Since this thread was last active, I gave up alcohol after 20 years of wine-with-dinner and my sleep has improved GREATLY. I had no idea what havoc even 1-2 drinks wreaks on the sleep cycle. I had essentially been depriving myself of REM sleep and setting myself up for 3-6 a.m. insomnia for the past two decades (!) Now, I do have some trouble winding down in the evening, so tend to stay up 1-2 hours later, but I am sleeping through the nights with no problems (except for right before my period, when the drop in hormones triggers insomnia).
The other thing I note is that I had started doing more consistent vigorous aerobic exercise, as opposed to just brisk hour-long walks, and that has really improved sleep as well.
Things to consider, if they apply.
True for me too. Can't drink wine after 5 pm.
I'm curious as to how long it took to sleep better after you quit the wine-with-dinner thing? I've done dry months and then some, and it didn't seem to make a difference. I do 1 to 1 1/2 hours of vigorous exercise three days (afternoons) a week (cardio and weight training), and I wake up, like clockwork, at 3 AM after an 11 PM bedtime. I then lie awake until 7, and try (and most often fail) to sleep. I've also tried breathing exercises, mindfulness, etc.
I never really was a huge drinker in the first place, so I'd say... right away. Since I probably only had a drink a few times a week, I started noticing that the crappy sleep/ wake-ups were aligning with those nights.
When I stopped having wine mid-week, I noticed a huge difference, with a few caveats: I still sleep like crap when ovulating (1-3 days a month), and sometimes right before my period (1-3 days a month), and since I'm in peri-menopause and my cycles are anywhere from 2 weeks to 7 weeks long, I don't always recognize where I'm at.
Other details - I get 3-4 days a week of heavy cardio (running, swimming) and 2 days a week of weight training. I set my alarm for 5-ish MTThF to work out, and "sleep in" on W, Sat, Sun.
I go to bed at 8:45-9. I wake around 11-ish to use the bathroom. This is usually when I have a hard time going back to sleep, then or around 3 am. If I recognize that it's one of those "times", and I am awake for at least an hour, then I either take 1/2 a unisom or pick up my book, or both. I try not to stress too much about it because it doesn't help. Sometimes I just wake up at 4:30 and cannot go back to sleep, but that's 7.5 hours, so good enough.
Mindfulness, breathing, counting backwards from 1000 by 7...sometimes that works for me, but usually if I've got some really rough insomnia, it's because I'm stressed out and cannot turn off my brain, so counting backward just doesn't work. I've been considering magnesium, haven't pulled the trigger.