DISCLAIMER: I’m not a medical doctor nor any other form of officially labeled health practitioner. What you try to help yourself is as anything else in your life based on your own choice and you therefore you are fully responsible for any issues which might arise from your own choices. I will not take any responsibility for you not knowing the limits of your own body. Please be aware that this is a blog post and not a medical journal.
DISCLAIMER ABOUT THE DISCLAIMER: I’m an engineer and the only thing I’m interested in are things that work. Therefore I have abadoned the scholastic medical system for most of my issues as they rarely found a solution and only suggested threatments for eternity or until my current body dies(so my trust in the medical threatment system is fairly low). The only reason above disclaimer is placed here is because we currently live in a society where we have a small amount of people who like to not take responsibility for their life choices and rather bring people to the court because they were not informed that they have to double check the information they have consumed from a blog post. Anyway, lets get to the article.
Do you know that issue that you are working on an important design, development or other project that you want to finish soon, and you started to have issues with sleeping?
I had issues with sleeping since I was 14 years old, from not sleeping at all, sleeping only 2-3 hours/night for years to waking up in the middle of the night with severe pains over my body and cannot fall asleep again.
From all that I learned some major things:
- Sleeping not enough can cause a lot of additional issues.
- Sleeping issues can have a whole lot of different causes.
- The average doctor will not help you except for prescribing drugs(that have unwanted “side”-effects and can cause other problems)
Here is a list of things I started to make for myself, that can as well help you finding solutions to sleep better. As I’m an engineer, I suggest you do some trial and error and keep what is working for your system configuration(body, mind, soul) and throw away what is not working for you, it’s up to you if you want to discuss it with your doctor first. For any health related issues, I made the experience that changing the diet has the best effects on health in general. From an engineering perspective, it’s what kind of fuel are you using for your body. If you put saltwater into your car instead of petrol, you might end up with machine that is not running. For my system, fasting and ketogenic diet have a really good impact on my well being.
I will also link some references to youtube videos in the list, where you can get more details. Mainly I will link explanations from Dr. Berg, as he is one of the best health engineers I know, he explains the stuff easy and his advices normally caused a positive impact in my case.
| Key | Short Description | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Sleep on Right Side | Sleep on your right side. Reason: The liver will not lie over the heart and not compress it. | Dr. Berg(1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rGIIFdAVA |
| Slow Breathing | Helps calm down the body, reduces stress and nervousness. | Dr. Berg(1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rGIIFdAVA |
| Bed by 22:30 | Go to Bed before 22:30. The body has hormonal cycles, if you miss the right time to go to bed you might end up taking much longer to fall asleep. | Dr. Berg(1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rGIIFdAVA |
| Low Potassium | If you have a lot of stress or eat a lot of sugary foods, you might be low in potassium. You might your pulse in your ear when you lie on your pillow with your ear. Solution: Eat more salad and veggies, eat less sugar, take potassium supplements. | Dr. Berg(1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rGIIFdAVA |
| Massage Tool | Dr. Berg promotes his massage tool in his video. Solution: I have used the tool and it works for me quite well. (I do not get sponsored) | Dr. Berg(1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rGIIFdAVA |
| More Darkness | A bright environment will suggest to your body that it is still daytime. Having a darker environment will caus that your body will produce melatonin/serotonin, hormones that are important for good sleep. Light from displays like TVs, computer screens phones are as well keeping your body in daytime mode. Solution: What I do is one hour before bed I turn of all those screens and I may listen to some calm music. | Dr. Berg(2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX5Zdlm_2OI |
| Reduce News | Most news are negative. Consuming news in the evening might get you agitated to a certain degree and give you some extra boost that will not help with sleep. Solution: Read news in the morning, if you get agitated you at least get an extra boost for the day. 😀 | Dr. Berg(2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX5Zdlm_2OI |
| Can’t calm down the mind | Your adrenal glands might be overactive. Solution: There is a remedy in the video with supplements which I have tried too and it worked for me. Also intermittentend fasting, ketogenic diet, being in nature and slow breathing and helps in my case with this problem. | Dr. Berg(2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX5Zdlm_2OI |
| Excess Energy | You have too much energy because your body produces more than you are using. Most probably you did or still do a lot of sports in your life (increases mitochondria activity). Solution: Do some sport every day to use up your energy. For me it works when I go outside(not to late) and do some sprints. | Dr. Berg(2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX5Zdlm_2OI |
| Digestion Issues | Digestion issues can prevent you from sleeping. Solution: In the video Dr. Berg suggests not overeating, especially not eating to much protein. Add apple cidar vinegar to your diet. | Dr. Berg(2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX5Zdlm_2OI |
| Too much Caffeine | If you consume too much caffeine(coffee, tea, chocolate) it might lead to bad sleep(increasing the need for more coffee in the morning, right? 😉 ). Solution: Reduce caffeine consumption. | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Overtraining | Overtraining can cause bad sleep. Solution: Go light on your workouts. (Good sleep will also cause better regeneration, muscle growth etc…) | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Go for a walk | Can help reduce stress and you get a lot of oxygen. Especially when you work on the computer all day. | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Too much acid | If you consume to much acid(e.g. vinegar) your body might get to acidic and your pulse rate increases. Solution: Reduce acid consumption. | Dr. Berg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Too much refined Carbs | Eating too much refined carbohydrates(pasta, bread, sugar etc…) can cause low potassium levels. Solution: Reduce those refined carbs, increase potassium. | Dr. Berg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Carbs in the Morning | Eating a lot of carbohydrates in the morning can cause you craving for carbs in the evening, which then can lead to bad sleep. Solution: Don’t eat too much carbs in the morning. | Dr. Berg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Potassium and Magnesium | Potassium and Magnesium are the two key minerals for sleeping. Solution: Consume enough of them (found in leafy greens, salad) | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Too much Phosphorus | Phosphorus is an accelerator for the nervous system. Foods rich in protein contain phosphorus(meat, fish, eggs…), so eating too much protein can be the cause for not sleeping. Sodas like cola are often high in phosphorus too. Solution: Do not overeat protein. | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Too much fat | Consuming too much fat in the evening might irritate the gallbladder and lead to bad sleep: Solution: Do not eat too much fat in the evening, eat more of the fatty foods earlier in the day. | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Electromagnetic Fields | Electromagnetic fields put out certain frequencies that might interfere with your sleep. Solution: Move away electronic devices from your bed. Turn the devices off. | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Excessive Thinking | Excessively thinking prevents you from sleeping. Solution: Vitamin B1 (nutritional yeast) can help you. | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Muscle Cramps | You can’t sleep or wake up because of muscle cramps. Caused by either low levels of potassium, magnesium and sometimes salt. Solution: Eat more leafy greens/salads, pickle juice, | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Bloating | Bloating can prevent you from getting a good night rest. Can be caused by not being able to digest certain foods. Solution: See video | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Waking up at 02:00 AM | Can be aused by overactive adrenal glands. Solution: Learn more about adrenal glands(e.g. here), Vitamine B1. | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Bathroom is calling at night | If you wake up because your bladder wants to get rid of some fluids, you might have insuline resistance, enlarged prostate or menopause. Solution Insuline Resistance: Intermittent Fasting and Keto Solution Enlarged Prostate: Avoid dairy products.(milk, butter, cream, cheese…) Solution Menopause: Pueraria Mirifica | Dr. Berg(3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu1ldCIdLF0 |
| Right-sided Shoulder Pain | You can’t sleep because of right sided soulder/neck pain. Most probably caused by a gallbladder issue. Solution: Acupressure, see linked video | Dr Berg(4): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8t74XMziP8 |
| Drinking to much Water | I drank for around 8 years between 4-5 liters of water a day, as I was always thirsty. In my case this was caused by eating to much carbohydrates. Drinking too much water causes that electrolytes will be flushed out of your body, what can cause sleeping issues. Solutions: Reduce the amount of water you drink. Reducing carbs can help reducing thirst, increasing fat in diet can help keeping the body hydrated. | Dr Berg(5): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae4wZ79GzGU |