Like many folks, I have some sleep issues and often don’t get a good, restful night’s sleep. This has a deleterious effect on my day, mood, mind, productivity, and so much more. The past few months, it’s become standard to have bad sleep multiple nights a week.
So imagine my surprise a few weeks back when I felt an odd (for nighttime) craving and drank some kefir right before I went to bed. The result was a most relaxing, wonderful night’s sleep – I woke up rested, refreshed, and my energy just oozed while everything was clear and not fuzzy from fatigue. I felt like a new man! I didn’t stop to consider what had led to that good sleep, I was just thankful and got on with my day.
The next week, as I was putting things away before heading up to get ready for bed, I opened the fridge and saw the kefir in the door and idly reflected on that restful sleep and wondered if the kefir was its cause. So I filled up a nice glassful, drank it, then rinsed the glass with water which I then drank before I headed up. I’m pleased to report that the result was the same – blissful sleep. I went to sleep and woke up without many wake-ups during the night, trouble falling asleep, trouble falling back asleep, etc. It seems to really do something for me – at minimum, I was much less restless.
I tried it the next night and had the same result. Aha – a pattern! Due to my wacky schedule and situation, I didn’t fully embrace the kefir before bed plan, and with the Thanksgiving holiday and such, it wasn’t as practical. But, now that life is getting back to normal, I thought I’d share this insight in hopes that it leads some of you to the promised land of longer, better sleep. It’s a great thing to add to your diet in general, like a super-yogurt, and then some, and I’ve been trying to have some with breakfast each morning, but I’m loving this night effect. It helps me greatly but is no panacea.
I’m sure most of you are like, “what the hell is kefir”? Kefir is a fermented milk product, often mixed with some fruit for flavoring and sweetness. It’s like a yogurt shake, with a bit of funk and originated in the Caucuses. I’ve only tried cow milk-derived kefir, which I’d noticed for years in the dairy section.
Earlier this summer, I learned that having a glass a day can have a lot of good effects on your health and mood and decided to introduce it into my diet. It’s a massive source of probiotics, not to mention that it’s yummy and it’s full of all kinds of vitamins and nutrients, plus I’m partial to a lot of fermented foods. For the first few days, it might seem a bit funky, but soon you develop a strong love for it and you wonder how you never knew something so healthy, simple, and good was available. So in general, kefir is a very good addition to one’s diet, but for those of us plagued by sleep issues, this may very well help you find some peace and joy.
Enjoy and good sleep to you all!
MagdaInBlack
Love kefir, my local Chicago suburban groceries all carry it by “Lifeway” a local company in Morton Grove, IL
zhena gogolia
Kefir has gotten me through some winters in Moscow (first place I had it). Great stuff.
low-tech cyclist
Well then, I guess caucuses aren’t all bad. But I still prefer primaries.
West of the Rockies
I like the probiotic aspect. Since daily taking probiotic yogurt, my occasional bouts with Diverticulitis have grown much rarer and briefer.
SFAW
Thanks for this. I’ll pass it along to Mrs. SFAW, who might find it helpful.
Gin & Tonic
My “pattern” with kefir involved very serious unpleasantness with my lower GI tract. Which is odd, because it’s really similar to yogurt, which I have for breakfast almost daily.
Hungry Joe
For about a year now I’ve been making our kefir. Milk plus kefir grains plus wait 24-36 hours. Costs about half as much as store-bought because you’re just buying milk. Tastes better, too. The entire process takes 10-15 minutes, max. It’s even kind of fun. Plus you get to pat yourself on the back. Plus Trump got impeached.
Quicksand
Kefir is pretty good, but 24 was a terrible show that validated a lot of reactionary tendencies among its viewership.
mad citizen
Interesting. My wife drinks it regularly, but mostly in the daytime. Then at night she has an upset stomach after eating, as well as waking up super early. I’ll pitch the nighttime use option to her
She also likes the Lifeway brand.
patrick II
As people get older they produce less melatonin, so a common remedy is over the counter pills of melatonin. The problem is the dosages in most products are way too high; the pills commonly come in 3, 5, or 10 grams. There was a study done, shown to me by my doctor, showing that just 300mg is an effective dosage for many people, and actually works better than the higher dosages. I have tried it and it works for me. It doesn’t work for everyone since the causes of sleeplessness vary. Amazon has the 300mg if you want to try it and can’t find it on the drug store shelf.
Betty Cracker
Okay, this new knowledge poses a huge dilemma for me because I am a chronic insomniac, but I cannot STAND the taste of kefir. I also loathe yogurt. I gave kefir a try when I first became aware of its existence a few years back, hoping I would find it more palatable than yogurt. But IMO, the taste of kefir is even more disgusting than yogurt — it’s like buttermilk squeezed out of a sour old bar rag.
Damn, what to do? Sounds like you had a fairly substantial glassful, Alain. I don’t know if I could choke down a large portion of that nastiness every single night, even if it cured the insomnia. I wonder if supplements would have the same effect?
Lumpy
Supposedly, there may be a close connection between gut health (the ‘biome’) and mood. Google for more info.
Yogurt has a few different kinds of probiotics (bifidus etc), while kefir allegedly has thousands of different types.
schrodingers_cat
OT Home Improvement question.
Does anyone have a solar water heater? And how do you like it? We are considering upgrading to it because the Commonwealth has great subsidies but I am in the research phase. So no commitment yet made.
Thanks.
namekarB
My “Old Man” daily breakfast is oatmeal with goat milk kefir stirred in and some walnut halves on top
schrodingers_cat
@Betty Cracker: Have you tried making lassi? I like the spicy version so I don’t load up on sugars.
Also you could try water kefir, which I make every week. So no yogurt necessary.
Sloane Peterson's knee therapist
Ha! Worked in a hippy co-op back in the early ’80s and kefir was the rage. Moms were sending kids off to school with the little six-pack size. Flavored too.
Only quibble is if you’re drinking a glass of kefir, then a glass of water before bedtime and you’re an oldie but goodie… how is it you’re not getting up in the middle of the night to drain the dragon a few times? That’s my normal routine plus having to deal with a midnight marauding Puss on the loose and Otis, my newly acquired pibble who’s as old as me and needs to go out frequently too.
Doug R
@Betty Cracker:
I find Activia to have a nice balance between smooth and sweet with the flavor nicely mixed in.
waysel
@patrick II: Did you mean mg vs mcg? 3-5 Grams seems like a lot!
Doug R
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/can-gut-bacteria-improve-your-health
WhatsMyNym
@schrodingers_cat: Cost is pretty high for a solar water heater system. I would consider a heat pump water heater instead, you can usually get rebates on them as well.
mrmoshpotato
@low-tech cyclist: Wait for it…..
There it is!
Paul Begala's Pink Tie
Any high-protein dairy will enhance sleep; it doesn’t have to have probiotic flora, except that fermented dairy is much more easily digestible. You could have a little serving of cottage cheese or Greek yogurt for a similar effect. I’ve been advised that adding zinc and magnesium supplements help with sleep, too, and have had good results.
Queens Lurker
As noted above, everyone is different, but the thing that changed my disturbed/poor sleep dramatically is neurontin (gabapentin). It was prescribed to me after a sleep study a couple of years ago and I couldn’t be happier about the results. Cheers.
patrick II
@waysel:
Yes, sorry. Here is the link to the 300mcg.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GG2I9O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
germy
@Queens Lurker:
Our vet prescribed gabapentin for our cat. She takes it whenever she needs to visit the vet. Totally calms her down for the ride there, the exam, and the ride home. But I have to watch her for hours afterward, because she can hurt herself falling off things or failing to negotiate a leap.
West of the Rockies
@Betty Cracker:
Activia makes a small-sized liquid yogurt (strawberry, blueberry, vanilla). 6 swallows and it’s gone. Not bad at all!
mrmoshpotato
@Lumpy:
Looks it up. Oh, WebMD. Hmmm….seems I have cancer now. Curse you WebMD!
Barbara
@germy: Yeah, gabapentin would not be my first choice as a sleep aid! I took it when I had a lot of spasms after a car crash and I stopped because I loathed what it did to my brain.
Kay (not the front-pager)
On my way out to a Christmas lunch, but I saw this and just had to comment. I’ve always loved Orange Julius, but they’re mega-bad for you. A few years ago, when I was trying to increase the amount of fermented food in my diet, I discovered that mixing plain kefir with orange juice and vanilla extract makes a drink that not only is healthy, it tastes remarkably like my admittedly juvenile taste treat, Orange Julius!
VeniceRiley
@Kay (not the front-pager): Oh wow. I think I’d like to try that!
J R in WV
One day driving home from the folks, a 90 minute or so drive. Stopped for a snack, ordered a chocolate Milkshake, yum! But 20 minutes later I had to stop and ask the wife to drive, I was falling asleep. I suspect any milk-based dairy product will help one sleep better.
Also drink milk if I’m awake at 3 or 4 am, helps me get back to sleep. I dunno about Kefir, tho. Fermented milk sounds way close to bad milk, if you know what I mean…
germy
I remember the first time I ever drank kefir. I’d seen it at the grocery store, and bought a bottle out of curiosity. I had the day off, but was working on my home computer. Instead of eating breakfast, I decided to sip the kefir.
After about half the bottle, I got really drowsy! I felt like I’d taken a sedative… So I decided that I’d use it at bedtime. It certainly makes me sleepy and helps me doze off at night. Sometimes when I awaken (usually about 1:30 am for some reason) I’ll wander into the kitchen for some more, and then settle back to sleep.
My sleep is not the greatest, but it improved somewhat with the kefir.
Anecdotal evidence I know; just my experience.
germy
@J R in WV:
It’s the champagne of milk!
germy
Here’s one thing I wonder about the bottled kefir I buy: the label boasts all the probiotics it contains, but then in tiny print it admits “at time of manufacture”
I’ve read that probiotics in pill form sometimes contain less probiotics than advertised. Not sure if Lifeway (the only brand I see in my local stores) has the same issues.
low-tech cyclist
You mean 3, 5, or 10 mg (milligrams) v. 300 mcg (micrograms).
Having been there, I think the 300 mcg strength is the best dosage to start at, but my experience was that it lost its effectiveness after awhile. These days I get melatonin in the 1 mg strength (which I can get at CVS), and that works for me.
Mustang Bobby
Let me check and see if they carry it at Publix…
[Google, come hither.]
Why yes, they do. Okay, next trip. Maybe I can mix it with Boost. Hey, I’m old.
germy
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/probiotics-may-help-boost-mood-and-cognitive-function
Mustang Bobby
@germy: So I’ll be less cranky and can do the crossword puzzle faster. Cool.
Queens Lurker
@Barbara: I’m not an expert but I believe the dosage tends to be lower for sleep than for its indicated uses like anticonvulsant and pain.
I’d probably give kefir a shot if I could get over the funk.
germy
@Mustang Bobby: You’ll be able to do the crosswords with one hand while commenting here with the other hand. All from the magic of probiotics.
Bill Arnold
@patrick II:
My nightly before going to sleep includes 1mg (1000mcg) melatonin and 50-100 mg pantothenic acid, along with 100-200 percent RDA B-vitamins. (The later can be hard to find retail but easily online though usually higher dosages are sold that have to be split. Some multivitamins contain the RDA.)
For me, if running on stress fumes, 100mg pantothenic acid will often induce a deep crash sleep.
Kefir does sound good.
raven
I don’t think none of this shit works.
patrick II
@low-tech cyclist:
You are right. I messed up the dosage originally.
Fixed it here. @patrick II:
mrmoshpotato
@raven: So you think all of it works? ?
Jay
@schrodingers_cat:
yes. I run 6 vacuum panels in series to a solar storage tank.( Antifreeze mix). The solar storage tank feeds through an ondemand hot water heater.
From late April to late September the panels alone supply all the hot water the house needs, in July/August, multiple showers, laundry loads, dishes, don’t even make a dent in the supply.
In the winter, (-15c to -45c) the panels, even in series, only supply warm water, which the on demand heater heats up, but a tiny fraction of the energy is needed to heat up the water to hot, compared to direct from the well.
raven
@mrmoshpotato: bah, I’m sick as shit and getting advice from all quarters. . .take this, do that. .
However, James Dean is on his chicky run and the greaseball is about to go off the cliff. Man Natalie was gorgeous.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
OT did you see this?
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
Jay
@mrmoshpotato:
could be worse. Web MD says I am going through menopause with a side of Methemoglobinemia,
Manopause I cound understand but,……
I don’t like Andrew Yangs ACA replacement at all,…..
Jay
WhatsMyNym
Probiotics are living microorganisms, so they do die off over time.
Van Buren
@schrodingers_cat: I don’t but my parents have one that is 35 years old and works wonderfully…central Virginia, roof faces due south.
raven
@Van Buren:
Commander Cody／My Window Faces The South
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker:
Would rum help? Rum helps most things, so…rum! Or brandy if you prefer. Or perhaps a float of Grand Marnier?
hells littlest angel
Do you think the 2.5% alcohol content might contribute to the sleepfulness?
Jay
The Moar You Know
@raven: It doesn’t, but it’s a harmless enough hobby.
Jay
mrmoshpotato
@raven: Notice your double negative.
Hope you feel better soon.
Origuy
I take gabapentin for paresthesia in my legs caused by pinched nerves in my spine. It doesn’t appear to have any mental effects on me, but other people have had bad reactions.
There are a couple of brands of liquid yogurt that show up in the Mexican supermarkets around here. They’re pretty good if a little too much sugar.
If you can’t stomach kefir, how about kombucha? It took me a little while to get used to the taste, but some of the flavors are better than others.
raven
@mrmoshpotato: I’m lucky to be here writing at all.
zhena gogolia
@Jay:
Lots of video here.
https://twitter.com/KevinRothrock
Cermet
@WhatsMyNym: Any details like cost to savings info would be nice.
Milk products have been suggested for a long time to aid in sleep – forget the reason and have little interest to even google that.
One beverage of any Probiotic can’t possibly change one’s gut bacteria in any significant manner using one small bottle a few hours before sleep. So, that isn’t the likely cause.
germy
https://www.cnn.com/2019/12/19/us/westerly-rhode-island-shooting/index.html
Jager
@raven:
Makes you want to buy a red nylon jacket, doesn’t it?
cain
@Betty Cracker:
Who are you?! Don’t like yoghurt?! Us South indians have been using yoghurt as our cure all for generations. How terrible that you don’t like it. We need to do the green eggs and ham treatment here :D
trollhattan
@germy:
There’s essentially no regulation of the U.S. supplements industry, at least until one starts killing people, so their claims are all essentially unsubstantiated. Orin Hatch and Chuck Grassley worked tirelessly to keep things that way.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: I don’t read Pravda-on-the-Hudson so I haven’t yet. But I will make an exception for this story. Thanks for sharing.
schrodingers_cat
@Van Buren: If you don’t mind my asking where do they live? Do they get serious winters where they live? Thanks.
Yarrow
When it comes to sleep issues I always like to mention taking a Vitamin D supplement. Mine was low and I starting taking Vitamin D and my sleep improved. At some point I decided maybe it was too high so lowered my Vitamin D and my sleep got worse. After a few weeks of that I went back up to what I had been taking and my sleep improved.
As we age it is much harder for our bodies to synthesize Vitamin D from the sun. We can get plenty of sun but still not enough Vitamin D. Check with your doctor. You can get your levels tested.
germy
@trollhattan:
There was another guy who helped. I can’t remember his name, but he was liberal.
You’re right about the supplements. They found lead in children’s vitamins.
Orrin Hatch’s son was connected to the supplement industry, which explains the motivation to keep things unregulated.
chopper
@hells littlest angel:
i think the stuff you buy at the store is much lower than that.
Leto
Checking in as a fellow gabapentin user. I was taking a fairly large dose of it after my accident due to all the nerve damage. Under the doc’s order, I’ve come off most of it but still take some at bedtime. Hopefully in the next few months I’ll be able to totally remove it from my daily dose. I’m also a melatonin user. About an hour after taking it, I start to get drowsy and it usually helps me stay asleep. Again, like so much else, started taking it after the accident because I needed the help.
Back to the covfekefirfir discussion.
Yarrow
@Betty Cracker: Like @schrodingers_cat said, you can always make water kefir. It’s not that difficult. Maybe worth a try.
mrmoshpotato
@cain: Would you, could you on a boat? What the fuck? Is that a goat?
raven
@Jager: I have one!
currants
@Betty Cracker: Not a huge fan of dairy in general, but I can tolerate Siggi’s Swedish style Filmjölk (it’s not the same microbes as yogurt, and it’s lighter than kefir). I like the raspberry or vanilla–can’t stand the plain. I tend to have it with fruit for breakfast, so you could try that as dessert, maybe?
Feathers
Crap, lost my comment, but it may have been me.
Recommend hot water bottle at feet. It also helps if you wake up in the night and need to get back to sleep. One of the triggers to your body to fall asleep is that your core body temperature drops. Heating your feet can fool your body into thinking that this has happened. I use a German-made hot water bottle: Amazon Link Don’t like having the cord of an electric heating pad in bed.
Be careful with melatonin. Took my roommates and had a nasty case of sleep paralysis. Terrifying but fascinating. I was lucky that I recognized what was happening and remembered that I had taken the melatonin. Even while it was happening, I was thinking holy shit, if I didn’t know what this was, I would totally think I was possessed by a demon or alien. My roommate was a nurse who worked nights and slept days, so her all my co-workers and I take this and it’s great dosage was probably not the correct one for me.
Will consider some of the aids mentioned her. Part of my problem is that my bedtime can get switched to very late. I’ll get a second wind and be up until three. I have a prescription for Ambien to help, but I want to try other things. (On the Ambien, I get a prescription for 10 pills that usually lasts me 1-1/2 to 2 years.)
Ella in New Mexico
@patrick II:
Hey, patrick it looks like you have your doses wrong here.
Melatonin comes in doses of 1, 2.5, 3, 5, 10, etc., milligrams, not grams. And none I know are as high as 300 milligrams–that would be a very unsafe dose.
But you’re correct about the fact that research shows 3mg or less is the desired active dose, unless it’s a “sustained release” product that splits a larger dose up over the night.
Just wanted to make sure folks aren’t ODing on melatonin this Holiday Season, no matter how nasty things get with the R’s
Also, I really think the kefir helping sleep is related to the sugars in it, even the unsweetened version. Just like the warm milk with vanilla, honey and butter my Grandma used to make me to help me drift off. Simple carbohydrates play a role in the production of both serotonin and melatonin.
germy
Groucho Marx was a lifelong insomniac. He complained to Robert Benchley that if he didn’t get some sleep he’d kill himself. Benchley told him to take a hot bath with pine salts before bedtime. Groucho tried it, fell asleep in the tub and (he claimed) almost drowned. He told Benchley what happened. Benchley replied that it wasn’t an insomnia cure. “You said you wanted to kill yourself if you didn’t get some sleep. I was just expediting things.”
Jager
@raven:
How about a 50 Mercury?
Juice Box
@patrick II: Morning sun exposure will also increase nighttime melatonin levels. Go outside for a bit soon after you get up.
JPL
@raven: I’m sorry. Since I don’t know about your recent maladies, I can’t offer advice. Truth be known the only advice that I offer is tea and honey. Take care.
germy
@JPL:
Bone broth.
It’s recommended by Baby Yoda.
Another Scott
@germy: rofl.
Thanks!
Cheers,
Scott.
Roger Moore
@germy:
As long as a decent fraction of the culture stays alive you should be good. After all, the whole point of a probiotic is that they’re alive and can multiply. As long as a few of them get through and take up residence in your gut, they should be able to reproduce and build up a population.
Dan
@mad citizen:
Roger Moore
@germy:
The dietary supplement industry is a big employer in Utah, probably because the Mormons have a long history with herbal remedies. I agree that the whole industry is a nightmare. Legally they’re allowed to say just about anything they want as long as they don’t claim that their product treats a disease or medical condition. But there’s enough wiggle room and enforcement is lax enough that they can get away with saying way more than they legally ought to.
The biggest problem, though, is that “supplements” have the opposite legal treatment from drugs. Before you can sell something as a drug, you have to prove that it is safe and effective, and the FDA will treat your evidence skeptically. Supplements, though, are treated more or less like foods; they’re assumed to be safe until somebody proves they aren’t. IMO, supplements should be put in an intermediate category. As long as they don’t make strong health claims, they shouldn’t have to prove they’re effective, but they should have to prove they’re safe.
SC54HI
@schrodingers_cat: Chiming in very late (time difference) so you may not see this. We have an 80-gal solar water heater & really like it. We are a household of two and it does save money. You can set it to heat water once or twice a day, and you can also turn it on & off manually. We have ours set for once a day, 5 – 7 AM so there is hot water for morning showers. On sunny days, solar energy usually replenishes the hot water by midday. It’s somewhat easy to operate if you are a DIY person, probably easy if you are. The only trouble shooting may come after a power outage, when you’ll have to reset the once or twice a day heating cycle. Otherwise, the tank needs to be flushed every year or two. We have the company do that but a handy person could easily manage it.
germy
@Roger Moore:
Yes, at the very least. I agree.
Also, the damage some tainted supplements can do is subtle and insidious. It’s not like food poisoning after eating bad pork or something, where the effects are immediate.
Lead in children vitamins, for example. A parent wouldn’t know their child is ingesting lead, without a blood test.
Ruckus
Kiefer. Yogurt. Milk.
What about people who are lactose intolerant? Intolerant being a very under defining word here. Extremely would not be out of line here.
Origuy
@germy: “There was another guy who helped. I can’t remember his name, but he was liberal.”
Tom Harkin of Iowa.
Roger Moore
@germy:
I guess there are two levels of proving safety. I was thinking primarily that they need to prove the active ingredient in their formulation isn’t harmful. For example, before being allowed to sell supplements containing ephedra, they should have had to prove that ephedra is safe at the levels contained in their supplements. Actually, they should have to prove it’s safe at levels substantially higher than are found in their supplements, since idiots tend to think if a little is good than more must be better.
But you’re also right that they should have to test the individual batches they’re selling aren’t contaminated with anything harmful. For example, all drugs are now routinely tested for trace metal contamination to make sure they don’t contain dangerous levels of heavy metals like lead. This isn’t expensive, so we should expect supplement manufacturers to do the same thing. Hell, we require recreational cannabis to be tested for residual pesticides and heavy metals in addition to being assayed for active ingredients. We should demand no less of dietary supplements.
Ella in New Mexico
@Ruckus: Coconut milk/water kefir is delicious!
Death Panel Truck
So imagine my surprise five years ago when I smoked two bong hits of Obama Kush right before I went to bed. Got my best night of sleep in years.
(Yes. There was a strain in Washington called Obama Kush. It was awesome.)
karensky
@Betty Cracker: I am partial to 5mg of an Indica gummy. Works like a dream. I stock up when I am out in my old Denver stomping grounds. PA has medical mj and there are no edibles but there are caplets and capsules that do the trick. Going to the mmj doc in January to get a “license.” Doesn’t FL have MMJ?
I had crappy sleep for 15 years. Now only good sleep with lots of weird but not bad dreams.
I
Wolvesvalley
@WaterGirl: Now this is a reply using Chrome. Everything OK so far (visual and text tabs both showing)
Editing in Chrome.
schrodingers_cat
@SC54HI: Do you live in snowy climes? How well does it operate when subjected to long winters?
Jay
@schrodingers_cat:
keep in mind that there are 4 levels of solar hot water heater technology.
so you need to know what kind of system is being used.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Visual/Text modes not showing for me; I get a generic comment box that appears to be in text mode. Win10/Firefox.
ETA: Visual/Text modes now showing for next comment after I post this one.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: I can’t get it to do that today
When it comes back in Edit mode for you, please try this in this order:
ron
I really like keffir, more as a blend in smoothies than straight up, but the “pro-biotics” part looks like another food industry marketing scam.
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Probiotics
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Can’t edit my previous comment, timed out. This reply to you comes with V/T tabs.
Steeplejack
New comment. V/T tabs present.
ETA: Posting comment leaves me with my comment showing and focus (correctly) positioned there.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Did you try steps 1-5?
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
I did not do 1-2, because it did not come back in Edit mode for me, because my comment had timed out, as I previously stated.
WaterGirl
@Steeplejack: Okay, if you don’t mind, NEXT TIME you get the text mode and no visual/text tabs, please go through 1-5 in that order, and let me know what you find. thanks.
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
I have to go out now, so I won’t be replying for a while. But things seem to be working “correctly” now (Win10, Firefox).
Steeplejack
@WaterGirl:
Okay.
AxelFoley
Kefir? That’s sounds too much like the South African racist slur for black people.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
We have friends in Pueblo CO, at 5,000 feet in the plains just east of the front range, who have solar heat for everything. They have supplemental energy inputs for extended cloudy periods and such, but the vast majority of their whole heating budget is solar.
I would imagine Pueblo is at least as frigid in winter as MA is. Much higher for one thing…
MomSense
That’s interesting. I started drinking doogh (a Persian yogurt drink) before bed and it has helped me as well. My son suggested I put CBD oil in it and that combo is like ambien. I might try kefir instead of having to mix up the doogh and see if that works just as well.
marv
@Betty Cracker: Been off the grid all day and doubt you will even see this but I have stumbled on an insomnia tx that works for me and I can’t help but think might work for you: reading Tristram Shandy. For the first time in my 67 years I’m having trouble sleeping through the night and darn if Shandy isn’t the first thing that’s worked. I think it’s crucial that I really love the book – it’s just too much for me to keep up with in the middle of the night, I think. Erica Jong loved the book and couldn’t finish it either and your writing reminds me of hers (minus the sex), so thought I’d send this along
Tim Wayne
If you have sleep issues, get yourself tested for apnea. It’s super-duper common. My CPAP machine gives me wonderful, snore-free sleep. I’ll try the kefir, too.
Warren Lorente
@Quicksand: I saw what you did there.
Procopius
@patrick II: Thanks for the suggestion. I stumbled across melatonin about three months ago, and it’s been very helpful, but I’m wondering about the dosages you cite. I just checked the bottle, and mine is identified as 3 mg. The next higher dosages available from my online supplier are 5 mg and 10 mg. Considering how my body reacts to 3 mg, I would really be afraid to take 300 mg, much less 3 grams.
Dr. Ronnie James, D.O.
@Lumpy:
It’s certainly plausible. Your gut has its own nervous system (the enteric nervous system, still relatively unexplored) and runs mostly on the neurotransmitter serotonin. Increasing levels of serotonin is how most newer antidepressants work. It’s estimated that 90% of the serotonin in your body is in the enteric nervous system.