Personally, I love a craft beer or a glass of wine. I drink it because I enjoy it and find it sociable. Back in my student days I sometimes drank too much, but thankfully these days I know when to stop.

People with sleep problems sometimes use alcohol as a sleep aid. It's true that it makes falling asleep easier. The downside is that the night is often restless and you wake up too early. How drinking alcohol to solve a sleep problem can land you out of the frying pan and into the fire is something you can read about in the following story.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire

Peter, an ordinary 48-year-old man, had been sleeping terribly for years. His sleep problems began during a difficult, acrimonious divorce from his wife. He isn't able to see his children as often as he'd like, and he struggles to get much done at work. Simply because he's so utterly exhausted.

Then Peter discovers that he sleeps better after two glasses of wine. Unfortunately, this was the start of problematic drinking. Because there came a point when those two glasses no longer helped. It became three, a few weeks later four, and sometimes even five.

At 11pm he drops off on the sofa like a light going out, and wakes at 3am chilled through and with a stiff neck, the television still on and the remote in his lap. He then goes to bed and can't get back to sleep. He resists the urge to have yet another glass of wine, because otherwise he won't be able to function at work at all the next day.

A bad combination

Too much alcohol and work turn out to be a bad combination, as becomes clear during his performance review. The company where he's been a loyal employee for years is very unhappy with his performance. Careless mistakes, lack of concentration… Peter breaks down and tells his manager how miserable things really are. Fortunately, he has a good employer. Peter is given the chance to work on his problems through coaching. With the coach, he can finally tell his whole story — about the divorce and how much he misses his children, about how his drinking got out of hand, and how the lack of a good night's sleep is affecting his performance.

ACT

With the help of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), he gets his life back on track within three months. Peter discovers that his so-called solution — alcohol — had only made his (sleep) problems worse. If he'd carried on as before, he would have put his health and his job at risk. Through therapy, he discovers what truly matters to him. Peter resolves to do his best to improve the relationship with his ex-wife so he can see the children more often. Thanks to the therapy, his sleep pattern improves and he can perform well at work again. He now only drinks alcohol on social occasions, never alone.

Why does alcohol have such an effect on sleep?

Alcohol changes the transmission of certain substances in the brain, throwing off the balance between the chemicals responsible for calm and for activity. GABA is the substance that provides calm, and Glutamate provides activity. Alcohol stimulates GABA, making you drowsy and even sending you to sleep. But once a few hours pass without drinking, glutamate takes over. That's when you wake up, or sleep very restlessly. In the end you're left empty-handed, because your night's sleep is too short and of poor quality.

Gaining sight of what matters

There's nothing wrong with the occasional nightcap. It only becomes a problem when you drink too much alcohol as a way of falling asleep. Looking for solutions when you suffer from insomnia is only human, because nobody enjoys sleeping badly. The trouble here is that the solution makes the problem worse, which isn't helpful. In Peter's story, you read how he regains sight of what matters to him, such as contact with his children and performing better at work. In ACT therapy, we always look more broadly than just at the sleep problem. After all, the night is never separate from the day. If you experience a lot of stress during the day, or you're unhappy with how you're living your life, that inevitably affects your sleep.

Sound familiar?

Don't hesitate to seek help if you recognise yourself in Peter's story. Perhaps you too are applying measures to improve your sleep pattern that ultimately only cause more misery. Or perhaps you'd like to thoroughly explore how you can improve the quality of your daytime life so that you sleep much better at night.