Wisconsin_Al

Has anyone else experienced this?

I am two years sober this May; I share that information since I am not sure if time sober has anything to do with this.

When I use to drink I would drink daily to fall asleep and at times pass out. I would fall asleep around 9:00pm and sleep to 6:00am or 7:00am and have to drag myself from bed. Plus the sleep was not restful.

Now I go to sleep between 10:00pm and 11:00pm and I am waking up between 3:00am and 6:00am feeling rested. This morning I woke at 2:00am and feeling OK. I seem to have no issue with 6 hours sleep and sometimes less.

Has this happened to anyone else? Do you think its related to sobriety or just a phase? Is it age related? I am 50 yrs old.

thanks

Time4Me11

Good Morning Al...

Not sure if the amount of sober time is relevant, for me after only 2 1/2 months I am drifting off like a baby 10:30 ish and up like light at 6...EVERYTHING has become regular!

For me, the truly restorative sleep has been one of the biggest blessings in early sobriety.

chemist

Time & Al,

You both are telling my story.

I used to start drinking at around 10:00pm, and would polish off a 6 pack or more before going to bed around 1:00 AM - I did this 5-6 nights per week. Of course that was enough alcohol to send me right off to sleep, although it wasn't deep sleep. The alarm clock rang at 6:45 AM waking me for work. On the one or two nights I didn't drink I found it very hard to fall asleep. I bought a white noise machine, a small noisy fan, etc. to help me get to sleep on the nights I didn't drink - didn't really work. This was my life for about 5 years. Looking back now, I realize that I didn't drink those other 1-2 nights per week only because that would have been in mind tantamount to admitting I had a raging alcohol problem. So I refrained from alcohol those nights despite the sleeplessness so that I could say I wasn't an alcoholic which I had arbitrarily defined as someone who drinks 7 days per week.

But ever since February this year, I have dropped my alcohol consumption to an average of maybe a six pack per week (its currently been around 11 days since I've had any at all). The first 7 days back in February were tough for me sleepwise. On the 7th day, I bought some melatonin and began regularly taking it around 10:00 PM nightly. It wasn't long before my 'clock was reset' so to speak. In the past, I was just getting wound up at 10:00PM because that's when I started drinking and surfing the internet and chatting. Now at 10:00PM Im starting to wind down with a melatonin and a glass of milk with a light snack. Im going through these regular nightly activities that are telling my body its 'time to get sleepy.' It's working beautifully.

My sleep cycle now is akin to Time4Me's now - Im going to sleep at around 11:15PM and waking at 6:45AM. Im sleeping better than I have in years, and my eyes look better than they have in years. Like Time4Me said "restorative sleep has been one of the biggest blessings in early sobriety." That's damn right.

chemist

I know Im shifting directions here but there is one Bible verse that I have to take issue with:

The love of money is the root of all evil. I Timothy 6:10.

The love of money is what kept me out of the abyss....in a sense. If I didn't have to wake up and go do the 9 to 5 to make the money to pay the bills, I'm almost convinced I would have slide off the deep end. Cognizance that alarm clock would ring at 6:45 stopped me at 6 beers and 1:00 AM. If I had been independently wealthy and didn't have to work, there is no telling what kind of monster I would have become.

Phinneas

Al-- It sounds like early-rising insomnia to me. I have had insomnia for 5 years, both before and after my active addiction.

It doesn't sound like your change in sleep is causing you problems. If that's true, don't worry about it. If you find that you are not getting enough sleep overall or waking up earlier and earlier, then go see your doctor for a check up.

Congrats on your sobriety!

phinny

Don W

I've experenced the same thing. I think it is because while we were drinking we had fitful sleeping. This is why I would wake up like I had never been asleep. Plus, your body isn't spending all its' energy trying to repair its" self. The sugar in alcohol has alot to do with sleep problems. To me you sound normal. Hey, we have problems judging normal having been unnormal for so long. Don W

wantneeda

hi there... : )
yes...my sleeping is so different...workin on day 331 here...seem to have aquired an internal alarm clock,,,no matter what time i go to bed i'm awake at 8:20. I work evenings 4-11..so i'm usually asleep somewhere around 2. I used to stay up for days at a time...sleep for days at a time...
First job in 3 years and on the 16th of this month i'll have been there for 3 months...yeah!!!!!
Napping before work doesn't seem to happen either...ends up being more like a meditation time...but by the time i get to work i'm tired...
6 hours or so seems to be the norm for me these days...never in my life have i been able to get by on that....
I replay those times i called in sick with 26 oz flu...or went to work feeling sooo sh!tty.
I don't have to do that today...
My mom says thats not the only thing that comes with age...thanks mom...lol
i haven't missed a day of work since i started this job...now that's progress!!!
There are only so many minutes in a day....i'm getting more done in a day than i ever did...i have sobriety to thank for that!!!
And God.. : )
\\// peace, Wendy