How Does Alcohol Impact Sleep?

Below, we’ll take a closer look at how alcohol affects the different stages of sleep, as well as how the quantity and timing of alcohol can influence sleep quality. Understanding how alcohol affects circadian rhythms and REM sleep can help us comprehend why moderating or reducing alcohol can lead to better sleep, and improved health and wellbeing. Knowing these symptoms can help you make more informed choices about alcohol consumption, which may lead to better sleep and improved wellbeing. It’s a common belief that an alcoholic drink in the evening can relax the mind and body, making it easier to fall asleep. Alcohol is an incredibly popular sleep aid — because it creates an intended outcome.

• Along with making you tired, snoozing alarms can also make you late for your daily activities.
• If you’re looking for ways to improve your sleep, an easy place to start is by adopting healthy sleep hygiene habits such as keeping a consistent sleep schedule and creating a calming bedroom environment.
• Factors such as genetics, body weight, age, and sex can all influence alcohol metabolism rates.
• While drinking alcohol before bedtime may help you feel relaxed and sleepy, enjoying a nightcap puts you at risk of experiencing repeated wakings and low-quality sleep later in the night.
• Generally, less is known about the effect that multiple nights of drinking has on sleep—with only a small number of studies (which had low numbers of participants) showing inconsistent results.

Alcohol Increases Snoring and Symptoms of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

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• People who consistently drink too much alcohol may eventually build up a tolerance to its initial sedative effects.
• Many people turn to a nightcap, like a glass of wine or cocktail, as they wind down at the end of the day, often believing it might help them sleep better.
• So after a few drinks, you’re likely to have increased wakefulness and more light sleep.

Insomnia is an issue that leads to difficulties falling or staying asleep. For people who don’t drink often or who only drink a small amount, alcohol may not make it harder to fall asleep. However, those who regularly engage in binge drinking are far more likely than those who do not to have trouble falling asleep at night. You may also find alcohol does not help you fall asleep because you have developed a tolerance for its sedative effects. Alcohol consumption could disrupt your circadian rhythm in other ways, too.

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In this comprehensive guide, we will explore  the science behind sleep temperature and practical tips for adjusting your AC settings for an optimal sleep environment. Alcohol can initially enhance the effects of GABA, a neurotransmitter that promotes relaxation and sleep. However, prolonged alcohol exposure can lead to a depletion of GABA levels, contributing to sleep disturbances. The Calm app puts the tools to feel better in your back pocket, with personalized content to manage stress and anxiety, get better sleep, and feel more present in your life. Develop a bedtime routine that signals to your body it’s time to wind down. Try dimming the lights, turning off electronic devices, and relaxing by reading or taking a warm bath.

Managing Chronic Pain and Sleep: Helpful Tips for a Good Night’s Rest

The unfortunate side effect is reduced REM sleep later in the night” (as this latest study shows). So, even if you nod off quickly after drinking and manage to sleep for eight hours (or more), losing REM sleep means you won’t wake up feeling fully recharged. Light sleep tends to be more prevalent in the first few hours after hitting the sheets. That’s followed by a deeper cycle of snoozing known as rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.

• The point at which that happens depends on how much you drank before bed.
• This acquired tolerance can alter the alcohol-sleep relationship, potentially reducing the initial sedative effects of alcohol and exacerbating its disruptive influence on sleep.

Snoring and Sleep Apnea

The more alcohol a person drank, the higher that person’s heart rate was during sleep, and this even occurred with small amounts of alcohol. For example, drinking one drink at night increased the heart rate by 1.4 beats per minute, while drinking three drinks per night increased the heart rate by 4 bpm. During Drug rehabilitation the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, Sleep Cycle’s sleep survey users on average tagged alcohol in their sleep notes around 2.5 percent of their total number of sleeps. The sleep notes feature within the Sleep Cycle app allows users to tag a number of activities (such as alcohol consumption, exercise, etc.) that they’ve undertaken before bedtime.

• However, as the alcohol’s effects start to wear off, the body spends more time in light sleep, which is not as sound and may lead to more nighttime awakenings.
• Additionally, relying on alcohol as a sleep aid can increase the risk of alcohol dependence, leading to a range of physical, mental, and social health problems.
• Sleep apnea is a common sleep disorder that causes breathing disruptions during sleep.
• If you’re active or training for a specific sport event, it may be worth evaluating your alcohol intake.
• While alcohol may initially help you fall asleep faster, it can disrupt your overall sleep quality and lead to frequent awakenings throughout the night.

The more alcohol you drink, the greater the negative effects on your sleep. This, too, can wake you up in the middle of the night, sometimes more than once. And the more water your kidneys release, the higher the chances you’ll get dehydrated. Dehydration can give you a headache; and pain itself can cause poor sleep.

Factors such as genetics, body weight, age, and sex can all influence alcohol metabolism rates. These individual differences can result in varying degrees of sleep disruption, with some people experiencing more significant effects than others. OSA is recurrent episodes of airway obstruction resulting in disruptions in sleep. With sleep onset, relaxation of the muscles of the jaw, tongue, and throat occurs, leading to a narrowing of the upper airway diameter.

Why Do Alcoholics Often Experience Insomnia?

Furthermore, alcohol slows and shallows breathing, relaxing the muscles of the throat and further causing the upper airway to collapse. All of which contributes to both snoring and worsened sleep apnea symptoms. Alcohol can initially increase adenosine levels, a neurotransmitter that induces sleepiness. However, as the night progresses, alcohol can interfere with the natural buildup of adenosine, leading to disrupted sleep. Ultimately, researchers found that alcohol before sleep dramatically affects sleep architecture (the structural organization of sleep and how you move through sleep stages one, two, three, and four).

How to Fall Asleep

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You must read the labels of medications or drinks you’re consuming, to avoid caffeine consumption around your bedtime. As is the case with most things, how you respond to alcohol — and possible sleep disruptions that can go with it — is completely individual. If you have an inkling that alcohol could be affecting your sleep, Conroy recommended conducting self-experimentation. Alcohol can relax the muscles in the throat, increasing the risk of obstructive sleep apnea, a condition characterized by repeated episodes of breathing interruptions during sleep.