I want to need less nightly sleep. Nutritional advice?

whirlpool

Do you know of any effective nutrition-based methods to make the body require less rest and repair time at night?

I assume cutting out sugars, stimulants and processed foods would be the main step, but would that actually help? Any other advice?

Thanks.

El_Dangeroso

400mg of chromium a day does that.

Hanley

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

400mg of chromium a day does that.

Expand... If you're not extracting urine, I'm interested.

ebixa82

whirlpool wrote: »

Do you know of any effective nutrition-based methods to make the body require less rest and repair time at night?

I assume cutting out sugars, stimulants and processed foods would be the main step, but would that actually help? Any other advice?

Thanks.

Maggie Thatcher, Winston Churchill and Bertie Aherne famously all operated on 4-5 hours sleep per night while in power.
While they may not be everyone's idle you could do worse than read one of their biographies. (Or head down to Fagan's Pub in Drumcondra to pick the brain of Bertie, you'll have to feed him with Bass thou!).

whirlpool

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

400mg of chromium a day does that.

I've been taking exactly that for the past two weeks. Not necessarily for this reason though.

whirlpool

I personally can't function properly on less than nine hours sleep. I'm pretty sure that, among other factors, my diet probably has a lot to do with that.

darlett

whirlpool wrote: »

I personally can't function properly on less than nine hours sleep. I'm pretty sure that, among other factors, my diet probably has a lot to do with that.

I hope you find an answer, Im the same. I work, and I'm sporty but my god Im so bloody sleepy if I dont get a lot more sleep than everyone else of my age doing similar work. Am I a lazy bastard, or is there something else?

whirlpool

darlett wrote: »

I hope you find an answer, Im the same. I work, and I'm sporty but my god Im so bloody sleepy if I dont get a lot more sleep than everyone else of my age doing similar work. Am I a lazy bastard, or is there something else?

I've spent most of my life wondering if I'm just a very lazy person, because I've spent most of my waking life feeling groggy and sleepy, trying to stay alert and just get through the day.

I'm 26 now and only recently realising that I'm not actually "a lazy person," that I've just not been giving my body the nutrients which it lacks and needs.

I'm glad, because it means I no longer let myself feel guilty about it, plus I'm now on the road to finally sorting the problem out.

syklops

I want to need less nightly sleep

Sleep more during the day?

Im the same. I work, and I'm sporty but my god Im so bloody sleepy if I dont get a lot more sleep than everyone else of my age doing similar work.

Depends on your age I suppose, but, I think most people need more sleep than they say or think they do. Requiring sleep is not sexy, its not cool. Its not something you boast about. Therefore, no-one boasts about the fact they need more sleep than they let on.

Hunchback

ebixa82 wrote: »

Maggie Thatcher, Winston Churchill and Bertie Aherne famously all operated on 4-5 hours sleep per night while in power.
While they may not be everyone's idle you could do worse than read one of their biographies. (Or head down to Fagan's Pub in Drumcondra to pick the brain of Bertie, you'll have to feed him with Bass thou!).

4-5 for Bertie eh? I, for some reason, think he may have gotten by on 6 and then stretched the truth a little bit, prolly being cognisant, as many are, that Thatcher claimed to have subsisted on 5 a night.

my tips are less than revolutionary: no television, internet or radio for an hour before going to bed ( you dont want your brain to be too stimulated).

surprisingly, a small amount of warm milk is NOT just an old wives tale

for me, a nice warm shower just before bed works if i fear i may not sleep - you may think it would be invigorating, but it always does the trick for me, and makes me feel snuggly, and so on........:)

El_Dangeroso

Hanley wrote: »

Expand... If you're not extracting urine, I'm interested.

Well I've no hard data on this, but I've been taking the following cocktail of vitamins for the past month and I now never sleep past 9am, even on weekends. I used to be groggy after anything less than 9 hours sleep, and now I'm fine on 7.5.

400mg chromium picolinate
1mg Riboflavin
600mcg Biotin
L-Aspartic acid
Garcinia cambogia
Hydroxy citric acid
L-carnatine

It was to lose the excess weight that I accumulated doing my masters, the weight is gone, I feel really energetic, I'm more focused at work, I need less sleep etc.

Though I'll probably stop it soon and just stick with the chromium, so will let you know if anything changes.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

a nice cold shower seems quite a bit cheaper

--edit

actually just to expand

I have noticed a marked improvement in my mornings since I switched to cold showers a while back. I do cheat slightly, I have the water lukewarm when I step in just because I can not face the immediate shock of the instant cold.. but once i'm in the lukewarm water I crank it way down and it's really incredible. you feel... i dunno how to put it, alive. none of this 'i wish i was back in bed' malarky, no hanging about for 15 minutes in the warm bed like water.. you're in.. you're energised, clean yourself and you're sorted

I have an en suite to my room and after a shower I dont even have to get dressed until I want a cup of tea, because ofo the temp of the water the room temp. seems so warm so I'm happy to just peacock around until I'm fully dry and even some of the chilly september mornings we've had recently have been t-shirt and a light open jacket weather.. im pretty sure if I was taking hot showers I'd have had to bundle up like an eskimo before I made the trip to aldi most mornings.

El_Dangeroso

Actually, will switch to GTF chromium as it's the safest to take long term.

El_Dangeroso

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

a nice cold shower seems quite a bit cheaper

For sure! I definitely don't want to depend on supplements for the rest of my life.

Oh, I forgot I've also been using these:

http://shop.liveeyewear.com/products/productdetail/part_number=C302O/732.0.45856.30870.0.0.0

Ya pop them on when using the computer/phone/tablet late at night and they are supposed to bring forward your melatonin cycle.

This is why anecdotes mean nothing.. too many variables to control!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

they look incredibly like those laughably overpriced "gunnar gaming glasses"

do you find they're good for eye strain when using a computer for extended periods?

El_Dangeroso

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

they look incredibly like those laughably overpriced "gunnar gaming glasses"

do you find they're good for eye strain when using a computer for extended periods?

Oh yeah I remember those! I'm not sure, personally I love them, they make you feel sleepy when catching up on internet on the phone while in bed. They seem to stop my mind racing at night when I'm trying to go to sleep and allow me to wake up faster in the morning.

And that's not just my anecdote:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071112143308.htm

Dotcomdolly

I believe there are programmes that will get rid of the blue light (which is what messes with your melatonin) at a prescribed time on your computer and even your tv.
Or you can implement a wind-down time before bedtime where you switch off all electrical stuff.
Your quality of sleep is also greatly improved by getting rid of any light in your bedroom, so blackout curtains, no glow from alarm clocks, no door left open etc.

I got an email this morning about a new app called Sleep Time that uses sensors in your iphone to analyze your sleep pattern and judge the best time for you to wake up - I'm curious about this!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

hrm. my sleeping patterns are disturbingly regular the last few months. even though i'm unemployed, bed at midnight up around half 7-8am. but i'll definitely keep something like those in mind if I ever start slipping back into my old patterns of not being able to sleep until 3-4am

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Dotcomdolly wrote: »

I believe there are programmes that will get rid of the blue light (which is what messes with your melatonin) at a prescribed time on your computer and even your tv.
Or you can implement a wind-down time before bedtime where you switch off all electrical stuff.
Your quality of sleep is also greatly improved by getting rid of any light in your bedroom, so blackout curtains, no glow from alarm clocks, no door left open etc.

I got an email this morning about a new app called Sleep Time that uses sensors in your iphone to analyze your sleep pattern and judge the best time for you to wake up - I'm curious about this!

f.lux, its pretty cool. although it can be a pita if it suddenly switches in the middle of a movie
and the half an hour or so after it switches everything just looks... wrong


--edit

also I had a similar app for android "sleep as an-droid" or something. I dont know if it actually did anything, it did wake me up a little earlier than I'd normally get out of bed but th emain thing I noticed about it was I had to charge my phone a hell of a lot more. also i got to listen to myself snoring when it recorded me.

eclectichoney

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

For sure! I definitely don't want to depend on supplements for the rest of my life.

Oh, I forgot I've also been using these:

http://shop.liveeyewear.com/products/productdetail/part_number=C302O/732.0.45856.30870.0.0.0

Do you remember how much the shipping was to Ireland? Can't see it listed on the site. Wonder if there is anywhere UK/Ire based that sells them?

El_Dangeroso

eclectichoney wrote: »

Do you remember how much the shipping was to Ireland? Can't see it listed on the site. Wonder if there is anywhere UK/Ire based that sells them?

UK sites are nearly always more expensive for shipping for some bizarre reason.

I paid USD$ 45.90 for them delivered.

eclectichoney

Are these the same idea?
http://www.blublocker.com/collections/blublockers-women

Once it blocks 100% blue light it should do the job right? Or is there anything else it needs to filter?

El_Dangeroso

eclectichoney wrote: »

Are these the same idea?
http://www.blublocker.com/collections/blublockers-women

Once it blocks 100% blue light it should do the job right? Or is there anything else it needs to filter?

They don't wraparound do they? If there's light leaking in the top they are not going to do the job.

eclectichoney

Great thanks - will stick with the cocoon!