Alcohol and sleep

Alcohol can produce feelings of relaxation and sleepiness but if you think that means it will promote a good night’s rest, you are in for a rude awakening.

While it is important to note that each individual will react differently to alcohol, in general, it is  linked to poor sleep quality and quantity.  In fact, as little as one standard drink for women or two standard drinks for men can decrease sleep quality by 9.3%.

To understand how alcohol impacts sleep, here is a brief overview of how alcohol impacts your stages of sleep, and what it means for a good night’s rest.

Each night your body moves through 4 - 5 cycles of sleep, with each one consisting of fours stages: three non -rapid eye movement stages (NREM), followed by a stage of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep.  

When we first go to bed, stages 1 and 2 consist of first drifting off to sleep (stage 1), followed by a light sleep state that lasts for 10 - 25 minutes (stage 2). Alcohol shortens these stages, pushing us into deep sleep sooner (stage 3).  It then further disrupts our sleep pattern by reducing our REM sleep (stage 4). It’s the REM stage of sleep where dreaming occurs, and this stage of sleep is thought to be vital for memory building and the consolidation of the day’s events. Furthermore, as your liver continues to metabolize alcohol during the night you are more prone to sleep disruptions in subsequent sleep cycles.

Age, gender, body composition, the quantity of drinks and how quickly it is consumed all contribute to the effects of alcohol and its impact on your sleep. However, it is still advisable to consider abstaining from alcohol consumption approximately 4 hours before bedtime to help minimize its impact. This gives your body time to metabolize the alcohol before you go to bed.