Where Eating and Sleeping Collide Part II

Enemy, thy name is aspartame.

In follow up to an earlier post, I thought I'd share what I learned about the fatigue I had been experiencing over the summer. I discovered that my problem was being caused by the artificial sweetener aspartame, found in diet soft drinks, some "light" foods and most notably for me, Crystal Light.

I had started drinking lots of Crystal Light in an effort to drink more water, and was probably drinking 4-8 glasses per day. A friend mentioned to me that that might not be such a good idea (thanks Tracy!) and I googled aspartame + fatigue. Turns out that some research studies show a connection between the two.

I stopped drinking Crystal Light and within a week, I was back to normal. And I've learned to drink water like a big girl. As long as I put it in a glass (i.e., not a plastic cup) and use a straw, I can get it down.

The good news is that my diet and my nights' sleep are getting along now.