Chronic Insomnia: Not Splendid
I am a chronic insomniac. I do not sleep. I fall asleep at 9pm and when the clock strikes twelve, I am up tossing and turning. I have tried a check list of things to bring sleep back into my life: only a half cup of coffee in the morning, no caffeine after 9am, no sugary nighttime treats, no chocolate, no exercise before bed, cold and dark room, eye patches, herbal tea marketed RELAX and BEDTIME, no decaf coffee after 3pm because that has a touch of caffeine, and the list goes on. Clearly, I get enough daily exercise to induce sleep. Yet, most nights I am sneaking by with a mere 3 to 4 hours of sleep.
I am agitated and frustrated with my sleep. Something has been left on my list of consumables that I have not yet scratched. Today all the little yellow packets of SPLENDA sit in the trash. I know why I did not want to try cutting that before. It makes everything taste sweet while allowing me to stay in my bubble of “I’m not consuming sugar.” Confession: I am a SPLENDA Fairy. I sprinkle that stuff on everything.
Finally, I did some easily accessed internet research and found multiple confessions out there of insomniacs cutting SPLENDA and enjoying the return of restful nights. Since I am now at the point of considering prescriptive drugs for my condition, I have decided it is time to kick the yellow packet crap and see what happens.
Too bad I already jacked up my morning coffee with the accused sleep robber. I suppose the experiment starts tomorrow. SPLENDA be gone like Glenda. Sleep, I’ll dust off the door mat for you, come on back!
Splenda adverse effects include: agitation, bloating, cramping, diarrhea, insomnia, weight gain, nausea, muscle cramping, fatigue, and miscarriage. A recent study held at DUKE UNIVERSITY reports that people ingesting SPLENDA report difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.
I kicked the little yellow packets too about a month ago. I thought it was going to be like giving up crack, but it turned out to be easy to do. Good luck Drea and I hope you have some good sleepy time too!
Tamara said this on November 28, 2009 at 1:12 am |
Did it affect your sleep? Anything feel better?
drea said this on November 28, 2009 at 2:28 am |
Nope, but that’s because of work. I didn’t know about the sleep affects, I just thought it would be a good idea to give up (strongly prompted by a friend) because it is so artificial and bad for you. Plus I found I was getting hard core addicted to sweet things.
Tamara said this on November 28, 2009 at 4:03 am |
Night one off splenda, 11 hours of sleep!
drea said this on November 28, 2009 at 3:01 pm |
Seriously? That’s insane! I’m glad we are off the goobldy-gop!
Tamara said this on November 28, 2009 at 3:51 pm |
Well, only 6 hours the second night, but still better than 3!
drea said this on November 29, 2009 at 1:36 pm |
We had never heard of a link between Splenda and insomnia before now – so thank you for giving us something to look into. Do you know if this issue is related solely to that brand, or to all artificial sweeteners?
Martin @ Insomnia Land said this on November 30, 2009 at 3:12 pm |
The studies that I looked into were only Splenda based. I do know that other artificial sweetners have been linked to many other health problems. I am not certain on the insomnia factor. I do know that the nights off Splenda I have slept: 11 hours, 6 hours, 7 hours. This is a great improvement for me. Even if it does not cure my insomnia, I am convinced Splenda and all articial anythings are not good for the body.
drea said this on November 30, 2009 at 3:57 pm |
[...] recently came across this blog post from Andrea McLarty about a potential link between Splenda and [...]
Is there a link between artificial sweeteners and insomnia? said this on December 4, 2009 at 5:49 pm |