do not intake ANYTHING, food nor water and it continues to 7 am, when I do multiple day fasts, I incorporate it into my non eating by simply stopping my water intake from 7pm to 7 am. It has resulted in undisturbed, restful sleep. I am in my 4th week of doing these nightly. I drink about 128 ounces, roughly a gallon of water between 7 am and 7 pm so I stay hydrated. Answering the call of nature several times a night is very disruptive of sleep and I always have issues falling to sleep again after getting up. I have an inexpensive smart watch that now shows 4 to 5 hours of deep sleep and 3 to 4 hours of light sleep where it used to be 1 to 2 hours deep sleep, 3-5 hours light sleep and at least 45 minutes to an hour of awake time each night. It has made a huge difference in my feelings of general well-being to get a restful nights sleep. 

Thanks for that explanation Deb; I've been cutting off my eating, but not my drinking, so I'm going to try this. 

Cool beans Erika! Hopefully it will make a difference in your sleep, it certainly did mine. Also, swishing your mouth out with salt water and spitting it out right before bed kind of eliminates dry mouth for me. I don't use toothpaste before bed because it makes my insulin respond....it's bound to because it makes my tummy growl when I brush my teeth with it, so I switched to salt water swishes and oddly enough, it prevents dry mouth. 

Same here. I take melatonin or a sleep aid. Still wake up around 2 or 3 am usually a little warm. About an hour later sleepy cool and fall back asleep. Doesn’t happen in a hotel when on travel. I’m weird 

Unfortunately, insomnia seems to be a side effect of weight lose. I have been struggling with it too. I wake up even with sleep aids. I finally got 8.5 hrs last night without sleep aids. But, I ate a lot more than I usually do yesterday… :( 

I had major issues w that because of an oral steroid I took when I was sick. Never again! Maybe a booty steroid shot but no 7 days steroids!! Screwed up my diabetes 2, screwed up my sleep…bad. I’m still not where I want to be but finally getting better sleep. It took about 3 1/2 weeks after the oral steroid for my hormones to normalize 😡. I do take melatonin plus, I drink 1 cup chicken bone broth about an hour before bed. That’s supposed to help. Some nutritionists say 1/2 banana 🍌 helps too. WONDER IF UNPLUGGING my wifi box would help?? Only problem is I love to fall asleep to my Christian YouTube videos and I don’t have unlimited data so I HAVE to have my wifi poison ☠️ on!!!! I guess I could unplug it when I get up to go to the bathroom because it never fails 🙄 IT ALWAYS happens. My bladder sucks! Aw! The joys of getting old lol. I’m 55. Hope these suggestions help. Sleep is SO VERY IMPORTANT.  

Storm, banana helps? Really? I eat one or two everyday. Maybe I will start saving one for bed time :) Thanks for the info. Yea, age + bladder = ugh 

Storms i have a suggestion for you—-55 is YOUNG not OLD (even tho i say im old all the time i dont ACTUALLY Believe it). Gettingcut-i have had sleep issues for as long as i can remember but i take the moon juice brand of magnesium (powder) put probably 1.5 teaspoons in small amount of water right when i go to bed.. usually (not always) but usually fall asleep within 15 minutes tho dont always stay asleep. Might help you tho. 

Also supposed to help regulate you for number 2’s😂