Many of us are familiar with the feeling of being unable to fall asleep. You toss and turn, huffing and puffing as you think on repeat about whatever is bothering you. Maybe it’s an interview the next day, or an uncomfortable conversation you need to have with a loved one. It could even be something exciting, like a trip abroad. There are tons of situations which keep us awake deep into the night.
While you lie there staring at the ceiling, you start to think about ways to get to sleep. Suddenly, you remember that alcohol makes you feel drowsy. A quick trip to the kitchen and a nightcap later, you’re snug in bed, your eyes shut, and you’re off. You made a good choice, right?
Wrong. You may have gotten through the night and gotten a good amount of sleep, but its quality suffered. Alcohol makes you feel sleepy, but you’re guaranteed to wake up the next day feeling as though you had barely snoozed an hour.
Unfortunately, word of mouth has spread and we’ve also felt the effects of drinking because of how tired we get. This is why alcohol and drug abuse are common among those with sleep disorders. The individual usually drinks or takes drugs to be able to get to bed. As they continue to use and abuse drugs, they may become addicted to them. What started as a way to self sedate becomes the reason for lack of sleep (insufficient liquor or drugs). The vicious cycle begins, and addiction sets in.
There’s no getting around it: alcohol does not benefit sleep in any way. In fact, it can worsen existing breathing issues such as sleep apnea, make you take more trips to the bathroom and cause night sweats. It also blocks your REM sleep, resulting in the second half of the night being full of disturbances. Let’s take a more detailed look at these 5 ways alcohol abuse impacts your sleep:
1. Alcohol Worsens Existing Breathing Conditions
Sleep apnea is a condition in which the person’s breathing is interrupted throughout the night. It can be caused by the physical blockage of airways by tissue, or from the brain’s inability to send signals reminding our bodies to breathe. It’s considered very dangerous because we’re not conscious when it happens. Thus, there are prolonged moments when our body’s oxygen is cut off.
When you drink, the same relaxing effect of alcohol makes your airways narrow as you sleep. This means that those who already have sleep apnea see the condition worsened. For the same reason, alcohol can cause the condition even if it’s not chronic.
2. It Results In More Trips To The Bathroom
Alcohol is a diuretic. What that means is, it dehydrates you because you need to pee more. As the kidney works to eliminate the toxins from your body, you have more urges to break the proverbial seal. Yet, another effect of alcohol is that it stops the production of the antidiuretic hormone (ADH) in the human body.
The role of ADH is to facilitate the absorption of water by the kidney. If that hormone isn’t produced, you end up taking more bathroom trips. This means more waking moments from your bed to the toilet and back.
3. Night Sweats Occur
Alcohol makes you sweat because of its vasodilative effects. In essence, it causes the veins which are close to the skin to dilate. When that happens, your sweat glands activate and produce sweat for a cooling effect. Ever felt flashes of heat while drinking? That’s why.
During sleep, this means that alcohol causes night sweats. Typically a person will wake up in a pool of water. It’s uncomfortable and interrupts your sleep cycles. Keep in mind that night sweats are also an effect of alcohol withdrawal. So even when you’re not drinking, liquor makes you sweat!
4. Your Rem Sleep Is Inhibited
Rapid eye movement (REM) is an essential part of sleep architecture. It happens within the first 90 minutes after you close your eyes, and will repeat itself throughout the night as your cycle restarts. It is also generally the time when dreams occur.
Specialists have linked the effects of alcohol as being similar to those of antidepressants. It suppresses the REM sleep cycle predominantly in the first half of the night. How much you drink before you go to bed mirrors how much it will interfere with REM. If you drink moderate amounts you will see moderate effects. If you drink a lot, REM will be reduced significantly.
5. The Second Half of The Night Is Low Quality Sleep
Studies linking alcohol and sleep go back a long way. In the 1970s, a study on the effects of life in college analyzed those repercussions. What the researchers found, was that in many cases alcohol caused people to sleep very deeply in the initial part of the night. Because of that, they ended up having lighter sleep in the second half. This has to do with the way your body metabolizes liquor, and how it reacts when the process is complete.
Those are some of the researched ways that alcohol affects your sleep. We all go through moments of difficulty sleeping, but healthy remedies exist to counteract insomnia. Many myths are prevalent when it comes to sleep, but alcohol has been proven to be a detriment. Substances should never be the answer to being awake. The dangers of addiction as a disease are real. Consult a professional, and don’t self-medicate.
Have you felt any of these effects after drinking? Comment below!
Luca Tofan is a Canadian freelance writer living in Medellin, Colombia. He writes about topics such as health, lifestyle, business and travel.