Hi thugmansion, we had a message from Lucy this morning who apologises for missing your question. Here is her answer:
thugmansion:
My biggest problem is sleeping. If I dont drink I am awake all night.??
Lucy Rocca:
Alcohol can help in getting off to sleep but it doesn’t allow for quality, restful sleep, and drinking in the evening often means we wake up feeling tired and groggy even though we have been sleeping. It’s a very easy habit to get into and I (as I suffered from insomnia for many years) used to drink a lot of wine to get myself to sleep, for years. As with most things to do with quitting alcohol, time is required here. It will be difficult at first to get used to falling asleep without alcohol, but once your body adjusts you will find that you get better, deeper sleep and wake up feeling much more rested. I have copied a very comprehensive answer below from the Soberistas Ask the Doctor page as I’m not a medical professional but our Dr. Rachel is! This is her advice for someone on Soberistas who was having difficulty sleeping without drinking first…good luck! Lucy
"Firstly, congratulations on being alcohol free for five months- a terrific achievement! Your sleep disturbance is, I am sorry to say, extremely common in people who have recently stopped drinking, particularly if they were previously alcohol dependent. The relationship between alcohol and sleep is very complex. We know that people who drink also suffer with sleep disturbance and poor quality sleep with subsequent day time sleepiness and fatigue. Many people drink thinking it will help sleep and it may help some get off to sleep initially but then tends to disturb the second phase of sleeping leading to periods of wakefulness during the night. This seems to persist for some time in the withdrawal stage. It may last a few weeks but in the unfortunate few can persist for almost two years. Here is an extract from a study by Williams and Rundell, ‘Altered sleep physiology in chronic alcoholics: reversal with abstinence’: Somnograms obtained from recently abstinent chronic alcoholics reveal gross disruption succinctly described as "fractured" sleep. Sleep onset is delayed and the rhythmic properties of the sleep pattern are markedly disturbed with numerous brief arousals and changes of sleep stage. Excessive stage 1 and stage rapid eye movement sleep are present while the high voltage slow wave sleep is markedly reduced or absent. With continued sobriety (9 months or more) the sleep stage percentages tend to return to normal levels, but the disruption of the sleep pattern persists after as much as 21 months of abstinence.
There are sometimes other factors involved in why we may not be sleeping so well such as low mood, weight gain, excessive caffeine intake, over stimulation from screens such as phones, laptops, tablets and TVs, increasing age (we need fewer hours as we get older and sleep patterns tend to change).
The question is what is to be done? My experience as a GP is that pharmaceuticals (i.e. medication) are rarely a good idea. Conventional sleeping tablets tend to be addictive and we get tolerant to their effects. Over the counter herbal remedies probably do no harm but may not be very effective. A few people with significant depression may be helped by an antidepressant called Mirtazapine which has a mild sedating side-effect particularly in low dose (15mg).
However, I think it is best to take a holistic approach. The first step is to accept this as a normal part of the recovery process, your brain and body are healing in the same way that if you get a minor injury like a burn, as it heals, it itches. Your brain needs to re-learn self-soothing and this can take longer with some brains. Keep your caffeine intake down, take some regular exercise in the fresh air and eat your fruit and vegetables. Avoid screens for at least an hour before bed and have a good wind down routine. Have a look at what the average sleep time should be for your age group and remember, it is an average; some will need fewer hours than others. Acceptance is the key. If you have a biphasic sleep, i.e. you sleep from 10pm to 2am, and then have a couple of waking hours and then sleep again from 4am to 8am, that is not too bad. The most important thing is not to relapse into drinking as this will set your sleep disturbance back."