Researchers found that insomnia and other sleep problems could slow down recovery. Also, a person's perception of the severity of insomnia was just as important as the actual problem in terms of recovery.
The study by a team from the University of Michigan's Psychiatry department was published in the journal "Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research."
Researchers conducted a thorough study of 18 men and women in the early stages of alcohol recovery who were suffering from sleep problems.
Although sleep is not often discussed in alcohol recovery programs the researchers concluded it should be.
"What we found is that those patients who had the biggest disconnect between their perception of how they slept and their actual sleep patterns were most likely to relapse," said lead author Deirdre Conroy, Ph.D. Conroy led the study as a fellow in the U-M Addiction Research Center. "This suggests that long-term drinking causes something to happen in the brain that interferes with both sleep and perception of sleep. If sleep problems aren't addressed, the risk of relapse may be high," according to a press release by Newswise.
