How To Quit Smoking and Still Sleep Well

So you’re trying to quit smoking! Congratulations, this is a huge step toward living a long healthy life. Part of living a healthy lifestyle is getting the right amount of sleep. After you are through quitting smoking you will notice that you get a more restful nights sleep. However, during the quitting process you may find it very difficult to get the rest you need.

We are going to go through the different stages of quitting, what to expect, and how to get the best sleep possible during this transition. Just keep in mind that all of this is temporary and once you get to the other side of quitting, you will be getting better sleep than ever.

What To Expect While Quitting:

Don’t be surprised when you struggle to get a good nights rest right away. Within the first 1 – 2 days completely without smoking or nicotine aids, you will experience nicotine withdrawals.

According to a study these withdrawals may induce some insomnia and irritability that may feel similar to sleeping with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (commonly triggered by smoking). Get through this part, then it will be much easier from here on out.

48 Hours Into Quitting:

If you were an avid smoker, then around 48 hours into quitting is when you will start to experience the highest intensity of nicotine withdrawals around this time. This is also when you may start to experience bouts of insomnia. Now that your lungs are less inflamed they are going to get busy doing some “spring cleaning”.

You will begin to cough up built up mucus and other gunk leftover from smoking in order to try and get it all out. This is the big hump and it should only last a few days, if symptoms persist or get worse after 3 days, then contact your doctor and let them know what is going on.

For these few days, we have a few tips and tricks to help you relax and hopefully get some rest. Keep in mind that nicotine withdrawals are only a stage and like a lot of things, it has to get worse for a while before it gets better. So push through and get to the other side, we promise it’s worth it.

How To Sleep Well & Quit Smoking:

Avoid Caffeine

As you are dealing with nicotine withdrawals you are already going to be naturally a bit on edge and potentially even anxious or irritable. All of which can be increased by caffeine intake. So be sure to skip the caffeine for a while, especially at least 6 hours before you plan on going to bed.

Caffeine can remain in your system for up to 6 hours and if you still have caffeine in your system while you’re trying to sleep, it is going to be near impossible to get some decent rest.

Get a Massage

You are doing a great thing for you health and even the health of those around you. With the money you’re saving on cigarettes, treat yourself to a massage. Your body is going to be a bit more tense than usual, which won’t help you get to sleep.

Going to get a massage will help you to relax, reduce tension in your body, and could even help detox your body even faster. Massages are so relaxing you may even fall asleep on the table. We suggest booking closer to the evening before you’ll be heading to bed.

Drink Sleepy Tea

A relaxing cup of tea is not only soothing and enjoyable, there are now sleepy time teas that utilize powerful herbs that can send you off to sleep rather quickly. Be sure to drink these types of tea right before you get ready to go to sleep. While these stronger teas can be really effective, so can your standard herbal teas. Lavender and chamomile being among the more popular ingredients.

Want to know more about the benefits to sleepy time teas? Check out our page Best Tea For Sleep – Top 8 Bedtime Teas to learn more.

Eat Sleep Inducing Foods

Did you know that the food you eat can effect your sleep? Well, it’s true. There are different foods and drinks like Milk, Turkey, Almonds, Tart Cherry Juice,

Want to learn about more foods that can help you sleep and how they do it? Visit our page Best and Worst Foods Before Bed to learn more.

Take Natural Sleep Aids

If you have not tried taking Melatonin before, you really ought to give it a go. Melatonin is a hormone that your circadian signals your brain to release in order to put your mind and body at rest. Sometimes when our bodies are going through change, like going through withdrawals, our bodies signals get crossed and we have trouble producing our own Melatonin. This is where vitamin supplements can help out. Taking a melatonin supplement, like the Melatonin by Natrol, as at night can help naturally ease you to sleep.

Check out of full Natural Sleep Aid Guide to learn all you need to know about natural sleep aids and how they work.

Go Out Somewhere

If you are struggling to stay on track, distract yourself. Go somewhere where you can be entertained and where you are not allowed to smoke. Like at a movie theater, or indoor mall.

Changing your environment and keeping your hands busy can be a great way to keep your mind from idling and going back to thinking about temptation and old vices.

Avoid Alcohol

A night of fun and drinking with friends may seem like a great distraction, or perhaps just a relaxing drink or two before bed. However, alcohol lowers inhibitions and is often linked to smoking for a lot of people.

You may be setting yourself up for great temptation after a few drinks, and trust us when we tell you that falling for that one while you’re drinking is not worth it. All of the progress you have made on getting through nicotine withdrawals will have to be done all over again. So skip the alcohol for now, having a drink will only mean you’re setting yourself up for a set back.

Another reason to cute the alcohol, is that it is also terrible for your sleep. While it may help you to fall asleep, your quality of sleep will go way down and if you have too many drinks it will become even more difficult to fall asleep than before.

Alcohol & Sleep Don’t Mix, click the link to find out what it is about alcohol that makes it so difficult for us to get a good nights rest.

Meditate

If you have only heard of the benefits without really giving meditation a try, then you will likely see this as a cliche. But hold out for a bit longer, meditation really can be a way to calm your body and mind. Meditation may not work the first time, or the second or third time at that. However, if you can really train yourself to focus your mind and control your breathing. Then it really can serve to slow heart rate, and relieve tension in the body.

Take a Bath

From all of the coughing and tension, your body could probably use a break. Taking a nice warm bath with detoxifying epson salts is a great way to relax aching muscles and even help break up mucus making it easier to get out of your system.

We suggest a warm bath and not a hot one, if there is too much steam coming up off of the water it may trigger a bit of coughing since your pathways are a bit sensitive right now.

Workout

Try to squeeze in a light work out. At 48 hours into quitting, your carbon monoxide levels will have come back to a normal level. Which means your heart no longer has to work as hard to get oxygen throughout the body. Exercise also does wonders on helping you get deeper and higher quality sleep. So getting in a light workout that isn’t to cardio heavy is a great way to relieve stress and help you get a good nights rest tonight.

Weighted Blanket

If stress and anxiety are overwhelming you and keeping you awake, try taking a nap or just a snuggle underneath a weighted blanket. They are proven to help relieve stress and ease anxiety, leaving you more comfortable and ready for a great nights sleep.

Want to know more about how weighted blankets work? Head to our page Weighted Blanket Benefits to learn more.

Do E-Cigarettes/Vapes Help You Quit?

Unfortunately E-Cigarettes are merely a crutch to quitting smoking. These companies will try and tell you that they are so much more healthy for you than other cigarettes.

While you may no longer smell like tobacco smoke, you are likely taking in far more nicotine than you were even with cigarettes. They make it easier and more palatable to inhale nicotine and while you may see switching to E-Cigarettes as an improvement, it will make it far more difficult to quit in the long run.

So skip the crutch and quit cold turkey. It won’t be fun, however the symptoms will be over much faster this way.

Nicotine Free Substitutes:

These products are new to the market and very little research has been done on how they effect sleep. However, their lack of nicotine and other harmful chemicals leads us to believe that they are at least a decent alternative if you feel you really want the sensation of smoking something.

Moxe – Dream:

Also a personal essential oil diffuser, the Moxe pens use the same concept that the Monq has. However, they are not rechargeable or refillable. The Dream version of their pen has Lavender, Lemongrass, and Grapefruit. While this blend sounds lovely, it you are particularly effected by scents you may find this one is a bit more stimulating and energizing than the Monq Sleep.

To learn more about Moxe Dream or buy yours today, Click Here. 

Inhale Health – Melatonin Vaporizer:

Inhale Health uses this vaporizer as a whole new mechanism to getting Melatonin into your system. Instead of taking a tablet, or gummy, you are getting your Melatonin through your lungs.It is also lightly scented with lavender, chamomile and honey, to also give you a calming olfactory sensation similar to the others.

Click here to buy or learn more about the Melatonin Vaporizer by Inhale Health.

Quit Smoking and Still Sleep Well

Keep in mind that most of these symptoms you are experiencing are temporary and will dissipate or completely go away in time. One of the best ways to calm anxiety over insomnia is remembering that eventually your body will get the rest it needs. You don’t need to force yourself to sleep, it will come eventually. Letting go of the fear of not sleeping will often in fact lead to sleep. We wish you all the best of luck in your journey to getting nicotine free and we hope some of the information we provided helps you get some much needed rest.

Have further questions? Email us through our Contact Us page and send them our way, we would be happy to help you with what we can.