Hi,

I’ve been on very strict carnivore for 3 months and I track my sleep every single night with my Apple Watch. Here are my observations:

1. My sleep is extremely consistent. I fall asleep with ease between 8:30 PM and 9:00 PM and wake up between 3:00 AM and 3:30 AM. I am averaging 6hr and 22 min of sleep per night over the last 30 days.

2. I wake up feeling great - no grogginess, puffy eyes, or brain fog.

3. My energy levels are fantastic throughout the day.

Here is where it gets interesting. I decided 2 days ago to have some pizza and some other carbs. That night I slept a whopping 9 hours! I felt a bit more groggy when I woke up but was surprised on the duration.

Ideally, I would love to sleep closer to 8hr per night instead of my average of 6hr and 22 min. Does anyone have any similar experiences with sleep or advice on how to achieve closer to 8hr while on carnivore?

• A couple things about my personal carnivore journey that may be relevant.

  • I am very active - I go to the gym every day for about 45 min doing traditional weight training and hike 2-4 miles 3 days per week.

  • I consume about 4,000 to 5,000 calories per day

  • I make sure to have a lot of fat (primarily from fatty red meat in the form of ribeye steaks and tons of butter)

  • I consume a lot of whole milk (about a gallon a day) and cheese

  • I consume about 5 cups of coffee per day

  • I consume roughly 96 mg of nicotine via nicotine pouches per day

    I wanted to highlight these aspects as I am aware that the coffee and nicotine may be having a major effect on my sleep - I am currently working on tapering down on both coffee and nicotine and with my schedule should be free of them within 2 months.

    Any advice or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Welcome to Carnivore Talk.

Many carnivores, including myself, report sleeping less. It’s not a bad thing if you are not experiencing any ill effects.

Calories are not a good metric by which to measure our food consumption since it is just a measurement of heat. We can’t actually eat a calorie but we can eat mass. Even if calories are used it’s not the calorie that matters but what your body does with the calorie. For instance, 3,000 calories from a doughnut will process in our bodies totally different from how 3,000 calories from a steak.

While it’s generally considered ok to drink milk and consume dairy on carnivore just remember that dairy contains a lot of sugar in the form of lactose. If your body is handling it ok then it shouldn’t be a problem. As active as you are it may be just fine. I eat cheese and use some cream but I don’t drink milk. If I did it would put weight on me which is exactly what it was designed to do.

Yes, the coffee and nicotine could be what’s interfering with your sleep. They are stimulants and are not good for you. If you could quit them that would definitely be a positive for you but from your description of your sleep and how you feel it really doesn’t seem to be an issue. I tend to go by how I’m feeling and if I’m feeling good then I don’t think anything needs to change. It sounds to me like you are doing pretty good.

Thank you Geezy for the response. I will continue to monitor my sleep as I slowly taper down the coffee and nicotine and report back. I appreciate your insight!

Without the nicotine and caffeine your six hours may increase, maybe not a full 1.5 to 2 hours you are looking for, but I would guess it would be an increase.

Our sleep is nearly identical. I am a lifelong shift worker. I always have slept from around 9 to around 3AM when sleeping at night. If I am sleeping the daytime (which I sleep better during the day) I sleep from 9AM til about 4PM.

The difference for on carnivore is that when I wake, I am up. There is no rolling over and going back to sleep. Even my days off start about 4AM. I am one of those "weirdos" in the gym at 4:30AM.

My sleep is solid and I awake feeling well rested. I am probably in that 6-hour range as well.

As far as the pizza and the nine hours, that is well beyond me. Other than the stomach yelling at the brain saying, "I'm going to be here awhile with this extra stuff-keep him down for a couple extra hours".

I too drink milk. I don't drink a gallon a day and don't drink it every day but three to four times per week. When I was losing weight (95lbs over 12-13 months or so) anytime I drank milk it was like an automatic stall. One glass of milk seemed to stop my weight loss in its tracks. Once I started hovering around 95lbs lost I picked back up on the milk.

Good luck. Hopefully you can find those other two hours of sleep.

Scott

just based on what I've heard about working out and stress etc. you might try increasing your rest and recovery from your gym sessions. Im old and I workout 6 days per week and sleep the same amount as you currently. But have some joint pain I know that is from working out. So Im gonna scale back and see how I feel etc. I know my body is under stress cause that's what exercise is.

@Scott F. Thanks for the information Scott. I am also that weirdo at the gym at 4:30 AM! The correlation between milk and weight loss makes perfect sense, I will keep that in mind. I have quit so many unhealthy things in the last 3 months, the nicotine and caffeine seem nearly impossible to stop, but I feel so incredible on carnivore I know it is possible. Also, I agree with your sentiment about the pizza and extra sleep.. I truly feel like my body actually just needed to sleep longer to help get rid of all those carbs and seed oils.

@ketomonster I believe you are correct.. I know that I need more rest and recovery however I have so much energy and I am truly enjoying the gym now it’s very difficult for me to take that rest time! Ha