When I quit drinking, I learned to run until I couldn’t move my legs, then I’d do pushups until I couldn’t move my arms.
I think alcoholics have to pick something to do to excess at the expense of their health. It’s usually exercise, sugar, or sex.
If you have enough sex, it IS exercise. Which is great, because I refuel between rounds with boxes of sugary treats. But that’s the price of sober, clean living. I choose my health, you know?
Yeah, everytime I do this i wale up 3 hours later and am unable to get back to sleep. Drinking sucks for real sleep. Maybe a single beer would be okay, but 6 or more before bed ruins sleep for me.
I got a tremendous amount of work done the day after I drank 12 beers. That was two weeks ago. I was nursing a hangover all day. Didn’t matter, the last time I was that productive was 17 years ago. That was the last time I wasn’t on bipolar meds.
Why would you work after drinking? Every comment you’ve made in hear sounds massively unhealthy.
Oh, now I see! You just didn’t read my comment correctly. I didn’t work while drunk, I worked while hungover, and I didn’t even drive to work, I worked from home. Don’t worry about it, I misread comments all the time
You replied to me twice…
What? I never worked after drinking. I always got drunk at night. Are you sure you read my comments correctly?
I’ve found that when I have trouble sleeping or wake up in the middle of night / very early morning I really just need a wank.
i was never a drinker and anxiety has me only sleep 3 hours a night for the last decade. also got messed up in the military. got to the point i started to have regular and increasing adrenal storms. imsupposed to get a therepist, and am currently taking hydrozine, which is like rolling dice to determine if i sleep, how long i sleep, if i will wake up on time, and if i will stop being groggy after 15 hours
I’m grateful I’ve never tried alcohol not even once ever, and I’ve slept like the goddamn happiest corpse every fucking night of my entire life.
honestly you’re missing out, being drunk fucking rules. totally worth it. but that’s just my opinion, not everyone reacts to booze the same way
Alcoholism runs in my family so I’m good with my lifelong decision to never put poison in my mouth. I’ve never felt what it feels like to be inebriated but what it looks like to an outside observer is bad. Drunk people are unpredictable, scary, unreliable, scary, are a danger to themselves & others, they do things they wouldn’t do in their right minds, break laws, ruin friendships & family relationships & ruin their employment, and did I mention how fucking SCARY they are?
but what it looks like to an outside observer is bad.
if that’s your only perspective than you have no qualia and are a philosophical zombie
look I love alcohol as much as you but don’t shit on this person’s valid observations. lack of experience in drunkenness doesn’t mean you can’t critique the poor decisions of those imbibing.
aims to improve sleep habits and behaviors by identifying and changing thoughts and behaviors that prevent a person from sleeping well.
The behavioral problem that I have is that I can’t get more than 4 hours of sleep unless I get wasted, and I’ve tried melatonin, cannabis, hydroxazine, and trazodone
There is a regulated medication I have and success with called Belsomra that works well. Not cheap though, unfortunately (circa $1/tablet) - definitely cheaper than boozing it up every night though.
Whatever you try I’d recommend staying away from Ambien (zolpidem tartrate) as it can be abused with alcohol, and alcoholics often develop a tolerance and dependence on it. Docs would most likely recommend against it, but the internet / random people might.
ambien doesn’t do anything either, one time i took 3 ambien and chased in with 10 beers and i was up all night
Well that sounds right… like I said, Ambien is counter-indicated for alcohol, combined they can cause euphoria which leads to abuse. Gotta chill on the alcohol, the meds work without it.
This is more and more sounding like alcoholism? Treat that first, your sleep will definitely improve.
I quit drinking three years ago. I’ve gotten drunk seven times since then and those were the only times where I got more than three hours of sleep. It’s all because my doctor prescribed me benzos when he knew I was binge drinking. I should have died a long time ago
Opposite for me. I try to always fall asleep sober, going to bed drunk gives me interrupted sleep. Fall asleep faster, sure. But always wake up in the night. Sober, I sometimes have trouble falling asleep but once asleep generally sleep until morning.
More than one a day is pretty unhealthy, could you just time a small nightcap right, and drink less not none?
Alcohol is pretty terrible for sleeping.
There may of course be psychological reasons alcohol can help you get to sleep. And for alcoholics I would imagine the withdrawal symptoms may interfere with sleep. We are all balancing the needs of our bodies and minds to cope with this cruel world and I’m not judging, but the science says there are benefits to sleeping without alcohol.
From what I remember from my neuroscience classes, TL;DR there are different networks that promote sleep vs wakefulness. Sleep involves firing of specific networks that are so in sync they generate brain waves that can be measured from the outside of your skull. Think delta waves. Alcohol has many non-specific targets in the brain that fuck up this rhythmic firing that keep you from entering REM and deep sleep.
The hypothalamus, a peanut-sized structure deep inside the brain, contains groups of nerve cells that act as control centers affecting sleep and wakefulness. Within the hypothalamus is the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN)—clusters of thousands of cells that receive information about light exposure directly from the eyes and control your behavioral rhythm. Some people with damage to the SCN sleep erratically throughout the day because they are not able to match their sleep/wake cycle (circadian rhythms) with the light-dark cycle. Most blind people maintain some ability to sense light to help them regulate their sleep/wake cycle.
The brainstem, which is made up of structures called the pons, medulla, and midbrain, controls the transitions between wake and sleep. Sleep-promoting cells within the hypothalamus and the brain stem produce a brain chemical called GABA, reduces activity in the hypothalamus and the brainstem. The brainstem (especially the pons and medulla) also plays a special role in REM sleep. It sends signals to relax muscles essential for body posture and limb movements, so that we don’t act out our dreams.
The thalamus sends and receives information from the senses to the cerebral cortex. The cerebral cortex is the covering of the brain that has many functions, including interpreting and processing short- and long-term memory. During most stages of sleep, the thalamus becomes quiet, letting you tune out the external world. But during REM sleep, the thalamus is active, sending the cortex images, sounds, and other sensations that fill our dreams.
The pineal gland, located within the brain’s two hemispheres, receives signals from the SCN and increases production of the hormone melatonin, which helps put you to sleep once the lights go down. Scientists believe that peaks and valleys of melatonin over time are important for matching the body’s circadian rhythm to the external cycle of light and darkness.
The basal forebrain, near the front and bottom of the brain, also promotes sleep and wakefulness, while part of the midbrain acts as a system to help us stay alert during the day. Release of a chemical called adenosine from cells helps make you feel sleepy. Caffeine counteracts sleepiness by blocking the actions of adenosine.
The amygdala, an almond-shaped structure involved in processing emotions, becomes increasingly active during REM sleep.
Alcohol has non specific targets in the brain. It reduces excitatory action through NMDA ligand gated ion channels. It enhances inhibitory action through GABA ligand gated ion channels. Fucking with those ion channels changes ions entering neurons which changes electrical signals that eventually propogate down the axon. Electrical signals in a nerve axon lead to the axon terminals releasing neurotransmitters to the next cell in the chain of the entire network. This fucks up the overall network/brain waves and fucks with your ability to enter deep sleep.
You can fall asleep faster with ethanol on board, but quality of sleep will be poor.
I have a degree in this bullshit and wut
I have a PhD in this bullshit.
have you tried exercising regularly? you’ll be so tired, you’ll have no choice but to sleep through the night.
plus, its great for you 👍
I used to walk 20,000 steps (10 miles) every day. It did nothing
nice! how much stress did that put on your body? like, were you drenched in sweat after walking?
I ask because I feel like it’s much easier to get a good night’s sleep after getting in a workout that pushed my body to the limit. if you walked 10 miles a day every day, after awhile, it should take less of a toll on your body
i became obsessed with fixing my walking form and now i think that one of my legs is shorter than the other
Try melatonine.
took 15 mg last night. i got more sleep but i also had 2 beers so <shrug>
Too much. 3-5mg. Too much melatonin has the opposite effect.
I was a terrible sleeper and absolutely drank to get tired for a long time. It ain’t good sleep but you already know that. I seitched booze for kratom a couple years back, one cup a night, and then I read in bed, take melatonin, and 15-30m to fall asleep most nights, for the first time in my life (except when I was in the service, but it’s easy to sleep when you’re physically exhausted often). I’m 38 now. It’s good.
i’ve also tried 5 mg and 10 mg and nothing works without a decent amount of alcohol
I used to drink a lot of beer every day and slept normally.
Then I quit drinking because it started to be incompatible with my aging body, but I still drink 2 or 3 strong Belgian beers on Saturday and Sunday: now I sleep normally on weekdays, and I fall into a dreamless slumber on weekends.
My conclusion is that, at least for a man my age, alcohol gives me more hours of lesser quality sleep. Make of that what you will.
Your experience is backed up by science. Alcohol suppresses REM sleep.
The most productive I’ve been in like the last year was when I had 12 beers the night before and I was nursing a hangover all day
Thats my yearly dose
Are you an alcoholic?
I drank 12 beers a day for about 10 years. Also mixed it with benzos. Eventually stepped it up to 18 when I went to a coding bootcamp and started having daily panic attacks
So that’s a yes…
well yeah, duh, lmaoooo
Short answer: yes.
Long answer: see above
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It might have something to do with that.
You can’t run away forever - face your problems. Life can be good
And compartmentalize things. Saying “fuck it” is okay sometimes. I’m not bringing stress of work to bed, to playtime with my kids, to all sorts of things. I leave that shit where it belongs, and if there are consequences I’ll deal with them in time. And usually there’s not and everything’s fine.
I think you might have a problem
lmao i know i do! i went to rehab in 2018. these days i try to drink less than once a week. big improvement given that i used to get shitfaced every night
I used to drink a lot more both in days and number of drinks. I found out that I wake up better rested when not drinking. I also found out that I have trouble sleeping if I’m not active at all during the day, I have a mostly desk job, and I need to at least take a walk for an hour every night to allow my body to be able to rest at night.
An under the desk bike has done wonders for me over the last decade. Let’s me keep mobile during the day and burn off all kinds of nervous ADHD energy
I’m pretty sure humans can learn how to sleep well. That’s what babies do after all.
Newborns sleep only like 1 or 2 hours, then wake up for a bit, then sleep again for 1 or 2 hours and so on. It takes them months or years to get it right.
If a baby can learn it, you can probably learn it as well.
Also, there are sleep labs btw… They monitor you during sleep and give advice, but I don’t like the concept, because it’s not your usual bedroom and therefore flawed.
“if babies can learn it, you can probably learn it as well”
Bruh, lmao I totally get the sentiment you’re going for but babies are famously the best at learning things.
don’t they need like 5 years to not poop themselves. idk 😆
Yeah on top of learning language, learning how to sleep, learning to walk, eat, hell how to coordinate their whole body. For 5 years that’s incredible.
Also it’s more like 2-3 years for the pooping for most I believe. Potty training at 2 years or just before it is pretty common.
I had a sleep study this year that was take-home, actually. They show you how to set up the device in the office and then you bring it back to them the next day for analysis.
🤯 that’s nice
I’d say alcohol might be the root cause for the sleeping issues.
