For many years, I thought I had the worst insomnia. Each night I would lie awake in my bed until 3 or 4 in the morning, and then be a zombie the whole next day. In 2015 I finally discovered what was keeping me up ALL night... it was COCONUT OIL!!! It really just kind of came to me one day. Coconut oil is a great source of lauric acid, has a gazillion health benefits, and it gives you tons of energy. (I don't love it for the skin however, but that's another article you can read HERE. ) I'd been using coconut oil in desserts, chips, smoothies and many food items, often later at night.
Finally after 8 years of thinking I had super bad hormonal issues, insomnia, and anxiety - I got to the root issue. Once I took out coconut oil at 6-7 pm I started sleeping like a baby. Sometimes I'll accidentally have it and it will keep me up for a while. If I have a little bit it won't affect me. But often times I spit it out, because I love to sleep. Now, I don't have it after 5-7 pm generally, but it may be different for you.
If you are having a hard time sleeping, I suggest cutting this out for 3-4 weeks to see if it will help you. I do love coconut oil during the day (it's great with scrambled eggs) but after 5 pm, I have to tone it down. May I suggest Macadamia nut oil to cook with at night. It has a high heat threshold and won't go rancid at high temperatures. I generally use butter or ghee (clarified butter) as well in desserts or to cook with. Share this article with all your green foodie friends! Have you had any sleep issues lately?
23 comments
I take a caprylic acid capsule (from coconut) every day and have severe insomnia. Would this be the same as the coconut oil in causing insomnia?
I have to day severe insomnia at night then I follow what I eat to day to much coconut oil. I guess that is the cause when search the net I find your article thank you go assuring me
I started cooking my food in coconut oil (mostly during tge early evening) & within a couple of weeks developed severe insomnia too. Taking hours to fall asleep or if I did fall asleep fairly quickly I would wake up multiple times in the night. I also had quite a few nights with no sleep at all.
I didn’t put my finger on what was causing it but I started to think something was seriously wrong with me not sleeping. So I developed “sleep anxiety” & worried about bedtime. But the initial bad insomnia was definitely caused through coconut oil. No other type of cooking oil has this strange effect on me. Coconut oil seems to make my mind extremely active like I can’t switch of at night or feel drowsy at all.
I started taking a tablespoon of coconut oil with every meal including dinner. I also developed severe insomnia.I never the connection to the intake of oil.Now I know,thanks to this article.I have to avoid this oil in the evenings and sleep better.I hope it works
One implication of this discussion is that Coconut does improve the energy of the brain but use it sparingly
I wasn’t sure if it was the coconut oil, but after a recent hiatus with good sleep and then being back on I was sure. It wasn’t immediate but after a week of eating breakfast fried in coconut oil the insomnia came back.
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