[ad_1]
When we drink alcohol, we can be overwhelmed with calm and soothing feelings. You may even feel relaxed enough that falling asleep seems easier, but those sweet dreams don’t last long.
“Alcohol never improves sleep,” he says Dr. John Mendelson, founder of Ria Health and clinical professor of medicine at UC San Francisco. “Although alcohol helps you relax, making it easier to fall asleep for some, 3 to 4 hours after falling asleep, people wake up and can’t get back to sleep.”
Don’t use alcohol as a temporary solution to an underlying problem. If you have trouble falling asleep, consider replacing the nightcap with relaxing activities in yours night routine. It can be anything that helps your body relax: reading a book, taking a bubble bath, or do yoga poses before bed.
How does alcohol affect sleep?
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant, which is why it gives you that nice, relaxing feeling. This is why so many of us fall asleep after drinking, and why alcohol may seem to help sleep. How alcohol affects your sleep is not one and only thing, because there are several ways in which alcohol consumption affects the quality of sleep you get.
To be clear, we’re not just talking about binge eating or heavy drinking; a drink or two too close to bedtime can have a big impact on your sleep.
Here are four ways alcohol affects your sleep.
1. Alcohol disrupts REM sleep
Its relaxing properties make alcohol It seems as a safe way to sleep at night. The quality of restorative, restful sleep decreases. Research shows that drinking alcohol disrupts your sleep cycle, especially REM sleep. Remember that REM sleep is where dreaming happens.
“Evidence now suggests that deeper sleep from alcohol is also associated with increases in frontal alpha waves, markers of wakefulness and sleep disruption. Therefore, deep sleep from alcohol is unlikely to be restorative,” he says Dan Fordsleep psychologist and founder of the Better Sleep Clinic.
So while you may initially fall asleep faster, you don’t get the benefits of REM sleep throughout the night. When you don’t get enough REM sleep, you won’t feel rested and you’ll see it affect your performance the next day. Studies show that vigilance during the day decreases the day after a night of heavy alcohol consumption.
2. You wake up more often after a few drinks
We mentioned that alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. This means that excitatory nerve cells in your brain are suppressed so you fall asleep. For most people, this doesn’t last long. As your body metabolizes the alcohol, excitatory nerves regenerate. This process can cause you to wake up and have trouble falling asleep.
Although this is a common occurrence, it does not happen to everyone. To those I say, consider yourself lucky. This side effect happens to me almost every time I drink something in the evening. Sure, the cocktail is fun while it lasts, but let me tell you, when I’m staring at my ceiling at three in the morning, I wish I had skipped it altogether.
3. Alcohol suppresses the production of melatonin in our bodies
Our bodies produce melatonin to control our sleep-wake cycle, which happens to coincide with sunlight. Ours the pineal gland releases melatonin when the sun goes down and we start to feel tired. When you drink, you essentially interrupt your sleep-wake cycle.
Alcohol consumption reduces melatonin production, regardless of whether the sun has set. One study found that drinking alcohol an hour before bed can be depressing melatonin production by 20%.
We know what you’re thinking: I could just take a melatonin supplement and deal with the side effects. Not so fast; mixing alcohol and melatonin is not recommended. potential side effects may include anxiety, high blood pressure, dizziness or breathing problems. On a larger scale, mixing the two can affect yours liver capacity to produce certain enzymes.
4. Alcohol can increase the effects of sleep disorders
In the case of obstructive sleep apnea, in which the muscles of the throat and tongue are already obstructing the airway, alcohol worsens the condition. When you drink alcohol before bed and have sleep apnea, your throat muscles will be even more relaxed and collapse more often, meaning frequent pauses in breathing that last longer than normal.
Research shows that alcohol consumption is increasing the risk of sleep apnea by 25%. It also contributes to the lowest oxygen saturation levels in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Oxygen saturation measures how much oxygen is in your blood and how efficiently it can carry it to your brain, heart and limbs.
Alcohol can also worsen insomnia, the most common sleep disorder characterized by difficulty falling asleepwaking up at night or waking up too early in the morning.
It is estimated that between 35% and 70% of people who drink alcohol I live with insomnia. The situation is a bit like the chicken and the egg; Insomnia problems can be worsened by alcohol consumption. Insomnia has the potential to contribute to alcohol dependence.
At first glance, the sedative effect of alcohol may seem like it will ease the symptoms of insomnia and help you fall asleep. Given the likelihood of REM sleep disruption and frequent awakenings, it is not recommended that anyone use alcohol to treat insomnia symptoms.
How to sleep better after alcohol
You can still enjoy a drink and sleep well. Use these tips to make sure your favorite cocktail never keeps you up at night.
Pay attention to how alcohol affects your sleep
You should be aware of how alcohol affects you and your sleep patterns. “Keep a sleep diary to measure duration and quality, and add to that diary the amount and timing of drinking to see if you notice patterns related to sleep quality,” advises Mendelson.
It can be as engaging or as simple as you want. You can write it down in a journal or just check with yourself in the morning. The effect of alcohol on your sleep will be specific to you. If you make an effort to pay attention to how it affects you, you can set limits for your body and needs.
Stop drinking at least 4 hours before going to sleep
You can still enjoy a cocktail and get a good night’s sleep. There’s no need to ditch alcohol entirely, though time for your drinks it can be the difference between sleeping through the night and tossing and turning.
“If you choose to drink alcohol, drink in moderation and stop at least four hours before bed to avoid its negative effects on sound sleep,” advises Dr. Raj Dasguptaassistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.
To put it into perspective, 4 hours before bed is roughly dinner time for most people. Four hours is a good indicator because it gives your body time to metabolize the alcohol to make sure it won’t affect your sleep.
Too long, didn’t you read?
We’re not here to tell you that one drop of alcohol will ruin your sleep quality. There are several nuances that you will encounter. Drinking alcohol, especially within 4 hours of bedtime, may help you fall asleep faster, but it ends up reducing your REM sleep and potentially waking you up later. Time for your cocktails or swapping yours cocktail drink is a great way to ensure that you will sleep peacefully at night.
[ad_2]
