At four times throughout the day and night, participants were given either a mixed alcoholic drink or a placebo drink that mimicked the taste of the alcoholic drink. It is recommended that alcohol not be consumed in the last four hours before bedtime. Even though alcohol may help you fall asleep, it interferes with the quality of your sleep.
Our editors and medical experts rigorously evaluate every article and guide to ensure the information is factual, up-to-date, and free of bias. Researchers conducted a study using 27 men and women between the ages of 21-26. Or, perhaps you’re at the pub for the work Christmas party, and you think you’ll just have one more drink before heading home. Peters is a board-certified neurologist and sleep medicine specialist and is a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. REM sleep has a restorative effect and plays a role in memory and concentration. Poor or insufficient REM sleep has been linked to not only grogginess the next day, but also a higher risk of disease and early death.
It’s not because I don’t appreciate a glass of wine with a great meal, or a few beers on a hot summer evening. It’s because I know what alcohol can do to sleep and healthy circadian rhythms. Reducing your alcohol intake, especially in the hours leading up to your bedtime, can help you wake up well-rested and energized in the morning. In addition, since poor sleep can negatively affect one’s health, the benefits of a restful night go beyond feeling alert in the morning.
Drinking a light to moderate amount of alcohol (one or two standard drinks) before bed may not have much of an impact. Finally, going to bed with alcohol in your system increases your chances of having vivid dreams or nightmares, or sleepwalking and other parasomnias. It has a sedative effect that helps you relax and makes you drowsy, so you fall asleep faster. Alcohol is classified as a central nervous system depressant, meaning it slows down brain activity.
Circadian Rhythm Fasting
The effects of alcohol in the body are what are known as biphasic, meaning “in two phases.” When first consumed, alcohol has a stimulating effect. Later, after alcohol has been in the system for a period time, its effects are sedating. But as this new research indicates, the effects of alcohol—particularly the stimulating effects—are magnified during certain periods of the body’s 24-hour circadian cycle. Even though alcohol can make you feel sleepy, it may impact your overall quality of sleep. If you go to bed with alcohol still in your system, you may experience headaches, frequent awakenings, night sweats, more intense snoring, and nightmares. 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 your sleep isn’t impacted.
However, while alcohol may hasten the sandman, it can negatively impact sleep quality. Drinking alcohol (from one to six standard drinks) around 30 to 60 minutes before bedtime means that alcohol levels do alcoholics get red noses in the breath and blood peak around lights-out time, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. 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. First off, while wine and other alcohols have notorious sedative effects, it’s important to note that these drinks also have calories, which means they give us energy, too.
Frequently Asked Questions About Alcohol
Alcohol has been linked to reduced rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. Anyone who’s ever indulged in a drink or two knows that alcohol can make you real sleepy, real fast. Simply cutting back or giving up alcohol or other drugs can be enough to reverse the negative impacts on your sleep (and can greatly improve your health overall).
Tips for sleeping after a night out
- And if you want to drink at the Christmas party, we have some tips on how to protect your sleep.
- Sure, that nightcap, last glass of wine or beer before bed may help you feel sleepy.
- But while this may be the case with lower doses of alcohol (lower than a standard drink), there’s evidence that your sleep quality may diminish over the course of the night—especially if you’ve had more than a low dose.
- But part of a smart, sleep-friendly lifestyle is managing alcohol consumption so it doesn’t disrupt your sleep and circadian rhythms.
So while alcohol is being processed, before you begin to feel a bit drowsy, the calories are being converted to energy. Breathing problems — Since alcohol’s sedative effect extends to your entire body, including your muscles, it may allow your airway to close more easily while you’re asleep. This can greatly increase the risk of sleep apnea especially if you drink within the last couple of hours before bedtime. It’s true, sleep may happen more quickly after consuming a drink or two. Alcohol often does reduce sleep onset latency—the time alcohol dry eyes it takes to fall asleep. Depending on how much alcohol is consumed, however, what seems like falling asleep may be something closer to passing out.
At first, alcohol has a sedative effect and you will probably feel more relaxed and drift off easily. Certain regions of the brain are particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol. When alcohol interacts with cells in these regions, the overall effect leads to those characteristic feelings of relaxation, lowered inhibitions, slurred speech, and may induce feelings of drowsiness and lethargy.
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. During the second half of the night, sleep becomes more actively disrupted. As alcohol is metabolized and any of its sedative effects dissipate, the body undergoes what scientists call a rebound effect.” This includes a move from deeper to lighter sleep, with more frequent awakenings during the second half of the night. The rebound effect may include more time in REM—a lighter sleep stage from which it is easy to be awakened.
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. Sure, that nightcap, last glass of wine or beer before bed may help you feel sleepy. But it can actually end up robbing you of a good night’s rest — or worse, could cause some challenging sleep problems. Circadian rhythms affect how the body responds to alcohol, depending on the timing of alcohol intake. Long-established research shows the body metabolizes alcohol differently at different times of day.
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.
This may result in the person verbally or physically acting out their dreams, which may cause abnormal behaviors such as kicking, flailing, jumping or yelling during sleep. If left untreated, chronic sleep apnea can drastically impact your quality of life and lead to serious health concerns, such as weight gain and obesity, hypertension, stroke, memory impairment and heart failure. Before reaching for that glass, hear from the experts how alcohol before bed might affect your sleep. Alcohol can also have immediate effects on the heart and circulatory system. Blood vessels widen, resulting in a drop in blood pressure, which can make you feel dizzy or lightheaded. You’ve come home after a long day at work, you have dinner, put the kids to bed, and then you have your usual nightcap before drifting off to sleep.
It also leads to lighter, more restless sleep as the night wears on, diminished sleep quality, and next-day fatigue. Heavy alcohol use can contribute to the development of insomnia, a sleep disorder characterized by difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep. As many as three quarters of people with alcohol dependence experience what is mesculin insomnia symptoms when they drink.