WAKING UP AT 3AM?!
If you ask me what one of my favourite parts about sobriety is, SLEEP is top of the list. Which is actually quite hilarious because I used to use red wine pass out at the end of the day.
A @NYTimes article this week tells us why drinking wine to fall asleep is just bananas-
“A couple of glasses of wine or a few drinks in the evening will probably make you fall asleep faster than normal.”
“But even if you thud into dreamland, there’s a good chance that too much alcohol will mean a fitful night of sleep. That’s because alcohol disrupts what’s known as your sleep architecture, the normal phases of deeper and lighter sleep we go through every night. A night of drinking can “fragment,” or interrupt, these patterns, experts say, and you may wake up several times as you ricochet through the usual stages of sleep.”
“You pay for it in the second half of the night,” said Dr. Jennifer Martin, a psychologist and professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. Alcohol is “initially sedating, but as it’s metabolized, it’s very activating.”
I can attest to the truth of this, as can many of my clients. I used to pass out after a couple glasses of red wine but wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to go back to sleep.
The article continues, “Later in the night, as alcohol levels drop, your brain kicks into overdrive. You may toss and turn as your body undergoes a rebound arousal. “As the levels decline, you’re going to get more issues with the fragmentation,” said Dr. R. Nisha Aurora, a member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.”
Drinking wreaks total havoc on your sleep. It means that you are constantly waking up in the middle of the night and not getting proper rest whatsoever.
When I stopped drinking, I finally started sleeping. Getting the rest and the energy I needed each day meant I would actually exercise, make healthier food choices, and have a productive day of work.
By the end of the day, I am now naturally tired and can fall asleep without the temporary sedative- wine!
You can read the entire article here.
