Living in addiction is chaotic, and we rarely care to have a healthy, routine sleep schedule. After so much time spent without a healthy sleep pattern, it can be difficult to develop one in sobriety. Sleep is incredibly important in the recovery healing process. Too much or too little sleep can have devastating effects on our mental health, and, consequently, our recovery. Many men and women enter into treatment with other mental health problems aside from addiction or alcoholism. Without adequate sleep, these mental health issues are exacerbating, possibly affecting our ability to properly engage in our recovery program. According to Harvard Medical School, “Although scientists are still trying to tease apart all the mechanisms, they’ve discovered that sleep disruption — which affects levels of neurotransmitters and stress hormones, among other things — wreaks havoc in the brain, impairing thinking and emotional regulation. In this way, insomnia may amplify the effects of psychiatric disorders, and vice versa.” Inability to regulate our emotional natures or thought process spells disaster for a person in recovery. When we are not thinking clearly because we are sleep deprived, we are in much greater danger of making foolish decisions that could ultimately lead to relapse. Depression and anxiety are two of the most common mood disorders that affect men and women in early recovery. Both of these problems can be made much worse my lack of or too much sleep. The National Alliance on Mental Illness explains, “More than one-half of insomnia cases are related to depression, anxiety or psychological stress. Often the qualities of a person’s insomnia and their other symptoms can be helpful in determining the role of mental illness in a person’s inability to sleep. Early morning wakefulness can be a sign of depression, along with low energy, inability to concentrate, sadness and a change in appetite or weight. On the other hand, a sudden dramatic decrease in sleep which is accompanied by increase in energy, or the lack of need for sleep may be a sign of mania.” Our sleep patterns can be both a cause of and a symptom of psychiatric problems. When we don’t develop healthy sleeping routines, we fall into a vicious cycle of depression and anxiety creating sleep disturbances, which, in turn, make our depression and anxiety worse. In recovery, adequate sleep can be a major tool in healing ourselves from the damage caused by our time in addiction.
When you change your story, you change your life. That’s the motto of Oceanfront Recovery, a men’s treatment facility in beautiful Laguna Beach. With a caring and compassionate staff determined to give you all the tools you need to achieve a happy, joyous, and free life in sobriety, Oceanfront may be the choice for you. For more information about treatment options, please call today: (877) 279-1777
