Anxiety and alcohol

Post your questions about alcohol and sleep here.

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castlebergh
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Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2014 7:34 pm
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by castlebergh on Mon Dec 02, 2019 4:39 pm

Anxiety and alcohol

As I suffer with terrible anxiety I use alcohol to help calm me down to sleep. Without it I cannot get off but I admit my actual sleep is poor and broken after a few hours? But I cannot do this alone?

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lisaartis
Posts: 42
Joined: Tue Mar 26, 2019 12:23 pm
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by lisaartis on Thu Dec 05, 2019 1:33 pm

Re: Anxiety and alcohol

As I suffer with terrible anxiety I use alcohol to help calm me down to sleep. Without it I cannot get off but I admit my actual sleep is poor and broken after a few hours? But I cannot do this alone?

Hi castleberg
Thanks for your question.

I am sorry to hear you are suffering with anxiety. Is this something you're under the doctor for? Are you on medication or receiving further help to manage your anxiety?

Alcohol is quite often used as a sleep aid and you're not alone in using it to relax and calm down. Because alcohol is a depressant and has a sedative effect, people believe that alcohol helps them to fall asleep and sleep better throughout the night. Anxiety and alcohol use are often connected with people resorting to the consumption of alcohol in an effort to deal with anxiety issues.

However, while it does initially relax you, it does play havoc with sleep patterns – losing valuable sleep and disrupting vital brain functions. Waking up deprived of the vital sleep your body needs will leave you feeling drained and, if experienced night after night, can seriously affect your health and wellbeing.

Symptoms of poor sleep include anxiety but equally anxiety can cause thoughts to race through your mind, making it difficult to sleep.

You need to break the cycle of you using alcohol as a way of calming yourself down before bedtime. Have you looked at alternative ways of calming your mind - mindfulness, meditation, listening to music etc?

I also think you should either see your GP about this issue.
Lisa Artis
Head of The Sleep Council

http://www.talkhealthpartnership.com/on ... _artis.php

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