Stress is a natural physical reaction that helps you to respond quickly and effectively under pressure. 

Our body does this by revving up our nervous system and hormones to prepare for action. 

Adrenaline and cortisol are the two main hormones that begin to pump through our system, speeding up heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure and metabolism.

If the stress response goes on for too long (e.g. if you’re under the pump at work for months on end), this can take its toll on your mind and body. 

Some people have a more sensitive stress response than others, much like a car alarm that goes off in the wind.

For many people who have stopped drinking, these kinds of issues with sleep can persist for months. 

The good news is that research has shown that for most people, sleep quality improves slowly over time. 

As our brains slowly adjust to the ‘new, new normal’, the patterns of sleep return to normal and we begin to see a re-emergence of REM sleep and a reduction in sleep issues such as early morning awakenings.

It can be helpful to think about how your own sleep is being affected by alcohol as this is different for everyone. 

Some people may have concerns about giving up alcohol and how it will take away their ability to get to sleep. Others might be having sleep difficulties as a result of reducing their drinking. When you know about your issues with alcohol and sleep, you can see where your next step is to feeling better.

Being able to identify some of the factors affecting your sleep is an important step to start to make changes. It will be different for everyone, and also depends on what is happening in your life at the time. 

Below are some common factors that contribute to problems with sleep:

One of the most widely used and effective strategies for sleep issues is something called Sleep Hygiene. Sleep Hygiene is a collection of strategies that are proven to help us to get ready to go to sleep in a calm and relaxed way. Everyone will have different strategies that work for them. 

Check out some of our suggested strategies here. You will find that some work better for you than others. 

One of the most widely used Sleep Hygiene strategies are Sleep Rituals. You can think of your sleep ritual as a kind of ‘heads up’ to the more primitive part of your brain that it is time to start winding down. 

As pleasant as it might be for us to ‘power down’ our brains (kind of like a smartphone!), in reality it takes a bit longer to reach the stage of being able to switch off and go to sleep. 

Here are some ideas for sleep rituals to start doing in the evening in the 2 hrs before bed.

For a sleep ritual to be effective, it needs to be something that:

• is reasonably easy to do
• is something that you enjoy
• something that does not require a lot of extra effort, and most importantly, 
• can reliably add to a feeling of calm and relaxation.

Stress can impact your sleep in many ways. If you have a lot on your mind, you might not be able to get to sleep. There is a reason why we use the phrase “losing sleep” over something. When you find you have a busy mind with worry it can be almost impossible to relax. People who suffer from chronic stress day in and day out have even more trouble sleeping due to not being able to relax their minds and bodies. With regular practice, mindfulness is an effective way to manage stress and remain calm. If you’d like to learn more about how to manage stress, check out our information pack on Relieving Stress. The Relieving Stress Activity Sheet links to mindfulness exercises/apps, to help quiet your mind and body.

Now that you know about some of the things that could be disrupting your sleep, as well as the role that alcohol is playing for you, let’s put some of those strategies into a plan of action. You can download a worksheet for your sleep plan in our  ‘My Sleep Strategies’ activity sheet

As you begin to try these out, make sure you keep track of what works and what doesn’t. Some great strategies might be most effective in certain situations (e.g. meditation before bed when stressed), others will be great to use every evening (e.g. hot shower before bed, sleeping mask).