Experts have pointed out the negative effects of alcohol on your sleep. Photo / 123rf
Experts have pointed out the negative effects of alcohol on your sleep. Photo / 123rf
There is a common belief within our communities that a drink of alcohol before bed can aid in a night of restful and well-rounded sleep.
The experts have now stepped in to disprove this rationale. Their stance is that pouring out a nightcap before heading to bed will only leave you feeling dazed, thirsty, and potentially nursing an alcohol-induced headache.
When you close your eyes at night, your brain goes into four different stages of sleep. The stages of falling asleep, light sleep, and deep sleep are known as the non-REM stages and are part of your body’s sleep cycle.
The fourth and final stage of sleep that we go through every night is known as the rapid eye movement (REM) stage. REM sleep is the deepest stage and is crucial for learning, memory, creativity, and problem-solving.
This phase is essential as it “provides rest and restoration for the brain,” says Ian Hamilton, a professor in addiction in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York.
Alcohol suppresses your body’s ability to enter the REM sleep stage, limiting the amount of REM sleep that you can have after a night of drinking. Due to this, you’re far more likely to wake up during the night and feel less restored in the morning.
A nightcap before bed may help you fall asleep quickly, but it won't improve your sleep quality.
Alcohol’s impact on the quality of your REM sleep is a consequence of your body metabolising the booze during the night, explains Dr Melissa Oldham from the University College of London’s (UCL) Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group.
After having a drink, individuals tend to fall asleep quickly due to the sedative effects of alcohol. This is usually translated into feelings of relaxation and tiredness.
However, once alcohol is absorbed through the stomach and small intestine and into the bloodstream, it slowly begins to metabolise.
As this process unfolds throughout your sleep, “this can lead to people waking up more frequently and feeling more tired the next morning,” Oldham says.
Experts warn that alcohol’s impact on REM sleep isn’t the only thing affecting your sleep quality — as alcohol is a diuretic, it also leaves you prone to dehydration.
Alcohol’s dehydrating effects disrupt the body’s ability to perform its sleep cycles; individuals may wake up with a dry mouth and a desperate need for a glass of water, while they also may need to use the bathroom.
On top of this, Richard Piper from Alcohol Change UK says that alcohol can cause individuals to sweat more as a result of its inhibiting effects on temperature regulation. This can only worsen dehydration, fatigue, and headaches.
“It is a diuretic so when you drink alcohol, you may find you have to get up in the night to go to the toilet, and it’s also been found that it can make you snore,” says the CEO of the charity Drinkaware, Karen Tyrell.
“If you are drinking, try to avoid it too close to bedtime and give your body time to process the alcohol you’ve drunk before you go to sleep.”
Regular drinking has the potential to cause or exacerbate insomnia in individuals, with alcohol being one of the most common triggers of the disorder which affects hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Even one glass of wine or a pint of beer will significantly impact the quality of your sleep. Photo / 123rf
“Some people will experience insomnia as a result of regular drinking. Although they may fall asleep initially, they will experience regular sleep disruption which will make them feel lethargic during the day,” Hamilton says.
As the brain becomes familiar with falling asleep while aided by alcohol, it begins to form the habit of expecting the drink at bedtime. According to Piper, this will worsen your sleep in the long run.
“If you drink regularly, your brain will have adapted to expect the alcohol before bedtime and relies on it to get you to sleep,” he said.
“But without alcohol in your bloodstream, you’ll be sleeping more deeply and get that refreshed feeling when you wake up in the morning.”
Abstaining for a few days can help to correct your sleep as your “brain unlearns old habits”, and a sober night is sure to end with “deeper, more restful sleep,” explained Piper.
Dry July NZ Trust highlights how improved sleep and less snoring are some of the many benefits that people have reported from participating in the Dry July challenge.
Individuals also reported experiencing increased energy levels, a clear mind, a feeling of achievement, easier weight management, and an increased ability to save after participating in the challenge, according to the company behind the initiative.
Since your body takes approximately one hour to process one standard drink of alcohol, the more you drink, the longer it’ll take for the body to metabolise it and the more disrupted your sleep will be.
This means that a large glass of wine or one pint of beer can take up to three hours to fully process through the body, although this varies significantly with each person.
“There are lots of factors which can affect how long it takes to sober up or sleep off alcohol, including how much someone drinks and whether they have eaten alongside their age, gender and body composition,” Dr Oldham noted.
