Hi guys was wondering if lack of dopamine can contribute to insomnia? I have been rebooting 7 and a half months with 2 relapses and all through the reboot my sleep has been up and down,recently i cut out or greatly reduced other sources of dopamine such as caffeine,cigarettes, TV,playstation and internet. Over the last 3 weeks or so since i tried this my sleep has been very poor with me sometimes only managing 4 hours. Do you guys think this is related?
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Poor sleep
- Thread starter Mad Mike
- Start date
Yes. I become completely sleepless when I'm in withdrawal. It is a good thing. It is a sign that your brain is rewiring, and you are becoming a better person. You will notice this happening after personal changes, auch as when you learn new social skills or go out of your comfort zone. Just accept it and don't try to force yourself to go to sleep. Stay up and read or do something you enjoy. I would not recommend demanding work though, if you need to be rested the next day. Also, be aware that just lying down is almost as resting as sleeping for your brain, so you'll be fine if you just stay awake but don't move. The key is to develop patience with just lying around and not to ruminate so much. We all need a few thousand hours of meditation, and it's your opportunity to get through some of that.
I wake up in the middle of the night for over 5 months now. Few months ago I managed to sleep 3 hours/night. And I could not fall asleep again. Now I am able to fall asleep after waking up. Lately I even managed to sleep 7 hours. But this happened once. Usually I sleep now for 4-5 hours a night. It all started when porn started to become boring to me. I guess my brain needed more extreme stuff -> higher dopamine highs. I stopped watching porn at this time and got into an involuntary reboot...
I am like you rebooting for almost 5 months now (with 2 MO) but still not sleeping properly.
I am like you rebooting for almost 5 months now (with 2 MO) but still not sleeping properly.
I do believe there are a few things you can do to help your body get to sleep anyway and that has to do with your circadian rhythm.
It involves giving your body the right cues that it's almost time to go to sleep.
[list type=decimal]
[*]The Amish Hour. One hour before you want to go to sleep, turn off all screens. This includes tv, smartphone, computer ... Any type of screen. Because all of them emit a certain blue light that tricks your brain into thinking it's still light outside. I know iPhones have a specific filter for this now and that there are apps on Android that also handle this. Nevertheless, I still put my smartphone away before going to sleep. And I spend that time doing something useful around the house. I do the dishes, I clean, I read a book, I prepare my breakfast for the next day, ... It can be anything as long as it's useful and as long as it's something that puts your mind to rest. Personally, what works really well for me is tidying up. I just feel better after I have put away all the mess. The Amish Hour allows your brain to slow down and realize that it's the evening and that it's time to go to sleep. This will ensure the creation of the melatonine hormone which will make you sleepy.
[*]An hour before you go to sleep, dim the lights a bit. Make it darker inside as if it's the evening inside your house as well. This will trigger your natural rhythm to say "oh, it's getting dark. I should be getting ready to go to sleep.
[*]From now on, use your bed only for sex and sleep. No thinking, no worrying, and absolute no lying awake. You see, our minds are contextual things. They tend to associate a room, a place, a time and an action all together. That's what happens when you walk into a room and suddenly think of something. If you often lie awake in your bed, get up. Walk around, drink a glass of warm milk. Just don't just lie there. Because just lying there means you'll start thinking and possibly start worrying about a lot of things. This will make it harder the next days to fall asleep in your bedroom, because you were lying there worrying yesterday, so your mind will automatically start doing this again this evening.
[*]Pick a specific part of your day (not right before you go to sleep, though) to write down your worries. Journaling is a great way to keep track of your emotions. Every time during the day that you're starting to think/worry about something, tell yourself: "no, not now. I'll worry about that in my fifteen-journaling-minutes. And really take those fifteen minutes every day to write down how your day was, what you're worried about, etc ... After a few days, your mind will learn that those fifteen minutes are the right moment for thinking about your day. This will help you create a new context for worrying/thinking that's not in your bed.
[*]Calm your mind with fifteen minutes of meditation. You can find a lot of guided meditations on youtube. Some voice talking to you for fifteen minutes. Follow their instructions, try focusing only on your breath. Every time a thought pops up in your head, you'll be inclined to follow it, but instead, try saying: "No, not right now. I'm just focusing on my breath." Keep repeating this the entire fifteen minutes. This is actually a very powerful willpower exercise because it takes willpower to keep unwanted thoughts away.
[/list]
Anyway, these are all things that helped me out tremendously when I was struggling with sleeping. Maybe it's something you can try.
It involves giving your body the right cues that it's almost time to go to sleep.
[list type=decimal]
[*]The Amish Hour. One hour before you want to go to sleep, turn off all screens. This includes tv, smartphone, computer ... Any type of screen. Because all of them emit a certain blue light that tricks your brain into thinking it's still light outside. I know iPhones have a specific filter for this now and that there are apps on Android that also handle this. Nevertheless, I still put my smartphone away before going to sleep. And I spend that time doing something useful around the house. I do the dishes, I clean, I read a book, I prepare my breakfast for the next day, ... It can be anything as long as it's useful and as long as it's something that puts your mind to rest. Personally, what works really well for me is tidying up. I just feel better after I have put away all the mess. The Amish Hour allows your brain to slow down and realize that it's the evening and that it's time to go to sleep. This will ensure the creation of the melatonine hormone which will make you sleepy.
[*]An hour before you go to sleep, dim the lights a bit. Make it darker inside as if it's the evening inside your house as well. This will trigger your natural rhythm to say "oh, it's getting dark. I should be getting ready to go to sleep.
[*]From now on, use your bed only for sex and sleep. No thinking, no worrying, and absolute no lying awake. You see, our minds are contextual things. They tend to associate a room, a place, a time and an action all together. That's what happens when you walk into a room and suddenly think of something. If you often lie awake in your bed, get up. Walk around, drink a glass of warm milk. Just don't just lie there. Because just lying there means you'll start thinking and possibly start worrying about a lot of things. This will make it harder the next days to fall asleep in your bedroom, because you were lying there worrying yesterday, so your mind will automatically start doing this again this evening.
[*]Pick a specific part of your day (not right before you go to sleep, though) to write down your worries. Journaling is a great way to keep track of your emotions. Every time during the day that you're starting to think/worry about something, tell yourself: "no, not now. I'll worry about that in my fifteen-journaling-minutes. And really take those fifteen minutes every day to write down how your day was, what you're worried about, etc ... After a few days, your mind will learn that those fifteen minutes are the right moment for thinking about your day. This will help you create a new context for worrying/thinking that's not in your bed.
[*]Calm your mind with fifteen minutes of meditation. You can find a lot of guided meditations on youtube. Some voice talking to you for fifteen minutes. Follow their instructions, try focusing only on your breath. Every time a thought pops up in your head, you'll be inclined to follow it, but instead, try saying: "No, not right now. I'm just focusing on my breath." Keep repeating this the entire fifteen minutes. This is actually a very powerful willpower exercise because it takes willpower to keep unwanted thoughts away.
[/list]
Anyway, these are all things that helped me out tremendously when I was struggling with sleeping. Maybe it's something you can try.