Bad Sleep? OverDreaming? Simple Here's why!

[MrOsaka]

When I was using I was often downright afraid to go to sleep. I had nightmares, the sweats, and so on. I felt like sleeping was the worst time of the day for me. Now I know why.



When alcoholics drink anytime from late afternoon to right before bed, sleep consists almost entirely of brief periods of REM sleep (dream sleep), disrupted by numerous awakenings.

Why is over-dreaming bad for me? Basically, because dreaming is hard work. The dreaming itself is not a restful activity. Dreaming is called 'paradoxical sleep' because brain wave patterns are similar to those of the brain when completely awake.

Dreaming is a state of arousal. As far as much of the brain is concerned, the dream is real. So adrenaline and other stress hormones in the system will be active in the body.

This is a double edged sword, because over-dreaming, as well as using up these hormones and energy, is actually making it harder for the body to make more. As we try to flush out the incomplete emotions, we spend more time in REM sleep, and therefore less time in deep sleep, when our body should be recuperating in preparation for producing these hormones for the next day.

So if we are over-dreaming we're not resting but flooding our system with adrenaline and other stress hormones. If most of our sleep consists of dreams, our body and mind will begin to feel very tired during the day.

People in this situation often report that the worst time of day is first thing in the morning.

As the day progresses, their hormones replenish themselves and their energy levels increase, and they are better able to motivate themselves.

However, because we do so much more ruminating, or introspecting the brain has to increase the amount of dreaming we do. And before long we are missing out on physically-rejuvenating Slow Wave Sleep.

We deplete our hormonal system with extended night-time emotional arousal.

This exhausts our 'orientation response' - a crucial brain activity that allows us to change our focus of attention and so motivate ourselves. It is also a key part of concentration.

DANGER: Recovery and Relapse. Despite some improvement after withdrawal subsides, sleep patterns may never return to normal in those with alcoholism, even after years of abstinence. Abstinent alcoholics tend to sleep poorly, with decreased amounts of SWS and increased nighttime wakefulness that could make sleep less restorative and contribute to daytime fatigue. Resumption of heavy drinking leads to increased SWS and decreased wakefulness. This apparent improvement in sleep continuity may promote relapse by contributing to the mistaken impression that alcohol consumption improves sleep. Nevertheless, as drinking continues, sleep patterns again become disrupted.

On a personal note...I am still experiencing some disrupted sleep some 5 weeks later, but the nature of the dreams has changed. I use to suffer from extreme nightmares quite often, but now they are just vivid dreams. Sometimes violent and sometimes not. Once again. Hope this info helps someone out there understand what is going on with us.

I sincerely welcome any comments about shared experiences or advice about improving sleep patterns. Thanks for letting me share.

Sources:
http://www.clinical-depression.co.uk...erstanding.htm

Alcohol and Sleep

[SpeedyJason]

Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.

[Lionne]

Wow, now at ober 4 months sober this explains a lot I was going through when I was still drinking and what I experienced in the first weeks and months of sobriety. In addition to the work my body had to do I had very frightening and cofusing dreams and I was tired all the time. It got better gradually though. Like you, I also noticed a change in the nature of the dreams. Thank you very much for this article.

[es0919]

Thanks for sharing, good stuff!

[EvilBunny]

The best thing I've done for sleep is to wear amber (yellow) safety glasses a couple of hours before bedtime. Your body can't produce melatonin if your eyes see blue light (the kind TVs and computers make a ton of). Yellow glasses block out blue light and allow melatonin production to begin. This not only regulates circadian rhythms, but also mood. It's an excellent treatment for bipolar disorder. Aside from the yellow glasses, I wear a sleep mask at night. Night-time light also disrupts melatonin production. You can buy night-lights that don't produce blue light if you need one.

[MDB79]

This is a great post with much needed insight as to what is going inside the brain of a recoveree. I am at day 27 and the dreams are getting from bad to worse. The article seems to suggest that the key goal to the reduction of vivid dreams/nightmares and daytime fatigue is to improve SWS. Below is an abstract from an experimental drug that may offer the key to improving SWS. I can say from personal experience that it does work. However, I DO NOT suggest that anyone try to this drug since it is not an approved drug as far as I know. DO NOT TAKE THIS AS MEDICAL ADVICE OR EVEN ATTEMPT TO OBTAIN AND CONSUME THIS SUBSTANCE ON YOUR OWN. I AM POSTING THIS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AS IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED IN ANY WAY AS MEDICAL ADVICE OR AS A DIRECTION TO ANYONE TO TRY THIS SUBSTANCE. ALL DRUGS CARRY A SERIOUS RISK OF ADVERSE REACTIONS AND THIS ONE IS NOT AN EXCEPTION. Hopefully in the near future there will be approved similar drugs that could be prescribed by a licensed physician to those suffering from lack of SWS.

Here is the link to the full study:
Ghrelin promotes slow-wave sleep in humans -- Weikel et al. 284 (2): E407 -- AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism


ABSTRACT

Ghrelin, an endogenous ligand of the growth hormone (GH) secretagogue (GHS) receptor, stimulates GH release, appetite, and weight gain in humans and rodents. Synthetic GHSs modulate sleep electroencephalogram (EEG) and nocturnal hormone secretion. We studied the effect of 4 × 50 µg of ghrelin administered hourly as intravenous boluses between 2200 and 0100 on sleep EEG and the secretion of plasma GH, ACTH, cortisol, prolactin, and leptin in humans (n = 7). After ghrelin administration, slow-wave sleep was increased during the total night and accumulated -wave activity was enhanced during the second half of the night. Rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep was reduced during the second third of the night, whereas all other sleep EEG variables remained unchanged. Furthermore, GH and prolactin plasma levels were enhanced throughout the night, and cortisol levels increased during the first part of the night (2200-0300). The response of GH to ghrelin was most distinct after the first injection and lowest after the fourth injection. In contrast, cortisol showed an inverse pattern of response. Leptin levels did not differ between groups. Our data show a distinct action of exogenous ghrelin on sleep EEG and nocturnal hormone secretion. We suggest that ghrelin is an endogenous sleep-promoting factor. This role appears to be complementary to the already described effects of the peptide in the regulation of energy balance. Furthermore, ghrelin appears to be a common stimulus of the somatotropic and hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical systems. It appears that ghrelin is a sleep-promoting factor in humans

[stephnc]

Fascinating thread. I've been taking sleep medications for years so I don't think my brain has functioned naturally during sleep for a long time. I'm curious to learn more from the article you linked to. Thanks again for the post.

[din]

and man can I relate to alot of what I've been reading.

I always figure my drinking worked as a sedative for me (exact opposite I come to find out) My yawns start at 5-6 at night (yea, I know my "start your poison hours") and by 8 I could just crash! (normally hold out till 830 or 9)

dreams and NIGHTMARES have been horrid all except for maybe one or 2 nights since I quit. (they can go ahead and STP any ol~time now.)

But I am awake, like clockwork anywhere from 2-3 and usually can not get back to sleep until maybe 20-30 minutes before I am going to get up anyhow.

I feel amazingly good in the morning regardless of hours slept........

have never, nor want to at all (take anything to help me sleep med wise)

I eat around 6-7pm

I guess I need to address this non-sleep issue a little more (just thought it was only me, until I saw this part of the forums)

figured the nightmares and dreams was just MORE of my guilt seeping out...