Honey For Sleep Disorders, Acid Reflux, Night Cramps

A few weeks ago while fasting on the weekend I read the short 150 page book “The Hibernation Diet” by Mike McInnes who is a Pharmacist from Edinburgh and Stuart McInnes who is a Nutritional expert and founder of the Edinburgh Festival of Sport Science. Mike is Stuart’s father. At the center of the book is the author’s theory that taking two tablespoonfuls of honey either in a drink or straight from the jar will help a person to lose weight. The how this is done is the interesting part.

The following is a quote from page 13 of the McInnes’ book:

“Take a generous tablespoonful of honey at night, either in a warm drink, a smoothie or straight from the jar. See the recipes on p.38 for honey drinks.
What’s so special about honey? Honey has the same amounts of glucose and fructose. So? Your liver takes in the fructose. The fructose regulates glucose into the liver. That keeps your blood sugar level balanced all night. No sudden highs or lows. Your liver has stores to keep your brain fuelled. You don’t need to release dangerous stress hormones. Your recovery hormones get on with their job…and they use up your fat stores to do it”.

On page 5 of their book the reader is to ask himself a few questions:

Do you wake regularly during the night?
Do you suffer from restless sleep?
Do you experience acid reflux during the night?
Do you have to go to the bathroom during the night?
Do you wake up exhausted in the morning?
Do you have a dry throat in the morning?
Do you suffer from night cramps?
Do you feel weak in the early morning?

“If you’ve answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions”, says the McInnes’, “then it could be because you haven’t fuelled up your liver for the night, so you’ve produced a tidal wave of stress hormones while you slept”.

I must point out that the authors uses the words “then it could be”. They are not playing doctor and making a diagnosis.

As for me, I had to answer yes to several of these questions. And, I haven’t been sleeping well for a couple of months now. Since I always have a pot of honey in the cupboard I decided to take two tablespoonfuls before going to bed and another two upon rising. The first two nights of doing this produced no results although taking the honey first thing in the morning really helped my morning routine of an half hour exercise period before going to work. I’ve continued taking the honey for several weeks now and the results have been good. I still find myself waking sometimes but I know its because of my over active brain – sometimes, when I am even slightly awake my brain will start to think on first this subject and then another. I know the solution to this is mental discipline. It is not that the Hibernation Diet is a failure. The truth is taking two tablespoonfuls of honey before going to bed has signifcantly helped me to sleep well. The mornings after I have gone to the gym and taken honey before going to bed helps me to recover quicker. I no longer have a feeling of being tired at work which has sometimes discouraged me from working out during the week.

I am not looking for a single solution to my sleeping problem or to my muscle recovery after a strenuous workout. It’s enough for me that honey is a FOOD with a long history of its being used because of its many health benefits and that serious scientific research is discovering even more ways that it can promote and enhance one’s health.

Honey is readily available, and affordable.  If you would like to know more about this food here is a good place to start:

http://www.benefits-of-honey.com/

http://www.rawunfilteredhoney.com/hibernationdiet

If you have any experience good and bad with using honey for sleep disorders please comment below.