There are also several steps you can take to improve your quality of sleep and quality of life. Some you can adopt on your own, and some are under the supervision of a health professional. If you’re https://ecosoberhouse.com/ in recovery and having sleep problem, it’s important to discuss the situation with your doctor. There are medications, behavioral therapies, and other approaches your doctor can recommend.

Consistent with this hypothesis, treatment with GABAA agonists improved sleep during alcohol withdrawal in rats (Rouhani et al. 1998). Similarly, the GABAA agonist diazepam increased polysomnographically measured total sleep time in alcoholic humans (Aubin et al. 1994). The levels of oxygen in the blood are another indicator of whether breathing is interrupted during sleep. Vitiello and colleagues (1990) found that low levels of oxygen in the blood (i.e., hypoxemia) occurred more commonly in alcoholic men who had been abstinent for a mean of 115 days than in control subjects. In the alcoholic group, neither the number of abstinent days nor smoking predicted hypoxemia.

How Long Does Insomnia Last After Quitting Alcohol?

When you have sleep apnea, drinking can make the breathing interruptions last longer when you are asleep, leading to more awakenings. Studies have shown that people who drink and have sleep apnea are at a much higher risk of traffic accidents than people with sleep apnea who do not drink alcohol. When a person has sleep apnea, they have interrupted breathing during the night. The condition is linked to fatigue as well as serious cardiovascular conditions like heart attack and stroke. Drinking to fall asleep can cause or worsen some health issues over time.

Those who stop using alcohol are likely to eventually experience better quality and longer-lasting sleep. In the beginning, however, sleep may be more difficult for those who have relied on using alcohol to get to sleep. Stopping alcohol use removes this sleep aid, potentially leading to difficulty initially getting to sleep. Try subbing in some of our favorite nonalcoholic drinks and spirits during Dry January and beyond. For some people, the experience can inspire them to continue to abstain. As Allen told me, when it comes to mindful drinking, "we want to minimize the frequency and maximize the enjoyment."

Exercise or Activity

A growing number of people have had success using kratom to reduce the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal, including insomnia. Interestingly, kava bars are cropping up around the U.S. – and they’re a huge hit with people who have quit drinking alcohol. 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.

• Thus, the dose-dependent effects of alcohol on sleep seem to parallel the dose-dependent effects of alcohol on norepinephrine release.
• In addition to psychiatric comorbidity, such as depression, researchers have identified other variables that can influence sleep measures in recently abstinent alcoholic patients.
• The result is spending 10 hours in bed but feeling like you haven’t slept a wink.
• Get professional help from an online addiction and mental health counselor from BetterHelp.

In conclusion, sleep fragmentation manifested by increases in sleep-stage changes, brief arousals, and REM sleep disruptions can persist for 1 to 3 years after establishing sobriety. Furthermore, most sleep disturbances that occur during recent abstinence (i.e., decreased total sleep time and SWS%, and increased sleep latency and stage 1 sleep) appear to normalize with sustained abstinence. Although some studies documented a return to normal can’t sleep without alcohol REM% at 3 to 9 months, REM% may remain elevated for 27 months. Polysomnographic analyses found that some sleep abnormalities can persist for 1 to 3 years after cessation of alcohol consumption (see table 2). For example, two study groups reported more frequent than normal shifting from one sleep stage to another, suggesting sleep “fragmentation,” after 12 to 24 months of abstinence (Adamson and Burdick 1973; Williams and Rundell 1981).