Getting solid slumber is super important, but with the pressures of recovery, school and spending time with family — among countless other things — sleep often takes a back seat.
But a lack of adequate, restorative sleep can interfere with your long-term sobriety as well as any school or job endeavors. It can cause “fuzzy” thinking (common in early recovery), anxiety, depressed mood and poor emotional control.
- You'll learn less. Without adequate sleep, your brain has a harder time absorbing and recalling new information.
- You'll stress more. Sleep deprivation increases stress levels and also adversely impacts your immune system, making you more likely to get colds/flu.
- You’ll eat more. When you don’t sleep, your body can produce higher peaks of a lipid in our bloodstream called endocannabinoid, which makes eating more pleasurable.
Quick Sleep Fixes
Try these tips to break your bad sleep habits once and for all.
Take a nap. While naps don’t necessarily make up for inadequate or poor quality nighttime sleep, a short nap of 20 to 30 minutes can help to improve mood, alertness and performance, according to the National Sleep Foundation. And you’ll be in good company: Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Albert Einstein, and Thomas Edison are all said to have valued an afternoon snooze.
Stop sleeping in on the weekends. Sticking to a bedtime and wake schedule, even on weekends, helps regulate your body's clock so you can fall asleep and stay asleep for the night.
Make exercise a habit. Sure, exercise seems to be the catchall for better health, but it really does impact your sleep, too. Young athletes were shown to have better sleep patterns and more daytime alertness than peers who exercised significantly less, even if they slept the same amount, according to one study.
Pay attention to your body. Ask yourself the following questions to determine how many hours of sleep your body needs, suggest the NSF.
- Are you productive, healthy and happy on seven hours of sleep?
- Or does it take you nine hours of quality ZZZs to get you into high gear?
- Do you have health issues such as being overweight? Are you at risk for any disease?
- Are you experiencing sleep problems?
- Do you depend on caffeine to get you through the day?
- Do you feel sleepy when driving?
When you choose Hope Academy's rehab, you open the possibility for a whole new life. Our program includes job prep and college admissions along with drug and alcohol treatment. To learn more, call today: 866-930-467.
