Insomnia is many times mistaken for a sleep disorder, when in fact it is basically a complaint about the difficulty of falling asleep, trouble staying asleep or unrestorative sleep. There are many reasons that people suffer from insomnia and there is usually an underlying clue to determine the cause of the problem.
Insomnia resulting from alcohol is one of the problems that can be eliminated. Most people think that drinking alcohol is comparable to a sedative, but actually it may put you to sleep for a few hours only to wake you up in an alarming state. Alcohol insomnia will then make you restless throughout the remainder of the night. A nightcap before bed will have the same effect; however, you may have a quick nap and then a fitful sleep throughout the rest of the night.
Combating Alcohol Insomnia
An individual who is very stressed may use alcohol as a way to calm the anxiety they are suffering from. This eventually turns into a cycle and the pattern of alcohol insomnia will begin to take effect. Two or three hours of sleep and then wakeful, tossing nights, usually with vivid alarming dreams is what alcohol insomniacs are accustomed to. Eliminating the alcohol before bedtime is the key factor in reducing alcohol insomnia.
Teaching the individual different ways in which to handle his anxiety before bedtime is very important. Sleep disorder behaviorists call this proper bedtime hygiene. In other words, preparing the brain and body for sleep is the proper bedtime hygiene. Eliminating alcohol from an individual’s diet or at least limiting it to one cocktail or glass of wine before dinner will begin the process of proper bedtime hygiene. The process will go deeper to find out the reason behind the anxiety. Sometimes it is just a transient sleep insomnia, which means that an individual is stressing over an upcoming job review or wedding or some other similar event in their life. This stress will pass soon, but anxieties for other people reach much deeper into their souls.
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