Keto Diet Nightmares?
Many people, myself included, find much improved sleep patterns while maintaining a low-carb ketogenic diet, but can what you eat cause keto diet nightmares? After years of low-carb dieting and living a keto lifestyle, I can count on one hand how many sleepless nights I’ve had. Sleeping a good 6-8 hours a night in a rock solid sleep is the new normal.
“I would often wake up a few hours later tossing or turning, or riddled with anxiety.”
I should preface with the fact that I have never had a difficult time falling asleep. I crash at the end of the day consistently, however I would often wake up a few hours later tossing or turning, or riddled with anxiety over things that should be low-stress like “Did I remember to do this or that?” I’d eventually fall back asleep then wake up tired and feel groggy throughout the day.
While ketogenic sleep is amazing and my energy levels improved there is one potential side-effect that I experience on a near nightly basis – keto dreaming! I’m not sure if there is science behind it, I had a hard time finding anything concrete, but just google “keto dreams” and the list is endless; people inquiring about weird dream behavior while in ketosis.
Dreams can be intense, exceptionally vivid, and sometimes flat-out scary. These are dreams you typically won’t wake from, and perhaps this is a side-effect of sleeping so solid? There are some days every now and then I wake up feeling mentally exhausted. How can I start a day when I just spent the entire eight hours of my sleep fighting zombies, flying around my childhood neighborhood, or just ‘working’, which is actually the worst of the worst!
“Maybe we are supposed to dream like this and sugar suppresses dreams?”
Sharing the experience about the intense dreaming is certainly not intended to persuade anyone away from a ketogenic diet. I’ve never for a second considered changing my diet to change my sleep or dream patterns. There are many nights of restful dream-free sleep as well, but I share because it wasn’t so obvious and certainly wasn’t expected that a diet decision could have such a dramatic impact on my nights. I remember wondering just a few weeks into my keto lifestyle “What the heck is going on with me?”, “Why am I having these crazy dreams?”. It took me a little while to put it together and actually Google “Keto diet nightmares” and realize my experience was being shared with many others.
Maybe we are supposed to dream like this and sugar suppresses dreams? Maybe this is why ancient cultures put so much stock and spirituality into dreams and night visions? After-all the ancient cultures weren’t drinking high-fructose corn syrup, eating refined sugar, or even enjoying vegetables or fruits year long. The “Paleo” diet, very similar to a ketogenic diet, shares many aspects of low-carb / sugar-free living. I’m sure seasonal fruits and vegetables were a treat when in season for these cultures, since it was easy picking food that could be farmed rather than hunted, but the reality is those seasons are short.
Some people have described this as terrifying, but this was not my experience at all.
Also experienced, more towards the beginning of my keto adventure, were a few instances of sleep-paralysis. I found it to be a bizarre state of being aware and having my eyes opened but unable to move or speak. Some people have described this as terrifying, but this was not my experience at all. It felt more like a dream than reality, and perhaps it was actually a dream of sleep-paralysis and not actual sleep-paralysis. Regardless, for me the experience was so vague and foggy it was of no concern.
“Shannon and I have had opposite experiences with that we will detail along the way!”
To contrast this, my sister who also does low-carb from time to time has the exact opposite experience. She found herself being awaken by dreams at night then unable to fall back asleep. While in a ketosis state she claims she never dreams anymore and sleeps through the night.
Shannon, my wife, has dreams but nothing epic and ketosis had no notable effect on her dreaming or sleeping. I guess the bottom line in is everyone is different, and there are quite a few interesting things that Shannon and I have had opposite experiences with that we will detail along the way!
If you experience sleep changes and/or shifts in dreaming patters after starting a keto diet, don’t worry. It’s perfectly normal to have crazy dreams and have them occur more often while on a keto diet. Once you wake up it all fades away and you can get back to thinking about which amazing meal you’ll eat tonight!
