Drugs And Insomnia

The majority of drug users will have at some stage experienced insomnia. I have personally been there and suffered chronic insomnia for years.

People who take CNS depressants or smoke cannabis start to rely on the drug to help them sleep sometimes due to the drowsy affect the drug causes (I am one of these people).

I stopped all drugs for a while in order to help my sleep disorder however it didn’t help and I ended up being prescribed Temazepam which kind of defeated the object I feel.

It can be very easy to start to reply on drugs to get a good night sleep, (sometimes the best night sleep) whether it be alcohol, benzos, weed or opiates, but this isn’t healthy unless done in moderation.

Here are a few tips on how to regulate your sleep pattern if you are abstaining from drugs:

1. Avoid getting prescription sedatives from a GP, you are just replacing one addiction for another and as soon as you stop taking them, you will be back to square one.

2. Exercise: According to the national sleep council; there have been numerous studies which show that with a single bout of aerobic exercise, the time it took for the subject to fall asleep was reduced. Not only this it releases stress and releases endorphin’s in the brain increasing mood, eliminating some of that night time anxiety. Exercises such as Yoga can be very beneficial as it reduces anxiety and creates a great sense of relaxation.

3. Diet can be very important, by cutting out stimulants such as coffee and caffeinated fizzy drinks will have a benefit, tea does have caffeine in but less so than coffee. You can always move to decaf temporarily if you can’t give it up. It is important to get a balanced and healthy diet as this also affects your mood and general well being. Try and cut out junk food and eating late at night, also a fresh diet is paramount to a healthy diet. You will notice a difference in your overall health within a couple of weeks by changing your diet.

4. Wean yourself off your DOC if you think it would be best, it is usually helpful to have a friend you can trust to ration your stash. Lower your intake day by day until stopping cold turkey becomes a much less painful experience.

5. Read. There is nothing more infuriating than lying in bed being wide awake watching the clock. If you know you have no chance of getting to sleep then get up and do something, read a book, have a hot milky drink (bed you’ve never heard that before), don’t just lie there seething.

6. Try and avoid computers/tablets/phones before bed as they emit a blue light which interferes with your sleep, however there are apps which you can download with an orange filter to stop this.

Alcohol and sleep: It is generally thought that alcohol will help you sleep however, the quality of the sleep you are getting after drinking is very poor due to it being fragmented, hence why you always wake up tired after a night out, even if you sleep all day. Alcohol can cause you to wake up several times, then once the alcohol leaves your system you struggle to get back to sleep.

Cannabis and sleep: There have been studies to show that heavy cannabis use causes sleep problems in users although this specific study doesn’t definitively prove that cannabis use causes insomnia. The imbeciles at the daily mail published an article claiming that there was a link between cannabis use and insomnia, specifically for people under 15 years of age. Which is no surprise, people shouldn’t be smoking at that age.

Stimulants and sleep: Lastly; stimulants are the worse for insomnia, myself and a lot of other people find that they can have a fiendish quality to them causing long binges void of sleep and food. Not only have you been up for 48 hours, wired off your tits you then have the challenge of getting some sleep after coming down whilst your heart and mind are still going a million miles an hour. I find a benzo helps in these situations or just avoiding them in general.