Alcohol consumption and your health: What the science says
If you’re struggling with alcohol use disorder (AUD), you may develop insomnia during withdrawal or recovery. That’s because alcohol interferes with the ability to stay asleep and to get high-quality, deep sleep. This may mean a night of drinking too much and impacted sleep could both be contributing to a headache the next morning. If you’ve ever had a drink or two and fallen asleep only to wake up at 2 or 3 a.m., there’s also a reason for that.
- More severe cases of chronic insomnia may require different treatment strategies.
- If you have sleep apnea, it’s crucial to avoid alcohol, especially close to bedtime.
- In a larger study, Colrain et al. (2009)studied 42 abstinent long-term alcoholics (27 men) and 42 controls (19 men).
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In this study, we found that anxiety symptoms were more strongly correlated with PSQI-K values than depression symptoms and that women showed greater correlation between PSQI-K values and anxiety or depression symptoms as compared to men. The movement between NREM and REM sleep involves a complex interaction betweenREM-on and REM-off neuronal groups in the brainstem. The REM-on groups largely consist ofcholinergic cells in the lateral dorsal tegmentum (LDT) and the pedunculo pontine tegemental(PPT) nuclei. REM-off cells involve the serotonergic dorsal raphe nucleus and noradrenergiclocus ceruleus.
Side Effects of Insomnia
In this manuscript we will adhere to the ICSD-3 classification for sleep disorders. Medical providers are likely alcohol and insomnia: possible risks and more to recommend abstaining from alcohol when sleep disturbances are a major concern.15 If you struggle with both insomnia and alcohol misuse or addiction, psychotherapy and medication are potential treatments for both issues. Circadian rhythms exist in every cell of your body, and alcohol disturbs body functions down to the cellular level while it is being metabolized. In addition to the liver, tissues in the brain, stomach, and intestines also play a part in metabolizing alcohol.
Other information on sleep in recovering alcoholics
Among 100 women who have one drink a day, 19 will, and among 100 women who have two drinks a day, about 22 will. For decades, studies suggested that moderate alcohol intake could protect the heart, reduce diabetes risk or even help you live longer. But newer research tells a different story, and it’s left many people confused. Stanford experts discuss the health implications of moderate alcohol consumption and how the guidelines have changed. The increase in delta activity is also consistent with alcohol’s GABAagonist properties.
Sleep is essential for the mind and body, which is why chronic sleep deprivation does more than leave you groggy — it can damage nearly every system in your body. From diabetes and high blood pressure to heart disease, mental illness, dementia, and weight gain, insufficient sleep disrupts critical hormonal and metabolic processes that keep you healthy. Moderate drinking is typically defined by public health agencies as up to one alcoholic drink per day for women and up to two for men.
Sleep talking and walking
Research from the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine indicates that alcohol-induced sleep fragmentation results in more stage 1 sleep—the lightest and least restorative phase—leading to a perception of poor sleep. Increased sleep-stage transitions further disrupt rest, making sleep cycles more erratic. Sleep apnea, one common cause of poor sleep, also raises heart disease risk. The low oxygen and high carbon dioxide levels that occur in apnea-disturbed sleep raise levels of stress hormones. This boosts blood pressure and heart rate and appears to increase the risk of heart attack, heart failure, and heart rhythm disorders such as atrial fibrillation.
These fluctuations play a vital role in the sleep-wake cycle, and when they are weakened—or absent—a person may feel alert when they want to sleep and sleepy when they want to be awake. The typical sleep cycle begins with three non-rapid eye movement (NREM) stages of sleep and ends with rapid eye movement (REM). During sleep, the body cycles through all of these stages every 90 to 120 minutes, with NREM sleep dominating the first part of the night and REM increasing during the second part of the night. Each stage is necessary for sleep to feel refreshing and for vital processes like learning and memory consolidation to occur. Keep in mind that for people with AUD, sleeping issues may persist through the withdrawal phase.
- Other conditions, such as depression, anxiety, and chronic pain, can also contribute to the disorder.
- Disruptions in REM sleep can have far-reaching consequences, including impaired cognitive performance, mood disturbances, and increased risk of certain mental health conditions.
- While that may make it sound like alcohol is a good sleep aid, that is only half of the story.
- It appears that alcohol inhibits the neurotransmitters that stimulate these brain cells.
Chronotype is a product of both the homeostatic sleep drive and the circadian timing 10. Chronotype can be conceptualized as being categorical (“morning”, “evening”, and “indeterminate” or “neither” types) or dimensional (ranging from extreme morningness to extreme evenigness) in nature. The “evening” type (greater eveningness) individual prefers a later bedtime and a later rise time and has a greater need for sleep. This chronotype is commonly seen in adolescents and those with psychiatric disorders. Conversely, the “morning” type individual (greater morningness) prefers an earlier bedtime and an earlier rise time.
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It is, therefore,plausible, that alcohol could influence this REM-off process through its effects on GABA,leading to the suppression of REM sleep in the short-term. Alcohol can lead to fragmented sleep and waking up during the night, as it disrupts the sleep cycle. However, researchers do not agree on how alcohol interferes with REM sleep. Research from 2020 states that alcohol reduces sleep quality, and while it may not significantly reduce REM sleep, there is dysregulation. If you commit to sobriety, you will experience withdrawal symptoms, especially if you were diagnosed with addiction that interfered with your physical and mental well-being.
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However, as the night progresses, alcohol can cause a rebound effect, leading to increased glutamate levels and disrupted sleep. If you’re struggling with alcohol-induced sleep disorder, our telemedicine practice is here to help. Schedule a consultation with one of our healthcare providers to discuss your symptoms and develop a personalized treatment plan. Don’t wait—take the first step toward better sleep and improved health today.
Your body’s clock sets the typical schedule of being awake during the day and sleeping at night.6 This is why you typically feel alert and awake near the same time of day and less focused and tired around the same time of night. You may also experience a period of decreased energy at the same time every day, such as in the mid-afternoon. To minimize the impact of alcohol on sleep, have your last drink at least 3 or 4 hours before bedtime.
The influence of alcohol on sleep therefore needs to be evaluated by exploring both the short term effects on sleep (cross sectional data) and the long-term consequences (longitudinal data of repeated measures). At present, most literature is based on cross-sectional studies and thus cannot assess direction of effects6. In patients with delirium tremens (DTs), a higher percentage of Stage 1 sleep with REM (stage 1 period with low voltage EEG with REM) was demonstrated (Greenberg and Pearlman, 1967). In this study, one of the subjects had nightmares of hallucinatory intensity during alcohol withdrawal and with 100% Stage 1-REM sleep. As DTs ended, recovery sleep set in as a response to sleep deprivation in most of these patients.
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