Why You Should Limit Alcohol Before Bed for Better Sleep
People who go to bed with alcohol in their system may be more likely to wake early in the morning and not be able to fall back to sleep, another consequence of the rebound effect. His research and clinical practice focuses on the entire myriad of sleep disorders. You can experience hangxiety after even just one drink, says Harrison. And “it can come before physical symptoms or without physical symptoms at all.” Alcohol increases urine production, so it’s true that dehydration can often contribute to the hurt of a hangover. The symptoms and severity of your hangover — like your alcohol tolerance — depends on many factors, says Marino.
More Vivid Dreams
But for many people, having one or two drinks before bed doesn’t necessarily lead to the same headaches, grogginess, or fatigue as a full-on night out. If you drink alcohol at night and have trouble falling or staying asleep, you might wonder how long you should wait between your last drink and going to bed so how old is demi lavato your sleep isn’t impacted. Since alcohol affects everyone differently, it’s important to understand where your limit lies and how much alcohol you can drink before it starts to affect your sleep. If you’re looking for ways to improve your sleep, an easy place to start is by adopting healthy sleep hygiene habits such as keeping a consistent sleep schedule and creating a calming bedroom environment. In the short term, these alterations to our sleep pattern can lead to a restless second half of the night. In the long term, frequent disruptions to our natural sleep cycle may alter the homeostatic drive in a more permanent way.
Dehydration zaps your energy levels, making you feel tired and less alert than usual. If alcohol continues to disrupt your overall sleep quality, you may consider cutting it out entirely, or limiting your intake before bedtime. If you’ve stopped drinking alcohol, but are still having sleep issues, be sure to reach out to a sleep specialist. It’s important to treat sleep disorders such as insomnia (difficulty falling or staying asleep) or sleep apnea (when breathing stops multiple time a night) if they are present.
Sleepwalking and parasomnias — You may experience moving a lot or talking while you’re sleeping. There’s a chance you’ll physically act out your dreams in your sleep, or even sleepwalk. Besides just waking you up a lot, alcohol can disrupt your normal sleep patterns enough to create some longer-term issues you may need to address. If you’re planning on heading out for a night that will involve some drinks, there are some things you can do to help you sleep afterward. If you’re having trouble falling or staying asleep often, see your healthcare provider. They can rule out any underlying cause for your insomnia and recommend the best treatment for you.
Based on data from roughly 160,000 Sleep Foundation profiles, nearly 90% of respondents who regularly consume alcohol in the evening have reported at least one sleep-related problem. However, while alcohol may hasten the sandman, it can negatively impact sleep quality. For example, people who’ve had alcohol may experience more frequent periods of lighter sleep or being awake, especially during the second half of the night. So after a few drinks, you’re likely to have increased wakefulness and more light sleep.
How to achieve better sleep and sleep quality without alcohol
- You may or may not remember them, but they can be lucid or give you a feeling that you are half awake and half asleep.
- So while cutting out drinking will likely benefit your sleep, there may be other factors affecting your shuteye.
- Alcohol has a diuretic effect that causes your body to release more water in the way of urine.
- The best way to protect sleep is to cut off your drinking earlier in the day or forgo drinking entirely.
That’s because alcohol and sleep apnea often go hand-in-hand—even in people who don’t otherwise have the condition. While a drink now and then may have a sedative effect that causes you to drift off faster, research shows that it can impede sleep quality in the long run. Normal sleep cycles through four stages, which are either considered rapid eye movement (REM) sleep or non-REM sleep. Circadian rhythms affect how the body responds to alcohol, depending on the timing of alcohol intake.
Disrupts the Sleep Cycle
These fluctuations play a vital role in the sleep-wake cycle, and when they are weakened—or absent—a person may feel alert when they want to sleep and sleepy when they want to be awake. Many people experience a wave of sleepiness after consuming alcohol. As a central nervous system (CNS) depressant, alcohol has a sedative effect that may cause you to fall asleep more quickly than usual. Alcohol disrupts sleep quality throughout the night, leading to less restful and restorative sleep. Many people turn to alcohol to cope with difficult feelings, but alcohol may end up having the opposite effect if it interferes with sleep.
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. REM sleep, which gets shortchanged in the first half of the night under the influence of alcohol, is important for mental restoration, including memory and emotional processing. But part of a smart, sleep-friendly lifestyle is managing alcohol consumption so it doesn’t disrupt your sleep and circadian rhythms. Some people think that a “hair of the dog,” an alcoholic beverage consumed the morning after a night of heavy drinking, can help cure a hangover. 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.
People, as a whole, are getting less rest and are desperately turning to pills or other aids as a result. Below, we’ll take a closer look at how alcohol affects the different stages of sleep, as well as how the quantity and timing of alcohol can influence sleep quality. If you fancy a glass of wine with dinner or a nightcap before bed, you might want to cap the Chiante and put the Negroni down — research shows that even low alcohol intake can stymie your sleep. Alcohol increases levels of adenosine, a key component of the homeostatic drive. The homeostatic drive is responsible for keeping our body balanced, and it’s one of the major mechanisms that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. The homeostatic drive prompts sleep by boosting levels of adenosine when we’ve been awake for too long.
Sleep Apnea and Alcohol
We use your questions to help us decide topics for articles, videos, and newsletters. Please note, we cannot provide specific medical advice, and always recommend you contact your doctor for any medical matters. Adrienne Santos-Longhurst is a Canada-based freelance writer and author who has written extensively on all things health and lifestyle for more than a decade. If you turn to booze to help you snooze, you could be messing with the quality of your sleep.
Though alcohol can increase drowsiness and reduce the time it takes to fall asleep, it can ultimately reduce sleep quality and change sleep patterns. Moreover, alcohol can reduce the time spent in one sleep cycle while increasing the time spent in another. However, persons who consume alcohol in excessive amounts suffer from poor sleep quality and patients with alcohol use disorders commonly report insomnia.