There have been many times in my life when I slept terrible or not at all. I remember when I traveled around the world in 2001-2002 I’d have jet lag after flying from Europe to Brazil. I can tell you from first hand experience that sleep deprivation and nausea go hand in hand, for me at least.
If I don’t sleep for a night, my body is all jacked up. I’ll share some of my experiences and you let me know in the comments if you have similar symptoms of sleep deprivation..
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Irritability
- Short temper
- Body aches
- Lack of drive or motivation
- Depression
- Anxiety
- No hope
- Increased negativity
- Not wanting to be social
- Physical soreness
- Can’t focus
- No attention span
- And on it goes….
Have you ever had any or all of those symptoms of not sleeping?
For me the first two noticeable things about sleep deprivation is nausea and headaches. I never have one without the other and I never have either unless I didn’t sleep the previous night.
Feeling like you’re going to vomit and having an upset stomach is almost as bad as having an intense migraine headache from not sleeping. I don’t know about you but when I get nauseous my stomach feels queasy and I feel like I want to throw up the entire day no matter what I eat.
Not a good feeling.
Fortunately since I’ve been able to heal my mitochondria and reset my circadian rhythm my sleep has been pretty much back to normal. Instead of going to bed at 3am like I used to (and toss and turn for a couple hours) I’m not exhausted by 9:30pm and normally go to bed around 10pm. Now it takes me less than 10 minutes to drift off to never never land.
I’ve had nausea from food poisoning a few years ago but I haven’t had any insomnia induced nausea since the late 1990s.
Thank God because I can still remember what that felt like.
Before we talk about how to restore your sleep and some natural remedies for an upset tummy, let’s talk about the link between sleep deprivation and nausea first.
The Link Between Sleep Deprivation and Nausea
Let’s talk about how insomnia can affect digestive health. Your gut is like a mini biological fermentation factory. You have good bacteria and bad bacteria all throughout your digestive tract. You also have parasites, fungus, yeast and mold in your gut that are all competing to stay fed and stay alive.
When you don’t have enough sleep, this directly impacts your gut health by preventing beneficial bacteria from proliferating. I like to think of all the different organisms inside your gut like a football game, except there’s many teams on the same field at the same time all trying to stay alive.
When you are sleep deprived, the good bacteria do not get the energy (ATP) necessary to grow. This means the “bad” bacteria will take advantage of that and they produce cytokines which cause oxidative stress in your gut. The resulting feeling is like you feel like gagging because all you want to do is puke.
A lack of sleep can have a direct impact on your immune system. As a result sleep deprivation can lead to gastrointestinal disorders that can manifest as nausea. Whenever I used to go through periods of time with a lack of sleep, I’d always feel nauseas and catch a cold or flu.
The other link between sleep deprivation and nausea is hormone imbalance. We all know that both men and women produce testosterone, estrogen, estriol, estradiol, progesterone, melatonin and cortisol. When we are sleep deprived, we produce more cortisol because the body is in a state of stress. Elevated stress levels can directly impact our gut bacteria leading to feeling like you have an upset stomach.
Symptoms of Sleep Deprivation-Induced Nausea: What to Watch For
Normally if you have sleep deprivation insomnia you might feel slightly strange when you wake up but most likely you will not feel anything until you actually get out of bed in the morning. The combination of an empty stomach with a lack of sleep almost immediately puts my belly into a weird feeling.
If you’re a woman reading this and have ever been pregnant and had morning sickness you know the feeling. If it happens every time you don’t sleep well, most likely you have insomnia induced nausea.
There are natural remedies you can do for both sleeping better and getting rid of the nausea which I’ll share below. Ideally you correct the sleep issue and the secondary issue (nausea) will go away as well.
Strategies to Combat Nausea from Sleep Deprivation: Immediate and Long-Term Solutions
Immediate Solutions:
My “go to” remedy for any kind of morning sickness, motion sickness or even sea sickness is ginger tea. This stuff is incredible for being able (I don’t know the molecular method of action yet) to help with any an all nausea or upset stomachs. I recommend drinking 1 to 2 cups on an empty stomach in the morning after your terrible night of sleep.
Another old time remedy for nausea is drinking warm milk. I’ve never found this to be helpful but I have spoken to quite a few people who absolutely swear by this. If you don’t feel averse to it, you could definitely give this a try.
One thing you do want to avoid is eating a heavy meal if you have nausea or your stomach feels upset. Light snacks are a much better option and perhaps eating more bland things like crackers for example. I’ve always found bland crackers to be helpful.
Some other natural remedies for insomnia would be chamomile, peppermint, raspberry leaf and acupressure. Lots of scientific studies and data on all of those.
Long Term Solutions:
Regular exercise (preferably outside to set your circadian rhythm from sunlight) is ideal. If you can ground while you’re doing it, all the better. Grounding will help reduce the oxidative stress your body is dealing with. I prefer exercises like Qigong or yoga.
Building a regular meditation practice into your life would be huge. Look at having nausea as God quietly whispering to you, telling you to “slow down” and regulate your stress levels. 5 minutes of meditation per day is enough. It’s a good place to start and you’ll notice that as you quiet your mind and start breathing with intention your belly will stop being so tight and held in.
You’ll be able to let your stomach exhale and release while you meditation. As you continue this practice, you’ll notice small and subtle changes more and more often.
Another long term solution to sleep deprivation and nausea is avoiding stimulants like eating after sunset or having late night snacks before bed. Having too much caffeine in the morning might also be an issue as well. I also recommend people avoid having a “night cap” of an alcoholic drink before bed.
Nothing good comes from that.
Create an environment conducive to sleep. That means avoid stress at night. No “figuring things out” after sunset, that’s for the daytime. If you use a screen after sunset, make sure it’s set to emit zero blue light and wear your blue light blocking glasses and install circadian lighting in your house too.
You could also consider taking natural sleep aids like melatonin (I take 50mg per night and plan to take more as i get older) and incorporate herbs or essential oils into your night time sleep routine.
The Importance of Sleep: How Consistent Rest Can Prevent Nausea and Improve Overall Health
As we discussed above sleep deprivation doesn’t just cause somebody to feel nauseous but there are so many other health factors as well. We didn’t even discuss causes of death due to being tired (like car accidents when people fall asleep at the wheel).
In terms of sleep deprivation and nausea, you can definitely get rid of stomach issues and feeling queasy in your belly by getting better sleep on a more consistent basis.
If you fix your insomnia you’ll notice feeling more alive and energetic in the morning. You’ll wake up feeling refreshed and motivated. You’ll experience less headaches and upset stomachs. You’ll notice your immunity becomes stronger and you’ll get sick less often.
Say buh bye to colds and flus.
Doesn’t that sound nice?
You’ll notice a more clear mind and an increased ability to concentrate and focus on tasks. I’ve noticed that. My attention span gets much longer. I’ve also noticed subtle benefits to deeper sleep like better motor functions, quicker reflexes and an ability to “bounce back” or out of negative situations. It’s easier for me to look at the positive side of a bad situation rather than dwelling on it and let it suck me down in a spiral of oblivion.
Conclusion
From the moment you wake up getting a solid sleep that night should be your primary focus. The deeper and longer the sleep we get, the healthier we are and the longer we live. We not only increase our lifespan but our health span too.
Sleep deprivation and nausea sucks but the good news is that if you adopt the approaches I write about, you can start sleeping better sooner rather than later.
Doesn’t that sound good to you?
Questions:
- Do you believe it’s possible to start sleeping again?
- What do you normally take if you have sleep deprivation and nausea?
- What are your “go to” remedies?
Comment below.
