First Drink For 3 weeks

[jack123]

Was yesterday, and initial thoughts I'm not missing a lot.

Mad thing is, what I have noticed, like sleep patterns are brilliant, tired by 11. awake before 6, where as when drinking you are awake till silly times in the morning, and get up not far off 12, if you are lucky.

Also after the 3 weeks I noticed as well, I changed to being laid back, and I was thinking yesterday I'm so calm when not drinking, it is like better than mediation would do.

So I guess my question when you boys drink, how much does it muck up your sleep cycle?

 

[monmouth]

You’ve posted the stuff you have sober?


Only messing.

 

[jack123]

You’ve posted the stuff you have sober?


Only messing.

It's ok, serious question Monny, I'm not sure if you have a tipple, but if you do, how much would you say it interferes with your sleep pattern?

 

[monmouth]

It's ok, serious question Monny, I'm not sure if you have a tipple, but if you do, how much would you say it interferes with your sleep pattern?

Oh, loads if I drink after about 5pm. I have cut down totally over the years. Rarely have more than one a day, although I drank a bottle of Chablis today watching the shambles at the hawthornes. I don’t sleep particularly well anyway, annoyingly. Age, not drink, though. My missus sleeps like unconscious for 8 hours, the cow

 

[Cooperman]

‘We’ are the same, Monny.

My wife can sleep through most things and has the ability to sleep until 10 or 11am at weekends. I am at the complete opposite end of scale, almost certainly awake by 6am regardless of what time I went to bed the night before, and when it’s worst case I can be awake all night and be up watching TV two or three times. Alcohol doesn’t seem to influence any of this to be honest.

 

[JustJack]

Of course, it's no different to smoking or eating junk food regularly, it affects the whole system such as sleep/mood.

Read something interesting the other day, the hit of dopamine you get after the first taste of an alcoholic drink, be it a refreshing beer, cider etc, well it only lasts a short time, certainly not longer than the time it takes to finish the first drink, after that, we are just chasing the return of that feeling, without realising it isn't going to return until the body flushes the other alcohol away.

What we do as humans is of course consume to excess, when we all get what we need within a short amount of time.

 

[jack123]

Oh, loads if I drink after about 5pm. I have cut down totally over the years. Rarely have more than one a day, although I drank a bottle of Chablis today watching the shambles at the hawthornes. I don’t sleep particularly well anyway, annoyingly. Age, not drink, though. My missus sleeps like unconscious for 8 hours, the cow

Thanks, have you ever tried say a month off the booze? I did it last year as well February I think it was, and the sleep pattern was the same.

This time it sort of kicked in, on the start of the third week, so I would say 14 days no alcohol, then bed before 12, up before 7.. I mean you are just awake.. Well more or less awake at 5.45 am

 

[exiledclaseboy]

The only night I can guarantee sleep is Saturday, which is the only night I drink these days save for holidays and special occasions. I’m a terrible sleeper and have been for decades. Four hours on a normal night is a triumph for me.

 

[jed]

I hardly drink at all these days but it doesn't take much to mess up my sleep. Any more than 4 beers in a night and I can tell I had bad sleep and feeling groggy the next morning but even 1 or 2 makes my sleep quality go to shit according to my Garmin tracker. Not to the point of feeling any kind of hangover symptoms, but always feel like I have less energy, especially in the later afternoon.

Going back a few years, I'd often have a skinfull at least one weekend day and then wake up late the next day but as I got older, that waking up late started giving me a kind of depressed feeling that I'd missed out on a big part of a day that I should have been enjoying. Mentally that set me up to have a shitty start to the week. This only started when I got to mid-30’s I think, didn’t care less when younger.

 

[Wing_Stand_Wood]

Habitual drinking that becomes a chronic problem, can end presenting alcohol-withdrawal-insomnia symptoms for certain susceptible individuals when long term alcohol consumption is suddenly stopped. This is because alcohol acts like a sedative and sleeping aid for some when excessive amounts are consumed on a nightly basis. I had a late friend with a drink problem who had to be prescribed Nitrazepam to get him to sleep when he went alcohol free cold-turkey on a drinking cessation/treatment programme . He would go to bed and just could not sleep.

 

[monmouth]

Thanks, have you ever tried say a month off the booze? I did it last year as well February I think it was, and the sleep pattern was the same.

This time it sort of kicked in, on the start of the third week, so I would say 14 days no alcohol, then bed before 12, up before 7.. I mean you are just awake.. Well more or less awake at 5.45 am

Never tried abstinence, but have many days when I don’t drink. I also run about 30 miles or more a week, so reward myself after a tough session with a cider or a beer, no matter what time it is, but I have no issues not having a second one in the day. Regarding dopamine, the best thing you can do is an ice bath or cold shower for 5 or ten mins a day. The ‘hit’ lasts most of the day. I’ve done it a few times and it’s true (and you’re warmer when you get out than a hot shower because of core temps), but can I do it more often…nope, give me the hot shower every time, even though it is a terrible option.

Sleep is a bugger. I invariably fall asleep around 11, wide awake at 2 or 3 and maybe back to sleep at 5 and then tired much of the day. My father was the same. Truth is I need to be more productive on a ‘second sleep’ basis, but inevitably just lie there thinking about shit. Getting older sucks.

 

[jack123]

The only night I can guarantee sleep is Saturday, which is the only night I drink these days save for holidays and special occasions. I’m a terrible sleeper and have been for decades. Four hours on a normal night is a triumph for me.

4 hours kip is no good for you mush. All jokes aside, something must be going wrong? At least 6 min, ideally 7-8 hours.

 

[jack123]

Never tried abstinence, but have many days when I don’t drink. I also run about 30 miles or more a week, so reward myself after a tough session with a cider or a beer, no matter what time it is, but I have no issues not having a second one in the day. Regarding dopamine, the best thing you can do is an ice bath or cold shower for 5 or ten mins a day. The ‘hit’ lasts most of the day. I’ve done it a few times and it’s true (and you’re warmer when you get out than a hot shower because of core temps), but can I do it more often…nope, give me the hot shower every time, even though it is a terrible option.

Sleep is a bugger. I invariably fall asleep around 11, wide awake at 2 or 3 and maybe back to sleep at 5 and then tired much of the day. My father was the same. Truth is I need to be more productive on a ‘second sleep’ basis, but inevitably just lie there thinking about s**t. Getting older sucks.

Good on you doing the running, especially 30 miles, I must say I feel at my age, if I break into a light jog, i feel a twat.

 

[jack123]

Habitual drinking that becomes a chronic problem, can end presenting alcohol-withdrawal-insomnia symptoms for certain susceptible individuals when long term alcohol consumption is suddenly stopped. This is because alcohol acts like a sedative and sleeping aid for some when excessive amounts are consumed on a nightly basis. I had a late friend with a drink problem who had to be prescribed Nitrazepam to get him to sleep when he went alcohol free cold-turkey on a drinking cessation/treatment programme . He would go to bed and just could not sleep.

I'll be honest with you, the first time I knocked it on the head for 6 weeks in 2022, I researched what could happen, just giving up, I won't lie my alcohol intake increased dramatically throughout covid. And I was frightened to what may happen, as in giving up on your own accord, but thankfully nothing happened.

Don't get me wrong, I have thought about this long and hard, and I have come to the conclusion that A make a tit of yourself on here. B the hangovers, I can't stand them anymore, a weekend binge takes to long to recover.

 

[exiledclaseboy]

4 hours kip is no good for you mush. All jokes aside, something must be going wrong? At least 6 min, ideally 7-8 hours.

I agree. But I’m just a terrible sleeper. Always have been.