Some people think that a few drinks (or a lot) before bed will allow them to get to sleep better. Well, they may fall asleep right away but, often drinkers will have fragmented sleep because after a few hours, they will awake feeling hung over and may be unable to fall back to sleep, so using alcohol as a sleep aid is not recommended.
Alcohol is a drug. If you are having several drinks every night, this is what could be interfering with a full night’s sleep. If you stop drinking and you feel jumpy and distressed, you may be going through withdrawal. It may be time for you to check with your doctor or to call Alcoholics Anonymous about your drinking. A heavy drinker that stops may sleep poorly for days or even weeks until their body has recovered.
When I have awaken with a doozie of a hangover, I sometimes think they should raise the legal drinking age to 90. I eventually learned that if my life stinks at the moment and I feel better drinking, the next day my life will still stink and I will feel like crap. Alcohol abuse doesn’t make things better, it will just make things worse and prevent you from finding ways to improve your situation and to make yourself feel better without alcohol or drugs and using them as a sleep aid.
Exercise, an evening walk, meditation, yoga, time with family and friends, petting your cat, throwing a ball with your dog, enjoying a sunset or getting up early to experience a sunrise.
All we want in this life is to feel good. You need to make yourself a big, long list of healthy, non-destructive things you can do to feel good and you won’t need the alcohol or drugs as a crutch anymore.
