Healthy Sleep Guide
The most powerful recovery tool available, and the most disrupted by addiction
How to use this page
Sleep is the most powerful recovery tool available, and the most disrupted by addiction. This page explains why, gives you a practical plan, and lets you track what is actually happening night to night.
Use Log to record last night, Browse to work through the plan and the reference material, and Progress to see the pattern across the last fortnight. Everything you enter saves to this device and to your account.
Why sleep is critical in recovery
Sleep is when the glymphatic system cleans neurotoxic waste products from the brain — accelerated after substance damage.
The dopamine system — hijacked by addiction — resets during sleep. Poor sleep prolongs cravings and relapse risk.
Sleep deprivation activates the amygdala 60% more strongly — making anger, anxiety, and craving all worse.
Decision-making (prefrontal cortex) is severely impaired by poor sleep — the exact brain region recovery requires.
Sleep architecture and why it matters
Transition between wakefulness and sleep. Muscles relax, heart rate slows. Easy to wake up.
Body temperature drops, brain activity slows. Memory consolidation begins.
Physical restoration. Growth hormone released. Immune system strengthens. Hardest to wake.
Emotional processing, memory consolidation, creativity. Disrupted heavily by alcohol/drugs.
Alcohol disrupts ALL stages: it suppresses REM sleep, fragments deep sleep, and causes rebound waking in the second half of the night - meaning even "sleeping after drinking" does not provide restorative rest.
One Rule Above All Others
Wake at the same time every single day. Everything else in this guide is secondary to this one habit. Your circadian clock regulates every system in your body - keep it anchored and everything else follows.