Among factors that disturb sleep, it was learned that snoring, in particular, is linked with alcohol consumption. Moderate drinking, defined as one drink for women and two drinks for men per day, can cause sleep disruptions, including a shorter duration of sleep, frequent night awakenings, and disrupted sleep stages. Drinking more alcohol or stronger alcoholic beverages will have a more significant impact on your sleep, with a sharper reduction in REM and deep sleep, leaving you feeling tired and groggy the following day. Many moderate alcohol users also drink before sleep if they suffer from insomnia.

Tips on Being More Sleep Responsible With Drinks

If you have alcohol in your system when you hit the hay, you may not sleep very deeply, or for very long, on and off throughout the night. That’s because as alcohol starts to metabolize, the sedative effect wears off. Studies have found conflicting information about how alcohol affects REM sleep.

1. It’s clear that using alcohol as a sleep aid leads to poorer sleep and disrupted sleep can lead to an even greater dependence on alcohol.
2. The best way to protect sleep is to cut off your drinking earlier in the day or forgo drinking entirely.
3. Alcohol has other effects on your body that contribute to feeling tired and sluggish the following day.
4. A person may cycle through REM sleep (and all of the stages of sleep) between four and six times throughout the duration of sleep.

REM Sleep

For most people, alcohol induces a deeper-than-usual sleep in the first half of the night, followed by disrupted sleep in the second half of the night. So it’s easy to understand why young people can become locked into a repetitive cycle of sleep deprivation, alcohol dependence, risky behaviour and addiction. If you feel pretty drunk, you’ll probably fall asleep quickly but have a restless night. Drinking a light to moderate amount of alcohol (one or two standard drinks) before bed may not have much of an impact.

Health Categories to Explore

The circadian rhythm is responsible for keeping the body anchored to a 24-hour cycle. As part of this 24-hour cycle, the body releases a hormone called melatonin to prepare us for sleep in the evening. Older studies have found that drinking alcohol before bedtime lowers melatonin levels and interferes with core body temperatures, which in turn impacts sleep quality. This is in agreement with our findings that, among men, drinking decreased overall sleep duration and increased sleep disturbances. Research shows that poor sleep quality and disrupted sleep raise heart rate, heart rate variability, and blood pressure while you sleep, which can stress the heart and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Alcohol increases levels of adenosine, a key component of the homeostatic drive. The homeostatic drive is responsible for keeping our body balanced, and it’s one of the major mechanisms that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. The homeostatic drive prompts sleep by boosting levels of adenosine when we’ve been awake for too long.

Substantial evidence suggests that alcohol worsens symptoms of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. These sleep-related breathing difficulties occur when soft tissues collapse and block the upper airway. In more serious cases, individuals suffer Inhalant Withdrawal as a Clinically Significant Feature of Inhalant Dependence Disorder PMC momentary lapses in breathing, followed by micro-awakenings that interrupt the progression of the sleep stages. People who consistently drink too much alcohol may eventually build up a tolerance to its initial sedative effects. Studies of chronic alcohol users have found that these individuals typically experience disrupted sleep patterns with less slow wave sleep and more REM sleep.

To investigate the relationship between global or component scores of the PSQI-K and AUDIT-KR scores, we performed the Mann-Whitney test. If you’re planning on heading out for a night that will involve some drinks, there are some things you can do to help you sleep afterward. If you’re having trouble falling or staying asleep often, see your healthcare provider. They can rule out any underlying cause for your insomnia and recommend the best treatment for you.

Ultimately, your overall sleep quality will take a hit as the alcohol starts to metabolize and its effects begin to wear off. And when this happens night after night, you’ll find yourself dealing with insomnia. During the second half of the night, sleep becomes more actively disrupted. The rebound effect may include more time in REM—a lighter sleep stage from which it is easy to be awakened.

More than 70% of those with alcohol use disorder (AUD) also experience alcohol-induced sleep disorders, such as insomnia, according to scientists in a 2020 review. Regular drinking has also been linked to shorter periods of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a disrupted circadian rhythm, and snoring. Disrupted sleep can increase the production of stress hormones like cortisol. People who get good-quality sleep typically have higher cortisol levels in the morning that decline throughout the day, reaching their lowest level at bedtime.