Effects of Alcohol on Sleep
Many of you will say that you need a drink in order to sleep, that alcohol actually helps you sleep better. While it may be true that drinking will get you off to sleep quicker, unfortunately the quality of your sleep will be much worse overall.
Alcohol inhibits the brain from entering REM stage sleep, which is when we do most of our dreaming, and prolongs the initial stage of deeper sleep. So when you wake up, you will probably not have dreamt enough – and dreaming is an essential component of sleeping. That or you wake up early once the alcohol has worn off.
Alcohol also inhibits your kidneys from absorbing water, so you tend to urinate more, and end up dehydrated. This further disrupts the quality of your sleep, and often produces a headache by morning. As such you end up feeling tired and unable to concentrate for the rest of the day. If you drink every evening, then you may be chronically sleep deprived, even though you might sleep all night, the quality of your sleep is not what it should be.
Making the transition to drinking less is often marked by a difficulty in falling asleep however, so you’ll have to readjust to dropping off naturally again. Getting regular, strenuous exercise is a good idea then – if you’re physically tired you’re much more likely to be able to sleep without needing your usual ‘knock-out drops’.
Your forum has been a help to someone I know and to myself in learning how to deal with these situations, so I return the favor from some personal experience and observations regarding sleep. As I got older, I had trouble staying asleep. I could get to sleep really well, but then would wake up a few hours later and never get back to sleep. If I tried drinking say even a little wine before I went to bed, that just made the situation worse.
The life saving thing that someone had me try was WalMart Equate brand Allergy Relief capsules. This is generic Benadryl or Diphenhydramine 25 mg. Only the capsules work. The tablets are worthless. Of course you must not drink or limit drinking as much as possible when taking these or the medication is released too quickly into your system. But do keep a glass of water by the bed as you will get thirsty. A cup with a sealed lid and a straw is handy as you may eventually knock it over once a year or so. The cost here in the US is cheap, $4/100 capsules.
All the other popular sleep aids did not work for me. Do your own experimentation if needed.
When I wake up in the morning, I perform 10 to 15 minutes on an exercise bicycle set to moderate resistance in order to wake up and get fresh blood to my brain. I exercise at least enough to get a slightly damp sweat to my skin. The exercise bike has a heart monitor and my heart rate improved quite well after just a few weeks of usage. My health and clarity of thought are now vastly improved. I cannot stress too much the importance of light morning exercise and healthy eating habits for breakfast and during the day. Avoid packaged meats and fast foods. Make your own lunch and bag them if needed. Put in extra snacks for during the day even if you make them yourself which is certainly the most healthy and least expensive way.
A mistake some people make who are desperate for sleep is that they will start out with too high of a dose, say three capsules (1-2 capsules is the adult dose), with some alcohol significantly still in their system, and then to make matters worse not exercise in the morning when they wake up. From observation, that ends in disaster as they are tired the whole day and they swear not to try it again. Avoid that mistake. Start small, avoid alcohol as much as possible, be ready in the morning to force some exercise and include a healthy breakfast. Personally, I avoid coffee, but that may be for my own health and brain issues. I do drink fresh brewed iced tea. (I can hear the moans from across the pond;-)
Over time, your body will build a resistance to the medication such that you will have to increase the dose to perhaps two tablets or three on a high stress day. At some point, say once per year, you will need to take a “vacation” from your medication for a few weeks to get the medication out of your system and to allow your body to regain its sensitivity to the medication. This is okay and by that point your life will be in better shape to deal with a little less sleep. Indeed you may find that your sleep habits have moderately improved and that you are not dependent upon the sleep aid though it still is useful.
This saved my life. After years of poor sleep I finally got back to normal. This is just a method of compensation for older age and changes in brain chemistry. Apply reasonable discipline and rational thought in its usage.
When I first stopped drinking, trying to get to sleep was hell. I would just lie there and stare at the ceiling. Usually I would get up and watch TV (probably not a good idea) until I fell asleep, usually hours later. But stick with it- eventually it changes and you will start to fall asleep quicker. Exercise helps.
The biggest change I realized after I stopped drinking was the dreaming. I simply didn’t have dreams when I drank (or at least didn’t remember them). Every night now I dream the way I used to dream when I was younger. And from what I understand, that is a good thing. Stick with it!
And I will add for good measure alcohol wrecks your central nervous system, lans you in court with all measure of indictments, causes one to feel the utterly most wretched , seizures, (had a series of them last year) prison, violent and horrific hallucinations and onto this page…….. and that ma gorff comment was real was funny a must read……
Jack basically nails the whole shebang; he sounds like he might be an ex-con and I don’t wish to be derogatory….. Many jailbirds are dyslexic and come across with the plain truth ( perhaps a lesson at a drug abuse clinic requesting that you write down in you’re own words what you think about drink….It’s good and we need reminding….
You guys are all great! I too, years and years of boozin. So now i quit and cant sleep. I’m going to tough it out, I hope. Had a coffee at 11 am, so that cant be it. Had meatloaf for supper, that used to always make me sleepy. It’s 2am and I’m wide awake as hell. I lie in bed just thinking of everything. I got laid off from my job and that’s fryin my brain cells. So I get up late tomorrow to look for work to be able to get some sleep. I’ll let you all know if it gets better. This is my forth night like this. My family is supportive and that’s what will keep me going. One day at a time, right.
Hope by now you’re getting a good night’s sleep. I used to fall asleep so easily when I had “a few” before bedtime. Everything in this article is so true though, about using alcohol to sleep and then it just interferes with getting proper rest. I don’t know what to suggest, if you’re still having trouble. You just have to find something that helps you relax enough to get sleepy. I found some chanting music I like and I play that over and over. I drink hot milk. I don’t even try to go to bed early. The evenings are long when I’m not drinking, so I’m trying to work out hard at the gym so I can be more exhausted. I do feel better though and tend to stay asleep all night now.