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If you're partial to a drink or three at the weekend, or even just the occasional night out, you'll likely know how a Friday night party can mess with your sleep for the rest of the weekend. That's because alcohol and sleep have a closer relationship than you might think, and even if you think you've mastered preventing a hangover, you might be surprised to learn that even one glass of wine before bed can seriously impact your sleep.
But why is this? Doesn’t alcohol naturally make it easier to get to sleep? What happened to the tradition of a small glass of whiskey helping you doze off in the evening?
Well, even though you might feel tired after one or two drinks, it’s safe to say that alcohol and sleep do not have a good relationship. In fact, as we mentioned, as little as one drink of alcohol before bed can have quite an impact on your overall sleep quality.
So, if you’re interested to know more about the relationship between alcohol and sleep quality, and the true effects alcohol might be having on your nighttime naps, take a look at our guide below to learn more about the effects of alcohol on sleep!
Why can't I sleep after drinking alcohol?
If you’ve ever been out on the town, gotten back home, and then wondered why you’re suddenly wide awake, you’ve probably asked the question – “why can’t I sleep after drinking alcohol?”
And it’s a fair point. After all, for most of us, alcohol tends to make us feel a little sleepy, especially if you’re only having one drink.
However, while alcohol certainly has this sedative quality, this state of drowsiness is only temporary, and the more you drink over a longer period, the more awake you might find yourself – especially if you’re mixing spirits and caffeinated soft drinks.
But there’s more at play here than alcohol simply having this basic effect on your sense of alertness. In fact, having alcohol in your system when you’re trying to sleep can be incredibly disruptive to some of your body’s essential routines!
What is the link between alcohol and sleep quality?
Without getting too scientific, the primary link between alcohol and sleep quality disruption lies in how it impacts your internal processes. Specifically, alcohol can play havoc with your circadian rhythm and sleep cycle routine.
When you drink alcohol of any form, it gets rapidly absorbed into your bloodstream. From here, it’s then on your liver to remove it, and this can take a while if you’ve had more than one drink in an evening.
As a result, when you fall asleep after drinking, the majority of the alcohol you’ve consumed will still be in your system, from where it can start to hinder your sleep-wake routine in force.
To start, alcohol will block the effectiveness of certain cognitive processes, resulting in more deep sleep and less REM sleep early in the night. Then, as the night progresses, what alcohol remains will cause you to stay in the lighter stages of sleep for much longer.
Then, on top of this, alcohol can also delay the production of different sleep hormones in the body, heightening the threshold required to produce these – hence why you might feel awake later into the evening, and sleepier in the morning.
In other words, no matter how much alcohol you drink, you aren’t going to get a normal night’s sleep.
What are the main effects of alcohol on sleep?
Given that it’s clear that alcohol can and will impact how well you sleep, what are some of the main symptoms of alcohol and sleep disruption that result from having a drink before bed?
We’ve outlined the most common ways alcohol affects your sleep below:
- Frequent waking – as a result of being in the lighter stages of sleep for longer, you’ll likely find that you wake up more often after drinking alcohol, whether from the rising sun, noises outside, or other people moving around in your home. Add to this the fact that alcohol is a diuretic, and you’ll likely also find yourself waking up and needing to go to the toilet relatively soon after going to bed.
- Insomnia – we’ve already flagged that high levels of alcohol can result in difficulty sleeping, but long-term chronic alcohol consumption has been shown to lead to certain types of insomnia, possibly resulting in long-term sleep disruption if you continue drinking heavily on a regular basis.
- Circadian disruption – general disruption of your circadian rhythm is a hallmark of alcohol consumption, resulting in more disruptive sleep overall and less time spent in REM, preventing you from getting the kind of restorative sleep your brain needs to process memories and emotions. If you want to avoid resetting your circadian rhythm, it’s best not to consume alcohol before bed.
- Reduced cognitive functions – as a result of the lower quality sleep promoted by alcohol, you’ll likely find that your reaction times are slower and that you experience higher levels of brain fog on the following day, meaning everyday tasks might seem like a lot more effort than they normally would.
- Early waking – should you go to bed late after a night of drinking, you might find that you wake up early in the morning and then can’t get back to sleep, resulting in less sleep overall and a worse hangover to boot.
- Increased sleep disorder intensity – perhaps most concerningly of all, alcohol has been shown to increase the likelihood of sleep disorder episodes occurring while also increasing their intensity. This certainly seems to be the case with sleep apnoea and chronic snoring, as alcohol relaxes the muscles in your airways, thus increasing the likelihood of snoring and apnoea episodes happening while also making it more unlikely for you to wake from them.
Does alcohol increase your heart rate while sleeping?
Yes, studies have shown that alcohol can lead to an increased heart rate while sleeping. Again, this is related to its impact on your circadian rhythm and sleep cycle adjustments, resulting in a higher heart rate the longer you sleep.
For most of us, this is not necessarily a problem. However, if you have high blood pressure, this increased heart rate can heighten the chances of you experiencing a stroke or a heart attack while sleeping, especially given the strong link between sleep and heart health.
Can alcohol affect sleep days later?
For the most part, one glass of wine or a night of drinking will not impact your sleep too badly the following night, even though you might be particularly tired, assuming you didn’t consume excessive levels of alcohol. But, with that being said, if you drink on consecutive days, then you will almost certainly experience a degree of sleep deprivation as a result of poor sleep quality.
When should you stop drinking alcohol to avoid impacting your sleep?
As a rule of thumb, if you want to avoid the effects of alcohol and sleep disruption, experts recommend that you don’t drink any alcohol in the run-up to bed at all. However, if you do want a drink, then you should ideally consume your last one at least three hours before bedtime to give your body time to fully break down as much of the alcohol as possible.
Alternatively, if you’re on a night out and you want to minimise the impact your drinking will have on your sleep, then you’re best alternating between alcohol and water throughout the night and avoiding caffeinated soft drinks. If possible, you should also make sure you go to the toilet before bed to avoid waking to urinate.
Just remember that, at the end of the day, drinking any alcohol before bed will result in worse sleep overall, and the best way to prevent these disruptions is to avoid any form of alcohol at all well before bed. We'd recommend you reach for a warm bedtime drink like a hot glass of milk or an indulgent hot chocolate instead!
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Hopefully, you should now have a much better idea of the effects of alcohol on sleep and why nightcaps should really be avoided if you want to ensure as restful a night’s kip as possible.
However, if you're prepared for the poor sleep you might get after a big night out, you'll at least want a comfortable place to enjoy a lie-in the following day! Consider our range of mattresses and bed frames, plus cosy, breathable bedding that you can wrap yourself up in while you recover.
For more tips on getting the best night's sleep possible, head to our Snooze News blog for many more insightful articles just like this one!
