When I first started Atkins I was relieved to find out that alcohol wasn't forbidden in this WOE. A well-made Bombay Sapphire martini or a good manhattan is one of life's pleasures , IMHO. But, I noticed that, as an LCer, I was waking up the middle of the night, like 3AM, and was WIDE awake for a couple of hours. A few times I woke up so wired that I wondered if I was hypoglycemic.

A little research makes me wonder if a couple of ounces of liquor might be causing enough of an insulin spike to make my sugar bottom out in the middle of the night. When I nix the cocktail I sleep just fine. A couple of glasses of wine with dinner don't cause any sleep problems for me, either. Any thoughts?

Ed
Atkins-9/10/03
213/192/170

Ed:
I've found that I can't drink ANYTHING after 7:00 pm. That's my cutoff time. I don't think that it has so much to do with carbs with me. It has to do with getting older, and with certain meds I take. I used to be able to drink myself under the table and sleep just fine. Haven't been able to do that for a number of years. Now I have to limit my intake and be careful to have most of it out of my system before I go to bed. YMMV.
Peg
1/1/03
205/174/165 5'8"

How interesting! Just recently (in the past few weeks) I've been attending social gatherings and having my share of martinis... and going to sleep at 1am, waking up WIDE AWAKE at 3am. I stay up until 8am or so and then finally need to crash out for a "morning nap."

Soooo weird. I hadn't thought about what was causing it, but this is so bizarre to read your post right after having had this experience three times in the past few weeks. Wow!

Maybe you're on to something. Hm...

Bon (AKA Hopeful in Hollywood)
210/181/165
Atkins since 12/15/02

I don't know the science, but alcohol can definitely wake you up like that. Wine affects me this way, too. Being older makes it worse.

Barb L.
Started Atkins January 2003
162/137/130

just to throw a wrench in your theory.. as part of the Dec. exercise chall. I added no beer all month as part of my goal. Normally I have 6 beers or so most days and I find I'm having just the opposite problem, no drink this month has made it hard for me to fall asleep (I wake up at 5:20 and hit the sack at about 10). Another interesting part of this is not drinking hasn't busted a stall for me either. Weird.

Jeremy
244/172/159@10%bf
39%bf/17%bf/<10%bf

I'd rather be thought a fool, than open my mouth and prove it.

Jeremy, I hear what you're saying. But there's a difference between falling asleep in the first place, and waking up within an hour or two after you've already been asleep. The wake-up effect is caused by alcohol.

I think kicking a six-beer habit is a good thing. But, like you, I haven't found that drinking, or not drinking, as much as 8 oz. of wine a day changes my weight-loss pattern. I don't understand it.

Barb L.
Started Atkins January 2003
162/137/130

I know that if I drink too much, I also wake up at 3:00 am --almost always exactly 3, which is weird-- and can't get back to sleep until 5 or 6.
I had been a heavy beer drinker [like around 90 carbs a day, yikes!!!!which I never knew] until I started this WOE, so now I generally stick to wine or whiskey and have the occasional low carb beer. I sleep all night through now ... unless the neighbors get rowdy or the dog needs to go pee.

Too much booze wires me also, I'm fine if I have a couple of glasses of wine, but a couple of weeks ago I drank a whole pile of shots of Jose quervo, I went to sleep fast but not long. But I read somewhere that alcohol can have that effect, apparently it's true.

Jackie

I definitely have the same problem, and it has come on as I have gotten older. I have noticed that this doesn't happen to me if I drink beer (alas, no more since I am now LC), happens somtimes if I drink white wine and every time if I drink spirits or red wince. Go figure.

Jen
175/132/120

Hi everybody,

In case anyone is interested I looked up why alcohol effects sleep.

Alcohol suppresses REM sleep (deep sleep). As the immediate effects of alcohol wear off, REM sleep intrudes upon other sleep stages, depriving your body of deep rest. So because your sleep stages are all out of wack you wake up often throughout the night.

The closer to bedtime you drink the more difficulties you will have sleeping.

So cool! Thanks, Winnie.

Bon (AKA Hopeful in Hollywood)
210/181/165
Atkins since 12/15/02