'Memory Pinball' And Other Reasons You Need A Nap

NPR ran a story on one of my favorite topics this morning and gave me an excuse to talk about it again.

Sleep!

I'm a lifelong insomniac who accidently discovered that a low-carb diet cures my sleep problems. When I started to sleep through the night, my lifelong low-level depression virtually evaporated. It makes sense that if you're not sleeping well, your mood will be poor. Nevertheless I was astonished at how much of a difference it made.

Recently I got a refresher course on how awful insomnia can make me feel. I started eating a lot of chia seeds, and my insomnia came back. I suffered through for 2 or 3 months, hoping I'd adjust to whatever was causing my early waking. During that time, my mood markedly decreased and my ability to handle stress deteriorated. A couple of weeks ago I gave up the chia seeds, and I can sleep again. My mood is now brighter and most of the small stressors of life are rolling off my back. I feel happy and hopeful again.

I sometimes think that if my son could sleep well 85% of his mental illness would vanish. His insomnia makes mine look like nothing.

Here's the link to one of NPR's stories this morning (there are several; they're doing a sleep theme this morning): 'Memory Pinball' And Other Reasons You Need A Nap : NPR

And here's an excerpt (my bolding):

Thanks costello! I haven't been sleeping at all lately, and I know for sure that's part of the reason I've been doing poorly. I'm having a really hard time fixing the sleep situation though. I'm not sure how to make it better. I have an upcoming doctor appt, but I don't really want to mention it there since I've tried many sleep meds in the past and they all either didn't work or gave me adverse reactions.
I've been trying to get more exercise, but I'm not sure what might be a good way to changge my diet. Id rather do those kinds of things for sleep than meds.

yes thank you costello.

i am am insomniac to Nth degree. so much. i stayed up for 4 days straights once. staying up 2 days in a row is a regular thing. on meds its better but still have some sleep troubles.

I have been involved with people who have sleep apnea. They do not present as the typical overweight alcohol drinking man who snores. They are women who are petite who happen to stop breathing many times while sleeping. I recently went with my mother to her sleep study where she was Dx'd. Apparently many,many people (according to the sleep technician) are Dx'd with MI when they actually have apnea and don't even know it. They are not typical "snorers" like most people think of with the term "apnea" Because of my mom's apnea Dx, I did some research and found that there is something that needs to be looked into even when we think we are sleeping. Some latent symptoms of apnea include depression, moodiness, headaches, daydreaming/dissociation, memory problems and other things that we might usually say is our supposed Dx of a MI.

I think this sleep study stuff should be used in really figuring out if we are getting proper sleep. I know a person who said she always slept well, or so she thought, but since she was already being tested for brain issues and neuro- problems, she requested the sleep study. It found she stopped breathing 58 times during REM sleep and something like 30 times during non- REM sleep.

Before my bf got Dx'd with apnea, he claimed to sleep well, but I knew he snored like a freight train and I constantly had to wake him up because he'd stop breathing. During the day he would nod off while having coversations, his eyes would glaze over like he was on dope, he had mood swings and strange thoughts and memory problems.

It's bad enough for people who have obvious insomnia but I think there are many of us with apnea who don't realize it and it affects our mental health in a radical way.

What was an eye opener for me too, was when the technician at the sleep center said she had witnessed many kids on ADHD treatment with stimulants be Dx'd with apnea. When treated with the CPAP sleep device, the kids completely recover from the supposed Dx of ADHD.

That's the problem in a nutshell. What to do? It was only by accident that I discovered low carb fixed my insomnia. Who would have thought to try that? Then when I started having this early-waking problem after I started taking the chia seed, I thought I was imagining the link. I kept googling 'chia and insomnia' and finding sites that claimed chia seed helps cure insomnia. Nevertheless the insomnia went away within days of quitting the chia. Also, on my low carb site, many people new to the diet complain that low carb causes insomnia. So people can have opposite reactions to the same dietary change.

My insomnia goes back to childhood. It was really bad when I was a teenager. I complained to my mom about it a few times, but she didn't believe me. My parents weren't the kind to consult doctors anyway. Now I'm grateful they didn't. I'm sure after they'd tried the typical sleep hygiene solutions, meds would have been the next step.

Anyway I know what a puzzling problem it is and how difficult it is to fix. For me, it's a diet thing. I can't point to exactly what causes the problem but something does.

I wish my son would get a sleep evaluation. I'm just not sure what they'd do to help if they found a problem.

Thank you so much for posting this. Insomnia is a constant problem for me and it exacerbates everything so much. When I'm sleeping well consistently I can always tell because my mood is always more evened out and I have way less issues with psychosis.

mine does too go back to young childhood. worse when i got sicker with schiz when i right before hit 20 and so on til now. it was easier for me to get tired out by schooling as a teen even though id still stay up til 2-3am and still wake up that morning too for school. i wasnt believed much either.

i wanted to try chia seeds for weight loss but idk now.

I think I said something to my mom like I wasn't sleeping at all. Which wasn't strictly true. I was falling asleep between 1 and 3 am. And I had to be awake at 6 am. She just said that I was probably sleeping and wasn't aware I'd fallen asleep. Since it was a struggle to get me out of bed every single morning for years, you'd think she'd have paid more attention. I didn't press the matter either, but I was wide awake. I would look at the clock and see what time it was.

I'm not sure, but I think it did help me lose weight. I started taking it for the omega 3's, but it really did mess with my sleep. It didn't seem to matter what time I went to sleep, I'd wake up in six hours. Wide awake from dead sleep and no hope of going back to sleep. A few nights like that are okay, but several months of being shorted an hour or two wear on you.