Sleep and Alcohol: The Hard Truth
By: Emily Orscheln
Picture this: it’s 8 p.m. on a Saturday and you’ve just gotten back from a long day of drinking. You put your dinner leftovers in the fridge, take a quick shower, and fall into bed, only to pass out until 9 a.m. the following morning. Yet despite your eleven hours of sleep, you wake up the next morning feeling exhausted.
Sleep is vital for every system in the human body. Just as our species must eat and drink to survive, we also must rest. Sleep touches every aspect of our health. Sleep allows our bodies to recharge energy, recover from illnesses, process emotions, and even cope with stress (Jansen, 2020). Yet for most adolescents and adults, sleep is not a priority. Pulling all nighters to study, staying out late with friends, and waking up for early-morning workout classes all get in the way of a proper sleep schedule. Inadequate sleep has a multitude of negative effects including fatigue, headaches, inability to concentrate, impaired mental and physical health, and a weakened immune system.
How well-rested you feel is not just a function of quantity, but also quality of your sleep. Sleep quality is impacted by numerous factors including sleeping environment, light, temperature, and personal stress levels. Sleep quality is especially impacted by both stimulants and sedatives including nicotine, caffeine, and, most notably, alcohol.
When used by young adults, alcohol is most commonly consumed in social situations. Yet many use alcohol not as something to alleviate awkward social situations, but instead as a sedative. In fact, one in ten individuals use alcohol as a self-medicated sleeping aid (Colrain, Nicholas, & Baker, 2014). Alcohol acts as a sedative by turning off your thoughts and allowing you to fall into a state of relaxation. At the biological level, alcohol interacts with certain neurotransmitter systems that regulate sleep (Baker, Colrain, & Nicholas, 2014). Yet as your body metabolizes the alcohol, the sedative effect wears off and the architecture of your sleep is impacted in a suboptimal way.
Sleep architecture describes the basic structural organization of sleep. Sleep falls into two categories: REM, standing for rapid eye movement, and NREM, non-rapid eye movement. While you sleep, your brain cycles through both stages cyclically. NREM accounts for 75-80 per cent of total sleep time, while REM makes up the other 20-25 per cent (Colten HR & Altevogt, 2006).
Our brains are most active during REM cycles, and most dreaming happens during these periods. Interestingly enough, our muscles tense up and our bodies are nearly paralyzed. This reaction is thought to be a defense mechanism against subconscious “lash-outs” in reaction to vivid dreams and nightmares. The exact function of REM sleep remains somewhat of a mystery, yet REM sleep has been linked to memory consolidation, emotional processing, learning, and overall neuroplasticity (Colten HR & Altevogt, 2006). Alcohol suppresses crucial REM cycles and decreases our brain’s ability to tap into its active state of learning and memory. Therefore, alcohol-disrupted sleep does not provide the cognitive benefits that sober sleep does.
Alcohol decreases REM cycles in the first half of the night, while fragmenting NREM cycles in the latter half. NREM cycles are the most critical for recharging your physical body. During NREM cycles, the body repairs and regrows tissues, builds bone and muscle, and strengthens the immune system (Pacheco, 2022). How well rested you feel the next day is a function of your NREM cycles. Alcohol-induced disruption of these cycles therefore does not allow your body that same ability to recharge, leaving you to feel exhausted the following day.
Further, the general lifestyle that one lives while drinking exhausts the body. The process of picking out an outfit, organizing transportation to and from, figuring out where to go and who to go with, and the socializing itself are all stress-inducing and taxing on the body. Your body therefore requires additional rest. Mix in alcohol-disrupted sleep, and you’re on the path for even more fatigue, grogginess, and a decline in your health.
Yet, alcohol and sleep quality can coexist, and there are numerous steps to conserve sleep quality while including drinking in your life. For starters, timing is important. Consuming alcohol right before bed impacts sleep architecture far more than consuming alcohol several hours before (Jansen, 2020). Also, having an adequate sleep schedule helps combat alcohol-impaired sleep. Consistently securing 5-6 nights of quality sleep helps decrease the effects of 1-2 nights of alcohol-impaired sleep. Check out some of our past articles for tips to create a sufficient sleep routine and environment.
The phrase “It’s the dose that makes the poison” is relevant when it comes to drinking and sleeping. Drinking 1-2 times a week, ideally paced out and earlier in the evening, will impair sleep, but not to the extremes. Finding a balance between drinking alcohol and prioritizing sleep quality will help optimize your energy.
Reference List:
Colrain, I. M., Nicholas, C. L., & Baker, F. C. (2014). Alcohol and the sleeping brain. Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 125, 415–431. Retrieved September 5, 2022 from https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-62619-6.00024-0
Dr. Matthew Walker: The Science & Practice of Perfecting Your Sleep. (2022, July 17). Huberman Lab. Retrieved September 5, 2022, from https://hubermanlab.com/dr-matthew-walker-the-science-and-practice-of-perfecting-your-sleep/
Jansen, E. (2020, March 2). Sleep 101: Why Sleep Is So Important to Your Health. Copyright 2022 the Regents of the University of Michigan. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from https://sph.umich.edu/pursuit/2020posts/why-sleep-is-so-important-to-your-health.html
Pacheco, D. (2022, July 8). What is NREM Sleep? Sleep Foundation. Retrieved September 13, 2022, from https://www.sleepfoundation.org/stages-of-sleep/nrem-sleep
Team, B. A. S. (2021, December 10). Why You Should Limit Alcohol Before Bed for Better Sleep. Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved September 9, 2022, from https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-you-should-limit-alcohol-before-bed-for-better-sleep/
Colten HR, & Altevogt BM. (2006). Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation: An Unmet Public Health Problem . Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Sleep Medicine and Research. Retrieved September 10, 2022, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK19956/