The effect of alcohol on subsequent sleep in healthy adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Drinking alcohol can affect the quality and length of your sleep, leading to sleep disorders — such as insomnia and sleep apnea — in some. Alcohol is a sedative that affects your sleep and can cause insomnia by reducing REM sleep and causing disruptions in your sleep cycle. Individuals who drink before bed or regularly can experience insomnia-like symptoms, such as excessive sleepiness the following day.

ways alcohol affects your sleep

If you think you may have a sleep problem or disorder, consider taking our brief sleep quiz to find out. Remember that only a healthcare professional or sleep specialist can diagnose a sleep condition. Alcohol has been shown to negatively impact sleep, but this comes down to the individual. It can have a relaxing effect, but research shows that too much alcohol can lead to a lack of sleep or insomnia. Alcohol can increase the quantity of non-REM sleep during the first half of the night, but it decreases REM sleep in the second half. ‘Sleeping won’t speed up the processing of alcohol itself, but it should help you feel better’.

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But while this may be the case with lower doses of alcohol (lower than a standard drink), there’s evidence that your sleep quality may diminish over the course of the night—especially if you’ve had more than a low dose. This is in agreement with our findings that, among men, drinking decreased overall sleep duration and increased sleep disturbances. In the present study, which focused on the effects of alcohol consumption on sleep quality among adults aged 20 years and older, we found that AUDIT-KR and PSQI-K scores were significantly correlated among male subjects.

How much you drink and when you drink impacts sleep

Alcohol also affects circadian rhythms – the 24-hour body clock that responds to environmental light cues in order to synchronise our sleep-wake cycle. One of the ways our circadian rhythm does this is through the release of specific hormones at certain times of the day. For instance, our body will release melatonin during the hours of darkness to help us feel tired – and stay asleep throughout the night. If alcohol is consumed before bed, it can initially have a sedative effect – making you fall asleep more quickly.

So naturally, you might be wondering whether taking a break from booze could improve your shuteye. Consuming alcohol and experiencing restricted sleep reduces alertness during the day. If you’re turning to alcohol to help you sleep, you may be making the quality of your sleep worse. Many of us find ourselves tossing and turning at night, trying to get that elusive 7 to 8 hours of sleep experts say we need but never finding it. The Calm app puts the tools to feel better in your back pocket, with personalized content to manage stress and anxiety, get better sleep, and feel more present in your life.

I’ve never been a huge drinker, but I’ve definitely imbibed more than usual over the last year and a half. With all the added stress from the pandemic, I’ve found myself reaching for a large glass—or two, let’s be real—of wine almost every night. Define why you want to reduce your alcohol consumption and what you hope to achieve. Setting specific, achievable goals can provide motivation and a sense of direction. For instance, you might aim to limit alcohol Twelve-step program to weekends only and/or have no more than one drink per evening.

Alcohol and Chronic Sleep Problems

This rhythm responds to environmental signals like sunlight and darkness, triggering your body to release hormones like melatonin (your natural sleep hormone) when it’s time to rest. Knowing these symptoms can help you make more informed choices about alcohol consumption, which may lead to better sleep and improved wellbeing. Alcohol can also increase the likelihood of snoring and sleep apnea — a condition where breathing stops and starts during sleep — which can further reduce sleep quality. Plus, it can trigger the need to go to the bathroom more often during the night, which means more sleep interruptions. The higher the respondent’s alcohol dependency, the higher the total score. The cutoff value for alcohol use disorders is 10 points for men and 8 points for women.

• So it’s a good idea to avoid alcohol for at least six hours before going to bed.
• One contributory factor could be the effect of poor sleep on neurocognitive functioning.
• The rule of thumb is you should give yourself an hour to process each drink before bed.
• People who typically snore or who have obstructive sleep apnea tend to display more severe snoring and lower blood oxygen levels after drinking alcohol, especially when they drink close to bedtime.

Alcohol can help people feel more relaxed and sleepy, but it’s also linked to poor sleep quality and duration, according to the Sleep Foundation, a U.S. nonprofit organization. Generally, the more a person drinks, the more their sleep quality suffers. If you find that you persistently snore whether you’ve been drinking or not, it could be due to a sleep disorder, such as sleep apnea.

• The percentage of REM sleep in the first half of the night was not decreased onthe first drinking night at either the 0.03 or 0.10% BAC doses in the Feige et al. (2006) study.
• Alcohol disrupts your natural sleep rhythms and sacrifices precious REM sleep.
• Alcohol interferes with the brain’s ability to receive chemical messages involved in breathing, which decreases the body’s respiratory drive and increases the likelihood of pauses in breathing.
• Total night SWS is increased at high alcohol doses across gender and age groups.
• The recommended treatment for insomnia disorder in the community, as well as those with AUD, is CBT-I.

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. Your daily habits and environment can significantly impact the quality of your sleep. 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.

Each cycle lasts around 90 minutes total, which adds up to between six and nine hours of sleep. People with insomnia often wake up tired and struggle with poor memory or concentration. “Even if alcohol initially helps someone fall asleep, they may wake up many times throughout the night or not get into a deep sleep,” she continues. To minimize the impact of alcohol on sleep, have your last drink at least 3 or 4 hours before bedtime.