While Insomnia can lead to a dependency on alcohol, the opposite, like many mental disorders, is also true. In general, the use of alcohol can prevent someone from falling into deep sleep, which is crucial to maintaining normal brain function, physical health, and emotional well-being. The toll this takes could already cause strain to one’s life and relationships. https://ecosoberhouse.com/ This means that someone self-medicating spirals deeper into their dependency, turning it into a full-blown addiction faster. Drinking alcohol can disrupt the rapid eye movement (REM) phase of sleep, an important, restorative stage of deep sleep during which dreaming occurs. If you’re having trouble falling or staying asleep often, see your healthcare provider.
- All this is to say that “just quitting” isn’t always easy, even when alcohol use harms your sleep and well-being.
- Get professional help from an addiction and mental health counselor from BetterHelp.
- Sure, that nightcap, last glass of wine or beer before bed may help you feel sleepy.
Alcohol and sleepiness: Possible links
Alcohol can also trigger night sweats, cause or and worsen anxiety, increase your risk of snoring by 14% (and the more you drink, the worse your snoring can be), and increase your risk of obstructive sleep apnea by 25%. When REM sleep is suppressed, the brain attempts to compensate with increased REM, known as REM rebound, on subsequent nights when alcohol is not consumed. You’ll need different treatments depending on whether you have clinical insomnia (treatments may look similar to those suffering from alcohol dependence) or sleep problems that aren’t classified as insomnia, which are still serious and very worth fixing. CBT-I is a first-line treatment for insomnia, both in those with and without alcohol use disorder. CBT-I usually involves a mixture of sleep hygiene education (more on that next), supervised sleep restriction, and stimulus control (when you only go to bed when sleepy and get out of bed if you can’t sleep after 20 to 30 minutes).
How do I get a good night’s sleep after drinking?
If you’ve had several drinks, it’s best if your last drink is finished at least several hours before you go to bed. Grand mean evoked potential waveforms for alcoholics (red lines) and control subjects(black lines) for the FP1, Fz, FCz and Cz electrode sites. If you or a loved one are suffering from Insomnia that you believe is tied to an alcohol use disorder, then your problem is likely more severe than you realize.
Get help for alcoholism today.
Treating these conditions may be necessary as some individuals experience insomnia due to other health issues. Generally, females and older adults are at a higher risk for insomnia. Individuals with mental health conditions are also more likely to develop insomnia. Although there’s no evidence that alcohol can cause narcolepsy (sleepwalking), it does disrupt REM sleep, which may make the onset of sleepwalking more likely. Even though a glass or two may help you initially drift off faster, it probably won’t benefit your sleep quality in the long run. If you sleep better when you don’t drink, you might consider stopping alcohol use entirely.
Consequently, AD subjects may be more likely to manifest a delayed phase type disorder, which may present as difficulty falling asleep. In addition to the electrophysiologic mechanisms of sleep, Borbely and colleagues alcohol insomnia postulated a two-process model of sleep regulation (Borbely, 1982). In brief, this model posits that sleep is a function of two independent mechanisms, namely homeostatic sleep drive and circadian rhythmicity.
Knowledge, attitude, and practice toward sleep disorders and sleep hygiene among perimenopausal women
Things are a little more complicated for those with an alcohol abuse problem. Studies show mixed results, with alcohol insomnia and related sleep disruptions lasting from five weeks to six months. Everyone reacts differently to alcohol, though, so you may want to cut yourself off sooner.
Why Does Alcohol Make Me Sleepy?
All this is to say that “just quitting” isn’t always easy, even when alcohol use harms your sleep and well-being. For example, those who are sensitive to alcohol might get a rough night of sleep after only one or two cocktails. Conversely, someone else could sleep soundly even after several shots.
How does alcohol affect sleep apnea?
- Each stage is necessary for sleep to feel refreshing and for vital processes like learning and memory consolidation to occur.
- There is evidence of allostericmodification of GABA receptors (Kang, Spigelman, and Olsen1998; Follesa et al. 2006) and reducedGABAA receptor function (Valenzuela andHarris 1997; Mihic and Harris 1995) inrodent models of alcohol dependence.
- A 2019 study found eight weeks of CBT-I reduced insomnia in veterans recovering from alcohol dependence.
- Normal sleep cycles through four stages, which are either considered rapid eye movement (REM) sleep or non-REM sleep.
- Generally, even healthy alcohol consumption can lead to poor sleep quality.
Many who abuse alcohol often do it well into the night and oversleep into the next day. In time this may lead to switching up day and night sleeping patterns. Then, as withdrawal from the drug or alcohol occurs there’s a big sleep-wake reversal which then needs to be addressed. Statistics show that 5.3 percent of all people 12 and older in the U.S. have an alcohol use disorder.12 And many others might deal with problematic drinking, but fall into the gray area.
How Does Alcohol Affect Sleep?
Alcohol is highly effective at suppressing melatonin, a key facilitator of sleep and regulator of sleep-wake cycles. Research indicates that a moderate dose of alcohol up to an hour before bedtime can reduce melatonin production by nearly 20 percent. Alcohol has a direct effect on circadian rhythms, diminishing the ability of the master biological clock to respond to the light cues that keep it in sync.
Kirk J. Brower
People with alcohol in their systems are also generally harder to wake, which means that they’re less likely to experience “arousals” that help them recover from OSA- and CSA-related pauses in breathing. So while cutting out drinking will likely benefit your sleep, there may be other factors affecting your shuteye. Peters is a board-certified neurologist and sleep medicine specialist and is a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Reach out to a treatment provider for free today for immediate assistance.
