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If you’re considering quitting smoking, or have recently given it up, congratulations! No matter how long you’ve been smoking, quitting is one of the best things you can do for your health. But for all its benefits—and there are many!—it’s not an easy road. You can expect withdrawal symptoms to peak at three days after stopping (and to subside within a month). One of the obstacles you might face as you withdraw from nicotine is insomnia.
Why quitting smoking can cause insomnia
Insomnia is a sleeping disorder where you struggle to fall asleep or stay asleep. It’s a common side effect that affects about 42% of people who have given up smoking. The reason? Nicotine withdrawal, says Danielle Kelvas, MD, the chief medical adviser at Sleepline.
For those who have recently quit smoking, insomnia tends to affect a person’s ability to stay asleep because of “an increase in what is called sleep fragmentation,” Dr. Kelvas explains. “In other words, the person will wake up more times throughout the night.”
The worse someone’s intolerance is for withdrawing from nicotine, the worse their insomnia will be—but there are ways to combat it.
11 ways to relieve insomnia from quitting smoking
The fear of having insomnia has even been identified as a reason for folks to avoid giving up smoking. Don’t let the fear of insomnia keep you from quitting! Instead, try these strategies to help ease sleepless nights and enjoy your nicotine-free days.
1. Change the way you think about sleep.
Adjusting your mindset around sleep makes a big difference in how you approach dealing with insomnia. “Sleep is a learned skill,” says Jared Heathman, MD, a psychiatrist based in Houston. “Most people don’t sit and think about sleep in this way, but your preparation for sleep is probably highly structured.” You might always sleep on the same side of the bed, for instance, or turn on a bedside lamp instead of an overhead light to signal to your brain that it’s time for bed.
When you’ve given up smoking, explains Dr. Heathman, you’re deviating from your sleep routine, which can impair sleep quality. “Imagine someone telling you that you could no longer lie in the same position to fall asleep at night,” he says. “Removing nicotine is not unlike requiring you to sleep in a new position.”
Quitting nicotine may leave you feeling irritable and tense, which will impact your sleep schedule. Understanding that this is part of the quitting process—and not a permanent problem—can help. Often, fear of not being able to fall asleep is what keeps you awake. Try to remember that insomnia is a short-lived side effect of quitting, and this can eliminate some of that burden.
2. Create a bedtime routine.
If you’ve been a smoker, it’s likely that smoking was one of your preparatory activities before bed. When you’re quitting smoking, give your brain alternative ways to relax, wind down, and chill out before transitioning to sleep. Give yourself some grace.
When you remove what was a seemingly calming activity (smoking), replace it with another soothing activity to help normalize sleep, says Dr. Heathman. Establishing a new, relaxing bedtime routine reminds your brain that smoking is no longer part of your evening.
Design your own evening ritual to help your body and mind unwind and relax before bedtime. “The mind needs to learn to generate its own relaxing neurotransmitters without the aid of nicotine,” says Dr. Heathman.
Activities to consider before bed include:
- Meditating (which has been shown to improve sleep quality)
- Lighting a candle
- Reading a book
- Taking a hot shower or bath
3. Turn off digital devices.
If you’re struggling with insomnia from quitting smoking, put your phone away near bedtime. Cell phones emit a blue light that affects your circadian rhythm, which can disrupt your sleep cycle.
Even using your phone’s nighttime mode can negatively impact how you sleep. Rather than helping you relax, doomscrolling or catching up on TikTok engages your brain, which is what you don’t want when you’re winding down for the evening.
One small study found that participants who avoided using their phones 30 minutes before bedtime reduced the amount of time it took to fall asleep, increased how long they slept, and improved their sleep quality. Another study found that after-hours phone use led to increased fatigue, insomnia, and rise time.
So how do you tackle this? At night, consider having your phone automatically switch to “do not disturb” mode about an hour before heading to bed.
Feeling like you want to disconnect even more? Switch your phone to airplane mode or turn it off completely. This helps you effectively resist one last Instagram check in at night.
4. Exercise.
Training at the gym, going to a workout class, or heading out for a run all have positive effects on your sleep and help combat insomnia from quitting smoking. One meta-analysis of nine studies found that exercise improves sleep quality and reduces insomnia.
Another review discovered that physical exercise, like cycling, as well as mind-body exercise like yoga, improved sleep quality and reduced insomnia severity along with daytime sleepiness. If you’re not regularly exercising, you might want to add it to your routine. Hitting the gym regularly? Consider adding some yoga stretches to your evening routine to help you wind down and sleep better.
5. Set your bedroom at the right temperature.
Have you checked your thermostat recently? Having the bedroom too warm affects your sleep.
Research done on more than 3.75 million nights of sleep from 34,000 individuals found the ideal temperature range is 65-70°F. The study found higher bedroom temperatures were associated with shorter total sleep time, more difficulty falling asleep, and waking up after falling asleep—even among the higher end of the ideal range. Moral of the story? Err on the side of cooler temperatures in the bedroom.
6. Decrease coffee intake.
Enjoy an afternoon coffee or soda as a pick-me-up drink? It might be time to cut back on the lattes and Diet Cokes because they’re likely keeping you from getting a good night’s sleep.
As a stimulant, caffeine can interfere with your body’s internal clock, making it more difficult to fall and stay asleep. Additionally, caffeine is more likely to make you feel jittery when quitting smoking, says Dr. Heathman. Giving up caffeinated drinks while you get your insomnia under control might help. If you can’t give it up completely, “try shifting when you drink it to before noon and cutting back to one cup daily,” Dr. Heathman says.
RELATED: The best diet for sleep
7. Set—and stick to—a sleep schedule.
One of the best things you can do to address insomnia after quitting smoking is following a consistent sleep schedule. Wake up and go to bed at the same time each day. And, yes, that includes weekends! It may take time, but a sleep schedule “has great benefits in getting your mind and body on track for a consistent sleep cycle,” Dr. Heathman says. “Our brain likes consistency.”
When you follow a regular sleep schedule, you’re training your brain to begin getting sleepy (and get ready for the day) at the same time each day. The key is consistency. To set yourself up for success, set an alarm in the evenings to remind you to begin unwinding and getting ready for bed, and set a wake-up alarm for the mornings. Unless absolutely essential, avoid napping during the day so that you’re tired by bedtime.
8. Try nicotine replacement.
The worse your withdrawal is, the likelier it is that you’ll experience insomnia. In that case, a nicotine patch might help.
“Sometimes I advise patients who are truly struggling with insomnia to try nicotine chewing gum or patches in a very small dose right before bed to help get over the initial withdrawal hump,” Dr. Kelvas says. But there can be drawbacks of using a patch.
“The consequence of this, however, is that nicotine will raise your heart rate and make you pee, which isn’t ideal when trying to fall and stay asleep,” Dr. Kelvas adds. “For some, this method only worsens insomnia,” she says.
If nicotine withdrawal is hitting you hard, a nicotine patch or gum may be helpful in addition to other strategies. Talk with your healthcare provider about the best options for you. Smoking cessation treatments can be expensive, but there are ways to save. SingleCare coupons often reduce the price of nicotine patches and gums.
9. Reduce or eliminate alcohol.
Winding down with a glass of wine in the evenings to help you sleep better? You’re making your insomnia worse. Alcohol is a sedative and may help you fall asleep more easily. But it often interrupts your sleep cycles, which means you’re likely to awaken in the middle of the night and—you guessed it—not be able to fall back asleep.
If you’re drinking alcohol in the evening, give yourself a few hours between your last drink and bedtime to minimize the impact on your sleep. Be sure to drink plenty of water. Better yet, swap out the alcohol for relaxing, decaffeinated tea to help unwind.
10. Consider using medication.
If your insomnia continues for a few weeks, see a healthcare professional. Your primary care provider can discuss short-term medications to help minimize nicotine withdrawal symptoms and make quitting smoking more tolerable.
“Because insomnia can be intense, sometimes I [prescribe] a medication [for sleep]—something moderate, like trazodone,” says Dr. Kelvas. Trazodone is a drug used to treat major depression, but it’s often prescribed off-label, in low doses, as an effective treatment for insomnia. Additionally, smoking cessation drugs often help decrease withdrawal symptoms and induce sleep.
RELATED: Learn more about trazodone for sleep | Is it safe to take OTC sleep aids every night?
11. Quit slowly.
If you’re able, quit smoking slowly over several weeks rather than abruptly. “Some people have to quit cold turkey, which I admire, but it tends to cause the worst insomnia symptoms,” Dr. Kelvas explains. Instead, she recommends slowly reducing the number of cigarettes smoked each week rather than giving them up all in one go.
Stay in touch with your healthcare team. They can help you quit and even prescribe smoking cessation drugs to make things a little easier. For example, Zyban and Chantix are often very effective options.
How long does insomnia last after quitting smoking?
Quitting smoking is difficult and the side effects, including insomnia, can be challenging. Unfortunately, there’s no magic solution to resolve insomnia. It might take a bit of trial and error to see what works best for you. The good news is that insomnia isn’t forever, and the threat of it shouldn’t keep you from quitting smoking.
The longer you’ve been smoking, the longer it will take your body to adjust, says Dr. Kelvas, but most patients see an improvement in insomnia after two weeks of completely stopping nicotine and even folks who have been smoking for decades will see nicotine withdrawal symptoms ease in about a month.
