How I FIXED My Terrible Sleep

Dr. Berg’s Healthy Keto and Intermittent Fasting Podcast

Dr. Eric Berg

Health & Fitness

4.6 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 July 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sleep detoxifies our brains! Refined sugars, junk food, and late-night snacking can interfere with sleep. If you want better sleep, eat earlier in the day. For the best sleep, have your last meal around 5:00 p.m. If you're waking at night to urinate, intermittent fasting and a low-carb diet can help.

Inflammatory foods, such as grains, can also interfere with your sleep. High carbohydrate diets increase your need for vitamin B1, which reduces anxiety and tension.

Kefir contains probiotics that can build up serotonin, which turns into melatonin, the sleep hormone. L. reuteri yogurt also contains helpful probiotics to improve sleep. Consume ½ cup daily; it doesn't have to be before bed.

Try the following tips for better sleep to help you wake up early feeling refreshed and energized:•Sleep in a 65 to 68 degree room•If you have cold feet at night, try sleeping with warm socks•Plants in the room can help oxygenate the space and improve sleep•The darker the environment, the better

Light inhibits melatonin. Blue light from your computer or phone stimulates energy, while infrared lighting helps you wind down. Around 50% of the sun’s rays are infrared and can penetrate several inches into the body. Infrared light helps you make vitamin D, which is vital for sleep and increasing melatonin.

Since culture has pushed us away from sun exposure, sleep quality has declined. Alcohol will make you feel tired, but it interferes with deep sleep. Caffeine, tea, coffee, and chocolate act as stimulants and prevent sleep.

Increase exercise to improve sleep. Stretching and massage can also help you relax. Here are a few more deep sleep tips that can significantly improve sleep quality:•Sleep on your right side•Focus on nose breathing •Reduce stress for better sleep•Ensure adequate sodium intake to maintain healthy cortisol levels •Increase potassium intake •Consume magnesium glycinate powder 1 hour before bed •Sound machine •Binaural beats •Use essential oils (Spikenard, vetiver)

Dr. Eric Berg DC Bio:Dr. Berg, age 60, is a chiropractor who specializes in Healthy Ketosis & Intermittent Fasting. He is the author of the best-selling book The Healthy Keto Plan, and is the Director of Dr. Berg Nutritionals. He no longer practices, but focuses on health education through social media.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is a masterclass on how to perfect your sleep and wake up feeling really refreshed.
0:05.3	I don't care what diet you're on, what supplements you take, what type of exercise you do.
0:08.8	All of that is not going to work unless your sleep is good.
0:12.4	We sleep to detoxify our brains.
0:14.8	If you notice when you don't sleep, it feels like your brain is toxic.
0:18.2	Let's first talk about the diet, especially if you're doing refined sugars
0:21.1	and junk food, if you snack late at night and you go to bed loaded, that stress in your gut is going
0:27.5	to prevent you from going to sleep. If you want better sleep, eat earlier in the day. If you really
0:32.3	want a good sleep, have your last meal like four or five o'clock. If you have urination problems
0:36.5	at night, just do intermittent fasting. Cut out the snacks, o'clock. If you have urination problems at night, just do intermittent
0:38.2	fasting. Cut out the snacks, go low carb. If you eat inflammatory foods like the grains, that will also
0:44.4	keep you up. When you eat a lot of carbohydrates, it takes a lot of vitamin B1 to break down those
0:50.1	carbohydrates and utilize them. When you don't have enough B1, your legs start just feeling so
0:55.5	energetic. Bottom B1 helps reduce nervous anxiety and tension. One thing that is really good
1:01.9	to consume to help you sleep at night is kefir. Kiefer has probiotics, which will then build up
1:08.6	things like serotonin, which then turns into melatonin.
1:12.7	And melatonin is a sleep hormone.
1:14.9	Even better probiotic to take is the L. Ruderi yogurt.
1:19.0	Super beneficial for sleep.
1:20.9	Just need a half of a cup of that per day.
1:22.8	It doesn't have to be before bed.
1:24.0	It could be any time during the day.
	...

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