High histamine, can’t sleep?

sleepy morning

Have allergies (or histamine intolerance, mast cell activation, mastocytosis) and can’t sleep? It’s not just you – a new study reveals that in narcolepsy, a condition that causes excess sleep, extra histamine is produced.

While we’re on the topic of sleep…


Here are my top 5 tips for getting a good night’s sleep

1. Try to eat dinner as early as possible. 

I’ve found that it takes two to four hours for my body to get the histamine reaction properly going, and around six to eight hours for it to die down again. (And that’s the secret, most reactions will pass if you remain calm and let them wash over you). Having dinner around six to eight pm means that I’m over the worst of it by midnight…

2. Go liquid

As Dr Fuhrman points out in his teachings, liquids are easier to digest, requiring less enzymes, and are easier on the digestive process. I wonder if this means we need less of the enzymes responsible for breaking down histamine (like diamine oxidase), or if less stress on the digestive system means that we need less histamine to get it going? Read all about how digestion itself causes histamine release.

3. Embrace natural antihistamines

Whether you’re currently taking pharmaceutical antihistamines or not, adding some natural antihistamines and anti-inflammatories could help. I often combine points 1, 2 and 3 by making myself an emergency antihistamine juice for dinner.

4. Switch off the electronics

We’ve known for some years that exposure to light impairs the production of the sleep inducing hormone melatonin, but now researchers think that blue light from computer screens and iPads in particular not only disrupts melatonin production, but that it also causes an increase in alertness! So switching off that device not only means more melatonin, it means you’ll be less mentally alert, thereby hopefully heading off any midnight obsessing over issues that need resolving the next day.

5. My top tip – go low histamine, all the time! 

Was that high histamine smorgasbord of the last few days really worth a week of insomnia? How about losing all the gains you’ve made these last few months? Eventually my answer was no, and that’s when I healed. Check out the high nutrient low histamine, antihistamine and anti-inflammatory recipes that help me stay meds free.