11 Tips for Getting Better Sleep

I have always, as far back to when my first child was born 35 years ago, had trouble with sleep. I don't fall asleep easily, and I wake up many times through the night. Most mornings I wake up feeling groggy and lazy, and it takes hours for me to feel like I didn't just crawl out of bed. 

Eating carnivore has actually improved my sleep quite a bit, but not enough. I just wish I could get a solid night's rest and wake up feeling refreshed. I wish I could get through the night without waking up 10 times. I wish I didn't have to pee 3 times through the night, which really ruins my sleep and takes me 30 minutes to fall back to sleep!

Well, just this week I made some drastic changes. Most of these ideas I got from Dr. Ken D. Berry, some I've known about for a few years, and the last two are from Dr. Andrew Huberman, who explains circadian rhythms in a way I have never understood before. I have had the absolute best week of sleep this past week and am so excited about it! I actually discovered Dr. Huberman through Dr. Berry's wife, Neisha Salas-Berry.

Here are the changes I have made that have given me the most amazing sleep over the past few days:

1. No coffee after 10:00 AM. Even though I don't feel that coffee really affects me, I learned that the caffeine can stay in your system for 8 hours and affect sleep. I will do whatever it takes. I do love my coffee in the morning, and I drink it plain and black most of the time. Sometimes I will whip it in the blender with a tablespoon of Kerrygold butter.

2. No alcohol. I was in the bad, unhealthy habit of having a couple of drinks (whiskey with either Diet Coke or club soda) at night before bed while watching Netflix with Andy. Dr. Berry said the cut-off for alcohol, if you do drink it, should be 4 hours before bedtime. Since I don't want to have a drink at 5:30 PM, I just decided to cut it out completely. I have found a cup of "Sleepytime" tea (with no added sweetener) is nice to sip on and helps me to relax while watching our favorite show.

3. Stop drinking water (or other liquid) 2 hours before bed. I am in the habit of drinking water all day long. I fill my water bottle up several times throughout the day and sip on it without thinking about it. Then I take a giant bottle of water with me to bed every night. I felt that I would be way too thirsty to give up drinking water in the evening before bed, or having it readily available during the night. However, I was willing to give it a try. As it turned out, giving it up a couple hours before bed and not having it on my nightstand at night has not killed me. I missed it the first night, but after that I've been fine. I don't even feel thirsty at night anymore. And the best thing - I can make it all the way through the night without getting up one time.

4. Make sure the bedroom is completely dark. A few weeks ago, we bought some black-out curtains for our bedroom windows, and that helped a lot. However, I also had to take down some nightlights and shut doors in our bedroom to get the room as dark as possible.

5. Be sure the bedroom is very cool - ideally, somewhere between 60-69F. I love a cool room to sleep in, but now I'm making sure it is getting cool enough. It's been in the 30's and 40's at night lately, so just opening a couple of windows has been enough to keep the room very cool and comfy. When the weather gets warmer, I will be setting the A/C around 67 at night.

6. Use white noise. I've been doing this for years, so of course I will continue. I love the sound of a big box fan on high. It also circulates the air in the room, which keeps it at that nice, cool temperature. If we are staying in a hotel, I use Spotify on my phone to create white noise. There are several I have found for "white noise," "pink noise," or "brown noise," that last 8 hours or more. I especially like the sound of "pink noise." My grandchildren love the sounds of ocean waves for sleeping!

7. Block blue light once the sun starts going down. I bought some yellow lens glasses a long time ago from Amazon and have been wearing those in the evenings. They look ridiculous, but they're great when watching Netflix or some other show on TV at night. I also pull all the curtains closed, and have been turning off lights and just using a few lamps for dimmer lighting in the house once the sun is going down. I also have my phone and laptop scheduled to block blue light between 7:00 PM - 7:00 AM.

8. Take a hot shower at night. This really relaxes me and makes me feel so calm. I avoid hot showers in the morning, as they are too relaxing! I take a much cooler  shower in the mornings, which is invigorating.

9. Get in bed 30-60 minutes before "bedtime" and put away electronics. I use this time to relax and read a book. Most of the time, I use my Kindle Paperwhite (which isn't the same as a tablet and does not emit any blue light). I also have a yellow lightbulb in my bedside lamp if I read a "real" paper book, and the light is not so harsh. This routine helps me fall asleep at the time I actually want to be asleep. I get in bed between 9:00-9:30, and I'm out by 10:00.

10. Go outside first thing in the morning and take a walk while the sun is rising. Wow this is the best advice I have ever heard, and it came from Dr. Huberman! Letting the sunlight and photons into your eyes (no sunglasses) wakes you up and sets your circadian rhythm. I have been so energized in the mornings now since doing this. In fact, I am energized for the entire day! And for the last 2 days, I woke up without the alarm at exactly 6:00 AM. I had no idea that doing something so simple early in the morning could affect my sleep at night.

I lay my clothes out the night before, change as soon as I get out of bed, bundle up (it has been in the 30's and 40's lately), and head outside. I briskly walk a couple times around the neighborhood. I do not look down or at my phone, but look ahead and enjoy nature and the scenery (and seeing lots of birds!). I want to assure my eyes are getting sunlight. This morning my walk was about 30 minutes. I can't even express how wonderful it feels to get up and get outside before anything else in the morning.

11. Wait at least one hour after wakening before having your morning coffee. This advice was also from Dr. Huberman. It prevents coffee from artificially energizing you up, which will then be followed by a crash. I can still enjoy my morning coffee, but only after I've had my outside walk in the sunlight, and then coming in to get ready for the day.

Worst Diet Book Ever

In 2015, I became a Keto girl after discovering Dr. Ken D. Berry on YouTube. I did it not because I had any health issues, but because I wanted to sustain my good health. I discovered other Keto doctors out there, read lots of books, and listened to talks from KetoCon.  

But in May 2021, I took a trip down to Texas and decided to read a book someone had recommended to me called Intuitive Eating, by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. The book made sense to me for the most part: eat what your body "wants" and you will get all the nutrients you need - because your body knows what it needs. After your body "realizes" that it will be well-nourished, it will stabilize to its perfect, healthy, individualized size. I thought about how when I was much younger, I always ate whatever I wanted, was healthy and was always on the lower end of the BMI scale. I have always been a healthy adult, but have carefully watched my diet since my early 30's. In my 40's I began Keto. The book got me to thinking, well, maybe if I had just continued eating what I wanted and not being somewhat "obsessed" with my diet, I would be healthy anyways. Maybe it wasn't all the careful eating and lifestyle I had been so committed to. The book continuously made references to "eating disorders," making it sound like anyone who may be concerned with what foods they put in their mouth is probably suffering from one. Have I been wasting all my time and energy on my diet and lifestyle for nothing? Do I actually have an undiagnosed eating disorder because I am "overly" concerned with diet and exercise? I decided to give Intuitive Eating a try. 

Now, one thing I could not wrap my head around or agree with was the section of the book on "Health at Every Size" (known as "HAES"). There are just way too many medical problems and diseases highly associated with obesity, such as Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and high blood pressure - just to name a few. This book tried its best to downplay these diseases and their relationship to obesity, but it failed miserably. So, I decided that while I disagreed with the HAES part, the other parts of the book made some sense, and I would begin to "eat intuitively" and see how things would go.

This was June 2021. Since I was in Texas visiting family, I ate all my favorite Texas foods without limits, mostly Tex-Mex, and indulged in some delicious meals at my most beloved and missed Texas restaurants. Upon returning home to Pennsylvania, I began eating all the things I loved when I was young, after going years without consuming - French fries, fresh-from-the-oven bread, biscuits & gravy, Pop Tarts, pizza, etc. The book had convinced me that once I stopped denying myself these pleasures, I would soon not crave them any more. I kept waiting for that to happen.

It didn't. 

I also added a lot of so-called "healthier" foods that I hadn't eaten in ages, such as sushi, teriyaki chicken, rice and beans, oatmeal with sliced bananas and honey for breakfast, homemade fresh salsa and tortilla chips, angel hair pasta topped with vegetable-rich marinara sauce, enchiladas like my mom used to make when I was growing up in South Texas, and even green spinach smoothies blended with lots of fruits and collagen protein powder.

And a plethora of problems began to visit me, slowly, one by one: huge, burning episodes of rosacea (something I had always dealt with, but not like this); plantar fasciitis so bad in my left foot that I walked with a limp, stomach troubles with IBS-like symptoms, an achy lower back, hip pain, knee pain, and...yes, weight gain.

I also contracted a respiratory illness which left me hoarse, coughing, and feeling zapped of energy for weeks. I was diagnosed with RSV, and it would just not go away. I had caught COVID in February 2021 when I was eating healthy Keto and exercising daily, and did fine with it, but here I was 6 months later, in the midst of doing my "intuitive eating" thing, and I couldn't get over RSV. And worst of all - I gained weight. A LOT, like 40 pounds. I was heavier than I had ever been, even at 9 months pregnant. I had never experienced my body being this big before and it was absolutely miserable. One of the most surprising things is that I couldn't bend over to tie my shoes. I hated the way I felt.

I continued to eat mostly what I liked to eat, but just decided to cut back on the portion sizes. I did begin to lose weight, but it didn't come off very quickly, and I couldn't get down to my previous size. And then, my hit-or-miss IBS symptoms suddenly hit me full-on and didn't stop. It became a daily occurrence, with me needing a bathroom every 10-20 minutes. I was so sick and weak, and my episodes were completely uncontrollable to the point that I had to quit my job. I took Imodium whenever I would go out, because it was the only way I could have some control over it (although I was still needing a bathroom constantly). My life became a constant worry about where the nearest bathroom was located. I was also consumed with worry about my health and wondering what was going on. Did I have Crohn's disease? Was in cancer? I finally went to the doctor, and after several appointments, tests, and a biopsy, I was diagnosed with microscopic colitis. The treatment for MC is life-long medication.

That was it. I was done with intuitive eating. I was done with even my new "controlled" intuitive eating - which meant eating whatever I wanted in smaller portions. It was time to take my health into my own hands once again and eat what I knew to be a healthy diet. The morning after I had made that decision, I got a notification on my phone that Dr. Berry had posted a video about eating a carnivore diet to control inflammatory bowel diseases. Now, the coincidence here is that I was no longer watching Dr. Berry, and hadn't received any notifications from his YouTube channel in months. I had taken a break - because I knew that his philosophy was in stark contrast to Intuitive Eating. But now here was a video out of the blue that was just what I needed to see.

Suffice it to say, I watched his video, and went full-on carnivore that very same day. I took a quick trip to the grocery store and stocked up on lots of steaks, hamburger, roast beef, chicken legs, chicken thighs, chicken breasts, pork chops, pork roasts, wild-caught salmon, cod, crab legs, shrimp, and grass-fed butter. And...bacon. Lots of bacon. That is all I ate. No vegetables, no fruit, no grains, no beans or legumes or seeds or nuts. Nothing but a variety of meat, and butter. In only two weeks, my symptoms were completely gone. No meds. Not only that, but I felt amazing. My back aches, my hip and knee pain, my plantar fasciitis, my rosacea flare-ups - some things I had just learned to live with and had become somewhat "normalized" for me - were mysteriously gone! 

A few weeks after living carnivore, I discovered another carnivore doctor named Dr. Anthony Chaffee, who calls himself "The Plant-Free M.D." - and his motto is "plants are trying to kill you!" I am absolutely convinced that all these plant toxins that I was consuming so much of were causing all my ailments. I have felt so good since going carnivore. 

Intuitive Eating is the absolute worst book ever and it will ruin your health. It wouldn't surprise me if the drug companies themselves funded the authors who wrote this piece of garbage.

Eating carnivore is amazing and life-changing. I'd be an idiot to ever go back to anything else!