Alcohol and a Good Night’s Sleep Don’t Mix

Recovering alcoholics typically have more problems with sleep onset than with sleep maintenance. Buddy T is an anonymous writer and founding member of the Online Al-Anon Outreach Committee with decades of experience writing about alcoholism.

To determine the cause and best treatment for insomnia, you may need to see a sleep specialist. Your doctor may prescribe medication and have you try other strategies to get your sleep pattern back on track. Depending on the cause of insomnia, a referral to a mental health professional Sober House may help some people. In some cases, insomnia is caused by a medical condition such as sleep apnea, restless legs syndrome or chronic pain, or by a mental health disorder such as depression. Treatment for one of these underlying conditions may be necessary for insomnia to get better.

Physical Activity and Sleep

While sleeping, you go through four distinct stages of sleep characterized by different types of brain waves. The deepest of these stages is REM sleep, which is most important for being fully rested and rejuvenated after sleep. Alcohol inhibits the body’s ability to experience REM sleep, causing fatigue after even a long period of sleep. When people don’t get enough sleep, their willpower and self-control are lower than when they do.

You might also find it useful to check out our pick of the best sleep masks. To reestablish your own healthy sleep patterns, the first step may be to cut down or reduce your alcohol intake (see Aggie’s helpful tips below). Creating the right sleep environment will also help you to ease back into a regular pattern. In fact, a recent study by the University of Sussex found that 71 percent of participants reported they slept much better when they abstained from drink for a month. Interestingly, 67 percent reported more energy, 70 percent had generally improved health and 57 percent enjoyed better concentration levels too. “I don’t know if I ever had an addiction, although I do know that I struggled when I tried to stop drinking. I started when I was a teenager, and at first it was just weekend drinking, but it soon built up.

You wake up more often after a few drinks

Avoid drinking alcohol or taking medications that make you sleepy. Be sure to check the label on any medications or talk to your pharmacist. If you canpower napfor 10 to 15 minutes at a time, you can jumpstart your body’s battery to get you through the rest of the day. Make sure you avoid naps that are longer than 30 minutes and avoid sleeping after 3 p.m., which will throw off that sleep-wake schedule you’re working on. Alcohol is good at getting you to sleep, but you don’t get the best quality sleep.

Make sure your bedroom is around 18°C, dark and quiet, and try to reduce the time you spend on your phone before bedtime . If you’re suffering with stress and anxiety and this is impacting your ability to sleep – and creating a reliance on alcohol – it’s important to address this too. Whether you have had one or multiple drinks, it’s best to wait for your body to fully process the alcohol before heading to bed. In general, try to avoid drinking alcohol four hours before you plan on going to sleep.

Exercise or Activity

We will now proceed to discuss why it’s so difficult to sleep during alcohol withdrawal, followed by my Top 10 Remedies to resolve insomnia after quitting drinking. I’ll then review some lifestyle strategies that I still use to this day to ensure a great night’s sleep. To reduce the risk of sleep disruptions, you should stop drinking alcohol at least four hours before bedtime. Furthermore, drinking alcohol before bed boosts the risk of parasomniac behaviors like sleepwalking or sleeping-eating. It can also trigger sleep-disordered respiration (i.e. snoring), and can increase the likelihood of getting up late at night to use the restroom. In short, even if you feel dependent on alcohol for sleep, all it’s really doing is robbing you of healthy, long-term rest. But these changes in our brain chemistry and circuitry do more than lead to compulsive drug use; they can also lead to trouble sleeping. Substance abuse can cause both acute (short-term) and chronic (long-term) sleep difficulties. For some, this can result in sleep disorders like insomnia and sleep apnea. If you or a family member has ever struggled with drug addiction, you’ve likely experienced the negative effects of addiction on sleep.

They’re also a big hit with police, who are busy dealing with drunk mayhem outside of regular bars, while the kava bar attendees enjoy relaxed conversation. Months after I quit drinking, I still had many symptoms of thyroid imbalance – a malady that often results in poor sleep. Instead of opting for a prescription, I took ashwagandha once per day for about a month and started sleeping better. 2012 study on the sedative effect of non-alcoholic beer in healthy female nurses demonstrated that one 330ml alcohol free beer with supper for 14 days improved sleep quality. The Recovery Village Cherry Hill at Cooper is a rehab center in South Jersey that offers help for drug and alcohol addiction and co-occurring mental health issues. Sleep and Headache Solutions can help you get to the bottom of your sleep issues.

This makes it difficult to stay asleep, but this may not be directly noticeable. Insomnia caused by alcohol can be hidden, creating symptoms of fatigue and sleepiness throughout the day without an obvious cause. Insomnia and alcohol use can create a negative feedback loop, as drinking alcohol to get to sleep can cause more hidden insomnia. Alcohol also causes your muscles to relax more during sleep, including the muscles in the back of your throat and tongue. This can cause or worsen a condition called obstructive sleep apnea , in which the tongue relaxes during sleep and obstructs the airway.

Vivid dreams and nightmares —With alcohol in your system you’re more likely to have intense, colorful dreams and nightmares as you sleep patterns ebb and flow. You may or may not remember them, but they can be lucid or give you a feeling that you are half awake and half asleep. Even low-grade stress for days on end can leave you feeling exhausted. can t sleep without drinking Try managing your stress levels by turning toyoga, regular exercise, massages orother self-care routinesto break up the slog that’s holding you back. Activities that boost your mood are important, especially because depression can sometimes be mistaken for fatigue. Plus, the more you do the things you love, the more driven you’ll feel.