How does alcohol affect sleep?

For example, people with moderate or severe anxiety who use alcohol in hopes of sleeping better are actually more likely to have sleep problems. Similarly, studies on bereaved individuals have found that using alcohol to cope with grief increases the risk of developing major depression, which is itself a risk factor for sleep disturbances. 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 momentary lapses in breathing, followed by micro-awakenings that interrupt the progression of the sleep stages. Although experts can’t be certain that alcohol directly causes insomnia, numerous studies have found a link between this sleep disorder and alcohol consumption.

While an occasional drink might not have severe consequences for everyone, regular consumption can lead to disrupted sleep patterns. If you do choose to drink, do so moderately and not close to bedtime so your body has time to metabolize the alcohol before you go to sleep. It can reduce the amount of time you spend in deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which are important stages of sleep that help you feel rested and alert the next day. Alcohol’s impact on REM sleep can mean that even if you sleep for a full eight hours, you might not feel fully rested when you wake up. Initially, alcohol might make you feel relaxed and sleepy due to its sedative effects, but as the night progresses, the alcohol can have negative impacts.

Does alcohol affect men’s and women’s sleep differently?

1. Over time, this can contribute to chronic sleep deprivation, affecting your mood, energy levels, and overall health.
2. Anyone who’s ever indulged in a drink or two knows that alcohol can make you real sleepy, real fast.
3. Studies have shown the body is more effective at processing alcohol at certain times of the day than others.
4. Suppressing REM sleep can have detrimental consequences for memory consolidation and other cognitive processes.
5. But alcohol goes on to affect the entire night of sleep to come.
6. Regular drinking has also been linked to shorter periods of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, a disrupted circadian rhythm, and snoring.

Not getting enough REM sleep can make concentrating difficult, cause forgetfulness and leave people feeling excessively sleepy during the day. Poor sleep can also contribute to a wide range of health problems, according to the NIH, including obesity, high blood pressure and depression. Unsurprisingly, studies of people with insomnia have also found that heavy alcohol use exacerbates insomnia. People who wake up feeling unrefreshed may be more likely to rely on alcohol again to help them sleep the next night, leading to a counterproductive pattern of alcohol use. A newer study found that one dose of alcohol had no effect on the circadian rhythm in rodents. However, the researchers proposed that perhaps these effects on the circadian rhythm are only seen after several consecutive days of alcohol consumption.

Wait Between Drinking and Bedtime

That means limiting your alcohol intake to one drink a day or less for women, and two drinks a day or liquor storage ideas less for men, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Experts recommend avoiding alcohol at least four hours before bedtime to prevent adverse effects on sleep. The effects of alcohol on these neurotransmitters is sedative, which is why alcohol initially makes you relaxed and drowsy and may help you fall asleep more easily.

How does alcohol affect your sleep?

“Typically, it’s advised to stop drinking alcohol around three to four hours before bed. This should give the body enough time to metabolize the alcohol and get it out of one’s system, allowing them to enjoy unaffected sleep,” explains Dr. Hsu. For many people, enjoying the occasional drink with friends or a glass of wine with dinner is something to look forward to. However, while you may feel more relaxed and drift off to sleep quicker after having a drink, when morning rolls around, you might find yourself wondering why you feel so groggy and tired—especially after falling asleep so easily. In the first half of the night, when the body is metabolizing alcohol, studies show people spend more time in deep, slow-wave sleep and less time in REM sleep. Sleep architecture is biologically driven and finely calibrated to meet the body’s needs during nightly rest—changes to the natural, typical structure of sleep aren’t generally good for health or well being.

That includes age, weight, gender, ethnicity, family history, nutritional status, smoker status, mood, health conditions or whether you’re taking any medications. “The idea is to get away from the idea of genetic determinism,” where people feel like there’s nothing they can do about their risk, and instead emphasize how powerful healthy choices can be, Anderson says. But in general, it’s not the order of alcohol that determines the severity of your hangover, says Marino.

Consider your habits with your alcohol intake to understand your patterns and triggers. This self-awareness can help you identify situations where you’re more likely to drink, and develop strategies to address them. A questionnaire-based cross-sectional survey was conducted with 234 men and 159 women who had visited a general hospital. We used structured questionnaires, including Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test-Korean revised version (AUDIT-KR) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index-Korean version (PSQI-K). We analyzed the association between scores for all subcategories of the PSQI-K and the AUDIT-KR and then analyzed the correlation between AUDIT-KR and global PSQI-K scores. If you sleep better when you don’t drink, you might consider stopping alcohol use entirely.