anyone go to bed straight

[Zen Peddler]

strange shit. Pretty much all week I was drunk, stoned or grilled and I woke up pretty fit and well. Two nights on nothing and I woke up super tired, fatiged and kinda anxious. Weird eh??

[∂an]

maybe your body is becoming dependent on intoxication for deep sleep or something.

i usually have great sleeps when going to bed straight, but also have great sleeps when high so its a bit arbitrary IMO.

[Distracted]

Sleep inertia?

Maybe you woke up during a deep cycle of sleep and the paralysis carried over for a bit.

I never sleep sober so I dunno.

[Torsten]

anyone go to bed straight

na, I usually go to bed gay.

but seriously, been looking at sleep a bit lately and did a sleep lab session. one thing they tell you before the sleep lab is to consume the same amount of alcohol or drugs as you normally would. some drugs have profound effects on sleep architecture. In a nutshell, if you don't get enough slow wave sleep your body won't regenerate and if you don't get enough rem your mind won't regenerate - both with the obvious consequences. Some medicines and recreational drugs can have strong effects on one of the other. For example, SSRIs improve REM, but sudden cessation of SSRIs can completely screw up REM, which is one of the proposed reasons why abrupts SSRI cessation often leads to a sudden increase in depression and even more severe mental symptoms. Alcohol and benzos help with slow wave sleep, but I think they are bad for REM, so while they help the body, the mind gets worse.

So, it sounds like your drugs help you with your sws which allows you to wake up very rested.

[synchromesh]

Zen, do you think it's possible that you overslept on the sober days? I only ask as although 9 hours sleep makes me feel great, 10 makes me feel really tired.

anyone go to bed straight

na, I usually go to bed gay.

[Zen Peddler]

thansk for the insights guys. Oversleeping is a possibility, and i was up late on the computer both nights so that might explain it?

[incognito]

maybee ur system had been substance free long enough to start experiencing withdrawals?

[kindness]

I'd go with a bit of what incog says... but not necessarily withdrawals so much as body is able to start fixing itself up with you giving it a rest.... you know the old thing of when you finally get time to have holidays from work people tend to get really sick / have a mini healing crisis. Could be that.

FWIW my sleep patterns and habits are completely fucked... sleep hygiene is not something that I am particularly good at.

[synchromesh]

"What goes up must also come down."

thanks for the insights guys. Oversleeping is a possibility, and i was up late on the computer both nights so that might explain it?

Well, the computer could definitely be a part of it. Tell me, did your eyes hurt at any point of the computer's use?

[gerbil]

I have my substances of choice, which i can acknowledge when i am not using them appropriately and it's having a negative impact on my waking health as well as sleep and waking up from sleep, but i don't fully understand all the intricacies in both situations and especially how it plays with all the intricacies of sleep and am happy to acknowledge that, I put checks and balances on myself so i don't kid myself and use my experience to dictate what i perceive is good or bad for myself.

One thing i can say though, is that spending times on both part of the spectrum, longs times sleeping intoxicated, long times sleeping sober, as well as living in context in both of those spectrums, I too am finding more often than not the sober state is making me feel worse. To me I am coming to terms with (while battling social morals forced upon me) the intoxicated state and the insecurity, unsurity and guilt it can create from the social forcing, which i am coming to accept that intoxication is very important in my life and highly beneficial, and those negative energies put towards me are worse than the situations they force upon myself to cease. My substances of choice help with the mental and physical effects of my work, and the mental and physical effects of my issues (which are not mine in the sense i create them, they are the issues that arise because i am in a negative environment) with society.

For me i don't need or think intoxicated sleep is appropriate all the time, but within responsible use, it has a huge role just as much as sober sleep and think both for me are important. The feeling of say doing a hard days work in the garden and falling asleep from exhaustion, sleeping well and waking up fantastic is amazing, but keeping sober as a mantra, waking up with sore muscles from working a bullshit agenda and being stressed all the time i think for me is idiotic and intoxication is essential to me within context and responsible use. I've tried the sober state for too long, feel like shit on many levels, and keep coming to myself saying 'fuck why are you kidding yourself, think for yourself and don't let arrogance, ignorance and lies dictate yourself into a restricted and unhappy life, don't go overboard, keep yourself in check, and don't kid yourself, keep yourself in check!, but sober states for humans is COMPLETELY unnatural' The WORSE part is, that the sober state now is not a matter of choice, but a situation of availability and the complex issues that go with all that jazz.

Edited October 17, 2010 by gerbil

[C_T]

it could be rebound, so your sleeping deeper, catching up and waking out of phase, feeling groggy. not waking after rem, maybe try going to bed earlier.

Edited October 17, 2010 by C_T

[Torsten]

zen, do you have an iphone? there is a sleep app that can show you your cycles and hence whether you are waking at the right part of the cycle. one of the apps also has an alarm that will wake you at the appropriate part of the cycle [after rem], closest to the time you need to wake up at, or in another setting will definitely wake you before that time.

[and yes, I can see your eyes rolling back in your head C_T, lol. the app seems to work for some friends so it can't be all bad].