5 Things You’re Doing Wrong With Your Sleep

5 Things You’re Doing Wrong With Your Sleep

Sleep is essential to healing. When you are recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, it is critical to get a deep sleep every night for at least 6-8 hours. Some doctors believe that 8-10 hours is better for recovery. During sleep your body and your mind are healing. Sleep is a time for the body to rejuvenate and mend itself back together. In the brain, all of the information from the day is being sorted out and organized. Addiction and alcoholism are disease of the mind, the body, and the spirit. Sleep has a great influence on spirit as well. Without a good night sleep during treatment, you will be less focused, less aware, less present, and likely very cranky. Enduring ongoing symptoms of withdrawal requires you to have energy and endurance, a great deal of which can be sourced from sleep.

1. Your room is chronically messy: Most treatment centers with residential living, or sober livings where you stay while attending a partial care program, will ask you to keep your room clean and make your bed. This is for a few reasons. First, they are likely to conduct tours for other clients. Second, it is a good practice in discipline to keep your room clean and make your bed every day. Third, having an organized room helps maintain a calm energy in your room. If you go to sleep with a messy room, you’ll likely sleep without the deepness you need to be fully rested.
2. Your sleeping environment has too much light: Some people like to sleep with the lights on. Others feel that they need total darkness. Certain kinds of light can be stimulating to the brain. Though you might sleep, you won’t be getting the deep states of sleep that you need.
3. You eat a lot of sweets before bed: Sugar is a stimulant that not only keeps the brain awake, but causes cravings and dehydration. Though you might fall asleep after a bowl of ice cream, you’ll wake up in the night to drink some water, or you might have restless sleep. Try to drink a calming herbal tea before bed or have some sugar free dark chocolate, which will help your body digest and detoxify through the night.
4. You are using your phone while in bed before going to sleep: Social media, email checking, and engaging with various apps on your phone all stimulate the brain in different ways. What is most problematic about using your phone during the time you are trying to fall asleep is the blue light. Ideally, you should put down your phone at least an hour before your bedtime to help your brain destimulate and prepare for rest.
5. You don’t help yourself sleep: There are many luxuries for sleep which are actually helpful. Ear plugs, eye masks, weighted blankets, aromatherapy, sound machines- all of these small luxuries can greatly enhance your night’s sleep. Try investing in some of these items and your payoff will be ten times the reward.

Enlightened Solutions takes a holistic approach to addiction treatment by bringing together various disciplines to create an effective program for mind, body, and spirit. For more information on our partial care programs, call 833-801-5483 today.