LSD can affect all areas of your life including your work, relationships, and health. If you are using LSD, you may have noticed changes in your sleep patterns. Drug use changes when we sleep, how we sleep, and the quality of the sleep we get. They impact both body and brain chemistry and lifestyle, and these in turn impact our habits, health, and quality of life.
LSD’s Effects on Sleep
Any drug has the potential to disrupt your sleep schedule. They do this by keeping you awake or making you sleepy at odd times. They may impact the depth or length of your sleep, or, as Psychology Today explains, they may influence your dreams and sleep health.1
LSD is no exception. While all drugs influence how you sleep, LSD has an almost opposite effect on sleep than some others. Psychology Today also explains that “Many of the mind-altering, and most of the addicting drugs are associated with REM suppression during use and REM dis-inhibition during withdrawal…LSD ingestion alters serotoninergic transmission and is associated with REM dis-inhibition.”
Drugs like benzodiazepines and alcohol shorten the amount of time you spend in REM sleep. LSD lengthens it. In fact Neuroscience and Therapeutics explains that even low doses of LSD can increase your REM period of sleep up to 240%.2 What does this mean? When REM sleep is disinhibited, too much of your sleep is spent in the REM stage. This leads to nightmares and can create fear and hallucinations both while asleep and awake.
When your sleep isn’t balanced, your mental and physical health suffers. You may be more likely to get sick, feel depressed or anxious, and turn to other potentially harmful substances in an attempt to fix LSD’s effects on sleep.
LSD Addiction Treatment and Sleep
If you are tired of experiencing the unhealthy sleep patterns associated with LSD and addiction, getting treatment can make the difference. With help you can get back to a healthy, balanced life. Reach out to Skywood Recovery at 269-280-4673 to learn more about sleep health, LSD addiction, and your options for the future.
Sources
1 McNamara, Patrick. “Psychopharmacology of REM Sleep and Dreams.” Psychology Today. 4 Dec. 2011.
2 Passie, Torsten, et al. “The Pharmacology of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: A Review.” Neuroscience and Therapeutics. 2008.
