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. A 2013 review found that drinking alcohol caused people to fall asleep quickly, no matter how much the person drank. Those who drank were also less likely to wake up during the first part of the night but tended to experience disrupted sleep in the second half of their sleep cycle, which caused them to wake up. The major caveat here is that people metabolize caffeine at different rates, so a post-dinner espresso affects different people differently. But despite this, even when researchers accounted for factors including age, gender, weight, mental health, and schedules, in a head-to-head alcohol vs. caffeine test, alcohol was still the bigger sleep disruptor.

• Take the Sleep Quiz to help inform your sleep improvement journey.
• Sleep deprivation due to alcohol consumption can exacerbate performance impairment and daytime sleepiness.
• Although experts can’t be certain that alcohol directly causes insomnia, numerous studies have found a link between this sleep disorder and alcohol consumption.

Why Alcohol Disrupts Your Sleep

• “Initially, alcohol reduces the amount of time it takes to enter stage 3 — Non-REM, slow-wave sleep, the deepest sleep stage where we are mostly unconscious,” says Rohrscheib.
• Each stage is necessary for sleep to feel refreshing and for vital processes like learning and memory consolidation to occur.
• By suppressing this all-important stage, alcohol can spur fatigue, brain fog, and emotional dysregulation.
• Some people may resort to drinking alcohol as a sleep aid or agent that initiates sleep.

Alcohol also affects people with central sleep apnea (CSA), which occurs when the brain periodically stops sending certain signals involved in breathing. 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. Keep a sleep diary PDF – 53 KB for a week and share it with your doctor.

Blue Light

Although almost half needed eight hours of sleep or more a night. Unfortunately, despite the drowsiness, alcohol isn’t a good sleep aid. But that doesn’t mean you have to give up alcohol altogether. However, if you often have trouble sleeping, contact your health care provider.

What is alcohol’s impact on circadian rhythms and REM sleep?

“Overall, alcohol should be consumed in moderation,” says Benjamin. Moreover, it can take one hour for your body to process one serving of alcohol. If you’ve had several drinks, it’s best if your last drink is finished at least several hours before you go to bed. Having bulletproof sleep hygiene can also help you fall and stay asleep, and this is even more important if you’ve had a drink.

• I recommend to my patients drinking two to three times a week.
• With extended use of alcohol over time, there can be long-term concerns, too.
• Those who drank were also less likely to wake up during the first part of the night but tended to experience disrupted sleep in the second half of their sleep cycle, which caused them to wake up.
• However, even small amounts of alcohol can have noticeable effects in some people.
• If you have an inkling that alcohol could be affecting your sleep, Conroy recommended conducting self-experimentation.

That’s because as alcohol starts to metabolize, the sedative effect wears off. 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. does alcohol help you sleep If you think your drinking may be impeding your sleep or overall quality of life, speaking to your doctor or therapist is a great first step.

Alcohol is highly effective at suppressing melatonin, a key facilitator of sleep and regulator of sleep-wake cycles. Research indicates that a moderate dose of alcohol up to an hour before bedtime can reduce melatonin production by nearly 20 percent. Alcohol has a direct effect on circadian rhythms, diminishing the ability of the master biological clock to respond to the light cues that keep it in sync. Those effects of alcohol on the biological clock appear to persist even without additional drinking, according to research. It can reduce the amount of time you spend in deep sleep and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, which are important stages of sleep that help you feel rested and alert the next day. Alcohol’s impact on REM sleep can mean that even if you sleep for a full eight hours, you might not feel fully rested when you wake up.

• So after a few drinks, you’re likely to have increased wakefulness and more light sleep.
• Some depend on how much you’ve had to drink and the time the alcoholic beverages were consumed.
• It has a sedative effect that helps you relax and makes you drowsy, so you fall asleep faster.
• We’ve covered more on how long before bed to stop drinking alcohol here.

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. While everyone metabolizes alcohol a bit differently, the best way to ensure that booze doesn’t harm your sleep is to avoid it entirely or drink it earlier in the day—at least 4-6 hours before bedtime.

It also leads to lighter, more restless sleep as the night wears on, diminished sleep quality, and next-day fatigue. While some people find that drinking alcohol helps them fall asleep more easily, alcohol ultimately has a negative impact on sleep. Even in moderate amounts, alcohol consumed in the hours before bedtime can cost you sleep and leave you feeling tired the next day. 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. Anyone who has experienced a restless night after a few drinks can attest to alcohol’s disruptive effect on 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.

Tips for sleeping after a night out

Your daily habits and environment can significantly impact the quality of your sleep. Take the Sleep Quiz to help inform your sleep improvement journey. Answer three questions to understand if it’s a concern you should worry about. Getting enough sleep is also important for children or teens’ healthy development. Your provider may have you keep a diary of your sleep habits to better understand what’s going on. This is likely because alcohol suppresses your parasympathetic nervous system, otherwise known as “rest and digest”.

Sleep quality

The stimulating effects of nicotine and caffeine take hours to wear off and can interfere with sleep. And even though alcohol might make you feel sleepy at first, it can disrupt sleep later in the night. If you don’t fall asleep within about 20 minutes of going to bed, leave your bedroom and do something relaxing. Repeat as needed, but continue to maintain your sleep schedule and wake-up time. Some people may resort to drinking alcohol as a sleep aid or agent that initiates sleep.