Posted on 11/05/2026 10:23:12 AM PST by fwdude
I've been going through some recent doctor recommended health improvement efforts involving sleep, including an in-clinic sleep study and getting on CPAP therapy. I posted about this a couple of months ago and got some great advice and insights from FReepers.
I've been on the CPAP therapy for just over a month and feel like I'm finally finding my groove with it - resolved all of the mask leak issues, learning how to use and maintain the equipment, best sleeping positions, etc.
The effects were not immediate, but I am finally beginning to notice small increases in energy and lack of late-day drowsiness.
I'm now addressing my weight. Been told that I should stop eating anything 3 hours before I go to bed/sleep. Well, that's easier said than done. I routinely work until 5:00 or 5:30, have at least a 30 minute commute home, and almost always have an errand or two, realistically meaning 1 hour before I get home from work, 6:30 at best. Then a few minutes to unwind before getting dinner ready for me and mine - 7:30 eating time. If I have obligations beforehand, like following up on the day's appointments, probably later - 8:00 pm sometimes. Laundry, household chores, and any dozen other things eat up scads of minutes in between. Now I have CPAP machine maintenance to add to that list.
Since I have to get up at 5:00 am for the workday, and I aim for 7.5 hours of sleep, that puts my go-to-bed time at 9:30 pm (which honestly almost never happens.) I'm looking at the end of dinner time of about 8:20, butting right up to bedtime within an hour.
My doctor's PA is horrified that I eat so late. I asked her what time she eats. 6:00 she says. How?
Now, I'm not the best time organizer, I'll admit, but this sleep fasting schedule just seems unworkable with any consistency. And especially if I want any life at all at home or going out in the evening, even for half an hour.
Does anyone else have these issues? How do you manage it?
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Can some of the errands be done on Saturdays or during lunch hour? If your commute is 1/2 hour, you get up at 5, allowing one hour for washing and getting dressed (6 AM) and 1/2 hour for commute and 1/2 hour for breakfast (7 AM), it looks like you have a one hour slack in there, if you work an eight hour day with one hour lunch.
I am lucky. I can sleep on a concrete floor. I give 5 1/2 to 6 (maybe 7 on a good night) and still function well.
1.) Not eating a few hours before sleep is generally a good idea, especially if you suffer from GURD.
2.) A nice long fast between dinner and breafFAST is generally a good idea, but not required.
3.) More important than #1 and #2: Recent studies have shown that low carb is the most effective diet for losing weight, far better than watching calories or fasting.
4.) Something to keep in mind: Because of a natural hormonal surge that happens when you wake up, your blood sugar can spike higher or more rapidly, so your breakfast should be protein only, e.g.: three eggs and a cup of cottage cheese.
My two cents.
I am an early adopter of CPAP. Continuous Positive Air Pressure. I have had one since 1997. I am religious about it. I never sleep without it.
Men suffer from sleep apnea in greater numbers than women. There is a relationship between weight and sleep apnea so that being overweight will cause it but you don’t have to be overweight by much. The physiological effects of sleep apnea are not limited to just being tired all the time. Cardiovascular disease can result. It’s a life shortening disease.
3.) More important than #1 and #2: Recent studies have shown that low carb is the most effective diet for losing weight, far better than watching calories or fasting.
~~~
I would say this is especially true if you have not done the keto diet much in the past. I can tell you as someone who has done keto for years, your body becomes much better at converting consumed fats/oils into energy and not needing to burn any stored fat, and due to this metabolic efficiency you will need to included fasting periods in along with being in ketosis if you are trying to lose weight. But when you first go into keto, you will lose weight surprisingly easy and you get to still eat as long as you avoid carbs.
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4.) Something to keep in mind: Because of a natural hormonal surge that happens when you wake up, your blood sugar can spike higher or more rapidly, so your breakfast should be protein only, e.g.: three eggs and a cup of cottage cheese.
~~~
If you are in fullblown keto, you shouldn’t be getting a blood sugar spike. But if you aren’t in keto, then yes, I would suggest skipping the donuts in the morning and going with the eggs.
It’s GERD not GURD. GastroEsophageal Reflux Disease.
I get to work around 7:00 am. Management, so I work more than 8 hours a day.
I have asthma, am overweight, use a CPAP a few times a week, and get the same advice from my doctors about eating before bed.
The way I manage wanting some flavor late in the evening is to eat a very simple snack, ONE slice of bread with peanut butter, ONE Top Ramen Soup, a scoop of Orange Sherbet or a Popsicle. I refrain from eating something with heavy textures or creamy sauces for my stomach to break down.
I don’t eat a full serving of what would be the usual Entre for Dinner, such as Crispy Fried Chicken, while a LITTLE baked or roasted Chicken would be okay. Same with a Fish Filet. Even a LITTLE meat loaf is okay, emphasis on LITTLE, just for that last blessing of flavor. Tuna Fish or Cottage Cheese on Iceberg Lettuce, same story. Think SMALL. Then reduce your water intake too, if just before bed.
Good Luck to you!
I’m beginning to derive a lot of comfort from my CPAC. I love the feel of the pressure. I really makes a difference, especially if I’m sleeping on my back.
No more snoring, which is a blessing for others.
I have a CPAP machine installed in my RV. I have a portable battery that I take with me if I am staying in a yurt or a cabin without electricity. I have been on multiple day backpacking trips but I have miserable at night. I have actually found a few extra CPAP machines in thrift stores so that I have one in the RV and one by my bed and a spare for traveling.
What I did was get up earlier in the morning and eat a good nutritious breakfast, oatmeal, eggs and some other protein, smoothies, greek yogurt, cereal with fruit...a good breakfast based on lasting thru the day so your energy level doesn’t die off, then eat a later lunch of something wholesome as well, then skip dinner, basically eat twice a day, eat more at each meal so long as you are eating healthy,
For the last 3 months or so, I’ve been taking creatine, it works on me, energy throughout the day without the day time drop off where I need a nap and I’m not hungry.
My thing is eat twice a day, both meals are healthy and filling that support your energy not a sugar rush and a massive drop off.
If you want to eat again at night, eat a snack, a few nuts like almonds, walnuts, etc., a banana and peanut butter, just a little something to knock off the edge not a full meal.
BTW, I’ve been on a CPAP machine for at least 15 years and swear by them, couldn’t sleep without it.
Fully 50% of people who are prescribed CPAP therapy reject it in the first 15 minutes and never try again. It’s quite sad actually because it will extend your lifespan. I say this with conviction that I actually believe it to be true. It will make you live longer.
We’re retired and and have found that we feel better on two meals a day. Meal 1: 9:30-10:00. Meal 2: 3:00-4:00.
If we eat later than 5 pm, it’s impossible to get a good night’s sleep. Also, GERD can be problem eating that close to bedtime. I’ve been told that restless sleeping and some insomnia very often can be blamed on stomach issues and people don’t recognize the connection.
You’re trapped by a workday so options are limited.
You should use your CPAP every night from the moment you go to bed until you wake up in the morning.
Do not cook after you get home. Cook the night before.
Insta-pot is what I recommend but a slow cooker works.
If you are going to do something like steak where a Insta-pot will not work have your meat thawed and ready to cook when you get home. Have your vegetables ready, chopped and seasoned but not dressed.
Example Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, rolls and peach cobbler for desert.
Mix your meat loaf the night before and have it in the pan and ready to go, beans should be prepped by being cleaned, washed and snapped, potatoes peeled and chopped, rolls made, and cobbler assembled.
When you get home turn on the oven and meat loaf goes in potatoes start boiling and salad assembled. Fifteen minutes in the cobble goes in the oven, ten minutes later the rolls. By now the potatoes should be ready to be mashed. The beans get sauteed with some onion and bacon.
An hour after you get home, you have dinner. See if one the other people in the house will at least do the prep work. That is what takes up most of the time. Not the actual cooking.
Took me 6 months to get used to it, it took a lot of tenacity, but waking from vivid nightmares with muscle paralysis and inability to exhale or inhale was way worse, so I was motivated. I cannot sleep without a CPAP.
My brother just simply refused to give it the requisite time to acclimate to it. The systems available now vs. the late nineties are worlds apart and are way easier to get used to.
I have been, but cheated a few times at the start. When I was just exhausted in the evening, I'd lay down and tell myself, "just a short nap before I go to bed." LOL!!!
On those nights I realized just how short my sleep latency is. I could go to sleep in 5 minutes, and not hear my 15 minute alarm that I set on my phone. I must have gone from light sleep to stage 2 medium sleep at the same speed.
I'd fall asleep for a few hours before I knew it, without the CPAP on. Now I know I have to force myself to stay out of bed or the recliner until I'm ready to actually go to sleep for the night.
A lot of retraining for me.
I love my CPAP. Best thing I ever did. I went from 93 events an hour during my sleep study, to 2-5 with my CPAP.
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